Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-07-12
ALetter From Idaho.
Boise City. Idaho, July 1. /!

Boise City, Idaho, July 4, 1902.
Editor Herald:-We arrived in Poe
atella Sunday noon, June p, unlOaded
our outfit from the car, gathered our
selves together, and "took inn the
town. We found Pocatella to con-
tain about 1000 people, and lying in
the heart of a reservation. The sur
rounding country is practically unim-
proved, other than Indian tepeeS and
ShantieS. Pocatella is quite shipping
point for range stock. The day we
were there, there were p cars Orange
horses loaded for st. Louis, a train
load of ca tile for Kansas City, and a
trainload of sheep for eastern markets.
Monday we camped for the night by d
little brook, out a few miles, and here
1 caught my first trout, which was a
fine specimen, but it was the only one
we were able to catch. They are very
Shy and dainty as to what they take
hold of in the way of food. I caught
this one with the egg pouch of black
bird for bait. They are very fond of
eggs.
We travelled through sage brush to
American Falls. on the Snake River.
There the river is about a quarter of
mile wide with Hfall' of about fifty
feet. They are making prepare tionS
to utilize the power for pumping wat
er for irrigation as well as electric
power to be used in surrounding cities
% miles distant. The banks Of the
river are almost barren of vegetation,
excepting a few willows, wild currantS
and rose bushes We have travelled
now for about ten days down the
Snake River valley, which ranges
from so to 100 miles in width, and is
covered with sage which reminds me
of scrubby elder bush. The trunk
of the bush looks like a grape vine
and makes very good fuel. Among
this brush, grass grows similar to that
in western Kansas, but is eaten down
by the sheep during the winter and
spring until it is as bare as the streets
of PhillipSburg. During the summer
months the stock runs back into the
mountains and gives the grass an op-
pOrtunity to grow. AS the fall rains
set in each county carries from two to
five hundred thousand sheep besides a
goodly number of cattle and horses.
Much of this valley is covered with a
black lava rock. 1t is watered by
mountain streams which flow into
the Snake River and range from five
to fifty miles apart. The valleys on
these streams are narrow, but produce
fine grass for hay.
Here we find the settlements. we
made one drive of fifty miles without
water or seeing a settlement, but we
saw several small bands of wild horses,
eight or ten head in band. Each
band is guarded by stallion, and on
seeing a rig he will round them up
and start them off on gallop, biting
and kicking the slower ones along, to
a safe retreat.
Very little irrigating is done from
the Snake River, as its bed is very
low and sluggish. Considerable placer
mining is done on the river. The gold
is as fine as -four, but can be found
along there. We camped
one night in bend of the river where
it had changed its channel. I picked
out spot in the old channel where I
guessed that Lewis and Clark had
foated over century ago. 1 dug a
prospect hole, and was rewarded by
finding gold in the gravel that would
probably run several thousand dollars
to the acre.
Our greatest amusement, so far, has
been in shooting sage hens and jack
rabbits. The sage brush is the home
of the jack-rabbit; so much SO that
the farmers often make drives and
kill from five to ten thousand at one
roundup. They are great nuisance.
The sage hen much resembles the
prairie chicken Of Kansas, and are
very numerous.
We arrived In Boise City on the Sd
of July. and it is certainly paradise.
The finest orchards that my eyes ever
beheld, all heavily laden with fruit
Vegetables of all kinds do well, and
also tame grasses. One acre will fur
nish feed for three head OF stock, ten
out of the twelve, under a
system of irrigation that no doubt is
the best in the world. Boise is the
capital of the state, with a population
of II 600, and is growing rapidly.
ran across an old friend known in our
as Land Office Lindsay" of
He is hale and hearty and
doing we'll, and has manifested a great
interest in showing Gptle advantages
of the country. I accepted his hospi- /
tally and dined with him and his
wife, who is also much Improved in