The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-18
S00NERS SECURE CHOICE LAND

Continued from Page l.
when final proof is made. The land
viii be sold in forty-acre tracts. and
no person can take uD more than $50
acres. The land within five miles Of
POcatellO is to be sold at auction July
II, for not less than SO per acre.
Many Good Tracts.
Of the agricultural lands outside the
ive-mile limit, a number Of the best
tracts have been improved by the In
dams, Some of these Improvements
were sold last month to the highest
bidder, and conveyed with them a
thirty day preference right in which TO
enter the land.
The balance of the $4,000 acres classed
as agricultural lands are unimprOved.
and desert in character. Water for
irrigation purposes can be secured for
nearly every subdivision Of this land,
but its reclamation can only be ac-
cOmplished by years Of organized ef-
fort and the expenditure of thousands
Of dollars. Great canals must BE ex-
caYated, extending for miles to the re-
mote tableIands of the Snake river;
and expert engineering talent must be
employed to design these canals. There
IS however, some opportunity for indi-
vidual effort, as there are numerous
small streams flowing through the res
ervation which can be diverted on to
contiguous lands at a comparatively
small expense.
OF the 322. 600 acres elassed as grazing
lands but little can be said from an
agricultural standpoint. They are
rugged, desert and mountainous in
character, and their stingy soil offers
no inducement to the settler seeking a
home. They are valuable only to stock
men during the early spring months.
when the moisture. from the winters
SHOWS induces a sparse growth of range
grass Later they are Drowned and
baked by the hot. dry weather of June
and July. and do not afford subsist-
ence for even a grasshoppepr.
Rich in Minerals.
The existence of rich mineral indi-
cations in the BannOck and Portneuf
ranges has been known for years, and
there are hundreds of men about Black
foot and Pocatello who can exhibit
rich specimens Of rock picked up on the
reservation.
The story is told of cattleman who
crossed the range with a herd Of cattle
and filled his saddlebags with pieces
of float with which to stone a refrac-
tory steer: that on arriving at Black
foot some days later. and emptying his
saddlebags of the remaining pieces Of
rock, his attention was called to their
mineral character. An assay Of the
few pieces remaining brought out the
startling information that the stuff was
worth over $500 per ton
These stories and the finding Of rich
rock all along the POrtneuf and BAN
mock ranges brought a horde Of pros
pectOrs from Butte, Salt Lake, Boise
and Denver. In addition to those from
the outside the army of fortune hunters
was swelled by local recruits from all
walks of life. There were lawyers,
clerks, railroad men, ranchers, sheep
herders and even staid old business
men who had never been known to
grubstal1e prospector caught the fever
and sat astTide a cayuse awaiting the
clock to strike L, at which time Uncle
Sam was 70 withdraw his Indian police
and give 10 the people a heritage so
vast that no man knows it's Dossibili-
ties.
Pocatello, Blackfoot and other points
adjacent to the reservation presented
strange sights of activity this morning.
AS early as 10 o'clock an army of men,
on foot, on horseback and in all kinds
OF vehicles began to gather on the out
skirts of Pocatelln, ready for the big
race. Besides tx participants there
were scores of others leading or riding
horses which were to be used by men
who had made arrangements for relays
OF fast horses at different points on
the reservation, and who had planned a
schedule Of twenty miles per hour i'm
order to beat the fast special train on
the Oregon Short Line that was sched-
uled to leave McCammOn at 1;30 p. M,
and arrive at Blackfoot at $3.50 p m
An Odd Conglomeration.
They presented a strange. mixture Of
humanity as they lined up for the
start. There was the pale clerk trying
| TO look easy on the hurricane deck OF
an Indian pony; the bulky man of BUSH
ness, with his road wagon and smart
/ team; the sturdy athlete who pinned
his faith in a good pair of legs; the
D tenderfOot, with a bundle of stakes
/ ready to set up his notice Of location
on any pile of rock that looked prom
! Using; the grizzled prOspector, QUILTED
! for a long siege, and last, but not least,
! there were women, a half-dozen of
/ them. young girls mostly, mounted on
ponies, wearing a six-shOOter and a
I look Of pale determination that BODIED
/ evil Tor the man who infringed on
/ their rights.
! All were eagerly waiting for the sig
| nal to rush out over the sagebrush
/ veldt and for what? Not all Of them
I could answer that question. IT was
| the idea Of getting something for moth
4 ing that attracted them. Many had left
J the crowded east, seeking elbow room
and were attracted by the presidents
! proclamation opening a portion Of the
Fort Hall reservation. Where they
came from land is the monopoly, and
water is not considered at all: here all
is different water is the monopoly, the
I very essence of life; men fight for Il as
for gold; without it there is no life
These men from the east wanted land:
they viii not be disappointed. There
is plenty Of It, but of the Iife-givins
fluid there is but little There are many
OF them sleeping in the long line in
front of the land Office tonight; tomor-
row they will ile on their new homes
but many of them will be bowed and
gray before they taste the fruit of to-
days gallant race.
START FROM PoCATELAo.