Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1901-06-27
A Trip to the Western Coast.
by DR.. ]. NJ. brown. /


1900 inhabitants situated in the
sot't'' Part Of the great Camas
Prairie. :. veral rue residenc 8
aie seen her. and vcss large stocks
OF mcsrhantIise for the size Of the
t'Wn- IN. great Camas Prairie is
IN ldaho :,nd Nta Perez counties,
idaho. aud i from 20 TO 80 miles
wide ant! rom 40 10 60 miles long.
1t is n BASIN 1T ruundc. on all
sides with mountains. Many or
These mountains are covered with
snow most OF the year. We have
Investigated this county thoroughly
and conversed with several we'll
TODD farmers who have lived on
Camas Prairie from s to "a years.
They all agree as to products of
the country. Fall wheat yields
from 80 to 60 bushels per acre, the
average being about 40 bushels.
When we say fall wheat we mean
that sown in the fall, for spring
wheat sown in the fall does better
than when sown in the spring.
When sown in the spring the yield
is from 20 to 80 bushels, being an
average of % bushels. Oats and
barley produce from SO to 80
bushels to the acre. All kinds of
small grain is very plump, wheat
weighing most of the time GA to &c
pounds and oats SO to A pound to
the measured bushel. We will
bring some samples for BARLEY
people to see. Timothy is a
natural crop here and yields from
L. to 2 tons TO the acre. When
once sown it does not need any
thing more done to it. There are
several pieces here that have been
in meadow for is to "a years. and are
yet producing their annual crops
of J tons to the acre. This hay
has always been a good price, as it
is shipped to Washington, Mon
tana and Wyoming and packed to
the mines in the vicinity of Camas
Prairie. Red clover and alfalfa
have not been much sown but
where sown have done we'll, we
have seen several lots that were
fine. Fruit does extremely well,
trees bear young and continue to
bear good crops. Peaches cannot
be grown on the higher ground,
but all small fruits, apples, pears
aud cherries do we'll. Much of
this prairie is fenced with rail
fence six to eight rails and two
stakes to the panel. Where posts
and board or wire are used, the
fence posts can be obtained at &c
each delivered, and fencing from
81 to So per thousand feet. Large
herds of cattle and horses roam
over the prairies and outside range
land and quite number of hogs
are raised here. We saw but few
sheep as they have been taken to
the range. All kinds of stock
does we'll here: there has never
been known hog or chicken cholera
or blacklcg in cattle on Camas
Prairie. The winters are gener-
ally short and mild, the summers
not excessively hot. Sometimes
there is a week of very cold
weather, the mercury falling to 20
and once % degrees below zero.
The hottest days in summer are
seldom over 80 degrees and nights
always cool. The soil is generally
a heavy black loan, underlaid in
most places with stone and hard
pan of an ochre color. There has
never been an entire failure in
Camas Prairie, but one time a few
years ago two or three days of hot
wind from the north cut down the
yield of the late wheat. Timothy
hay is selling now from IS to SO
per ton. Good water can be OBJ
tanned most places on the Prairie
by wells and springs, but in some
parts wells are dug from 100 tt
$50 feet deep and part of the way
through rock. Where wells arr
needed they are not SO easily OBJ
tanned as in Red Willow county
The spring water is very soft ant
the we'll water very hard. The
price of lands are from SIS to S3'
per acre owing to Improvement
and location. Taking the improve
ments into consideration, the LAM
here is about the same price as il
Red Willow county. Mr.. Geo
Brown, who deals in real estate
took us over the country an
showed several fine tracts Of Ian
that could be bought, some with
out improvements and some we
. improved. Mr.. Brown is yer
careful to not show up the countr
with anything but facts which ca
be verified by the best farmers o
Camas Prairie. Any parties col
responding with Mr.. Geo. Brown
: Grangeville, will receive proml
and courteous treatment and
true statement OF facts which ma
: seem in some cases out of reason
When we state that rs bushels ,
wheat and 1875 bushels of oats p'
alre have been raised here it look
in plain English, like lie, but
is the exact truth, and the me
st who ra;s ed it and did the TIRES