Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1901-07-11

Alaska. They have built colleges,
cities and schools. They have
made it safe for man to travel
along any parallel Of latitude or
any meridian OF longitude within
the limits of the United States
We are no longer cnr'incting
Indian WARS They have Toured
into the lap Of the country the
treasures of the mountains which
the national government grudg-
ingly allows them. They pursue
their way jaurtily, not stopping TO
look AT their difficulties as ~ mat
ter OF re,iosl ecsion-the dis
app ointments Of toGay bu, ncrving
them for the courage required
tomorrow. No such people have
beer known to l,i-tory. No body
of men of equal intelligence,
energy, independence and aspir-
alton can be found elsewhere on
the globe. They are among the
most ardent of American citizens,
devoted 10 American institutions,
and proud of their inheritance in
this republic. Their labor is hard,
and contributes in Il very material
degrees tn the development Of not
only the state Of Idaho, but of the
whole If these United STATES, and
they form an important factor III
our industrial progress and econ
ornic independence.
Bat above all, the miner is the
advance guard, the Avant Courier
of our western civilization. His
destiny has been to build up the
waste places of the Republic.
Wherever he went he carried the
flag, the institutions, and the
civilization of the Union. Wher-
ever n mine or group of mines was
discovered of sufficient value to
warrant the employment of many
men, homes were built, towns
founded, local self government
organized, schools and churches
erected, libraries and lyceums
established, and in few months
all the forces of long-established
order are to he seen tremendously
at work. Such towns, dotted
along the mountain sides and
down the canyons, through a wide
expause of otherwise uninhabited
territory, became centers of civil
ization which were destined to
transform half a continent. With
out the mining industry the So
called arid region of the United
States must, for generations to
come, have remained in it's prim-
eval condition.
Development is an evolution
and throughout the western section
of this continent, the germ from
which all development has been
evolved is the mine. Without
that inducement to self sacrifice,
without the excitement of hope
and the fever of anticipation, men
would not forego the advantages
of civilization, or be tempted to
enter upon the haphazard and
perplexing life of prospector III
the mountain wilderness. Neither
would capital, without the promise
and expectation of large and i'm
mediate returns, undertake the
costly and elaborate work of erect
ing the machinery necessary in
mining. Those people who open
and work our rich lodes run greao
risks. Not only is there ne
industry that demands mort
capital, or more careful, constants
and business-like attention to it.
disposition, but in the whole catat
logue of industries there is none
SO absolutely uncertain Of results.
However glittering the prospects,
men are dealing witt, what is out
of sight, and that which yesterday
promised fortune may today
turn out to be ii hole in the
ground. Nothing but the hope of
quick returns, therefore, would
produce inve stment in what we
call the arid belt. Were its de-
velopment to wait on agriculture
alone generations would elapse.
and intense pressure of population
against subsistence in this country
would have to assert itself before
any attempt would be made to
develop it. Even if the land were
fertile and inviting to agriculture,
the sparci,y and diffusion of popu-
lation characteristic of that pur-
suit, especially in its earlier stages
would, to the remote and isolated
settler, render life hardly worth
the living.
Unlike all other !, dustries.
mining affords opportunities for
groups and aggrega,'ons of people
in undeveloped places. 1t is be-
cause OF the presence or proximity
OF these groups or aggregations in
the mountains of the west, and
because of the advantages of
market afforded by the mining
population, that the government of
the United States has been able SO
rea lily to dispose of its public
lands. Any attempt To establish
communities IN those regions BY
means OF agriculture alone would |
have demanded in each case an
outlay oi money, and, |
for an incaIculablc time, would
prove an unprnductive investment.