The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1902-09-04
VAN w. HASBROUCk, Sec'y

ing wheat up Potlatch canyon has been a
very costly business for the Northern Pa
cifc, and that road will undoubtedly well
come the opportunity to get out of this
difficult territory by a gravity route.
Now that harmony seems to dwell in
the camps of the railroad companies, we
may witness the practical abandonmen nj
Of that dangerous and extensively oper-
ated piece of road through the canyon,
as soon as the line from Riparia is ready
for business. Already there is consider
able talk of the construction of line
from Pullman, Wash, to Penewawa on
on the Snake river, which would give
the best wheat district in the Palouse an
outlet by gravity route.
1t is only about IS miles from Pullman
down to the river and Penewawa creek
forms natural and easy grade for the
entire distance. When the first work on
the Snake river road was started several
years ago. both the Northern Pacific and
o. R. h N. surveyed the route, and had
not truce been declared at that time the
line would now be in operation. The
building of this road would save a haul
Of many miles on many thousands tons of
wheat, whether it was taken out by way
of the canyon and thence to the Snake
river line, or whether it followed the
present route. Its construction would
leave nothing for the Northern Pacific
between Vollmer and Kendrick, aud
would probably be followed by the aban.
donment Of the track down the canyon,
between those two points.
With the greater portion of her crop
grown on new or comparatively new land
Idaho has secured good reputation for
her wheat, and for the past few years a
considerable amount has been annually
shipped to the eastern markets to be used
in the manufacture of breakfast and
and health foods. A Michigan firm which
has become famous for the fantastic
names with which it adorn. his health
foods, last year purchased over 100 600
bushels of Idaho bluestem and Sonora
wheat, and at this time it is probable that
Idaho wheat is being eaten all over the
United States as "Uneeda Crackers"
"Eata Hunka." or "Bita Chunka," bis
cult or under some other equally outlan-
dish alias. Unlike the fax business,
however, the price of Idaho wheat is reg
ulated by prices paid for export purposes
from the Pacific Coast ports, and at the
present time so cents is hardly obtainable.
The farmers in the Clearwater are ap-
parently not such sticklers for that figure
as some Of them are selling as soon as
the crop is ready.
A rich soil and the assurance of good
crops have insti led in the mind of the
average Idaho man who dwells in the
val eys intense loyalty for his state and a
kind of in-disguised contempt for less-ta-
vored localities. One of these patriotic
grain men asked me about the prospects
over in the Washtucna country, and when
told him that the rain came too late to
make good crop, and the yields were
running as low as 10 and IA bushels per
acre in some of the worst districts, he
said:
"Well. what do they expect? They
have no right to think that they are en-
titled to even 10 bushels to the acre. and
when they get it they ought to be thank
full and prepare themselves for nothing
for the following few years. Tell 'en1
that land is still cheap in Idaho, and that
crops never fail down here.
With the exception of the Big Bend
idaho is about the only portion Of the
Northwest that has not gone into barley
and oats quite extensively this season
Flax and wheat have proven sufficiently
renu lucrative for the Idaho farmers, ant
except for an occasional field near Mos