Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1902-11-13
THE GROWING WEST.

Greeley advised young men to go
west and grow up with the coun-
try. The people in that genera
ton had great faith in Greeley,
politically and otherwise, and many
obeyed the injunction. His idea
was that there were too many peo-
pie in the eastern cities trying TO
make bare living, and that they
could do better in new country.
The lands of New York and New
England generally were worth then
more than they are today, when
better lands in a more genial eli
mate are to be had at government
prices in the northwest. What
was true of the eastern cities then
is true Of the large towns of the
west today. Like the lands of the
Atlantic seabOard states so years
ago the farms of Iowa and the mid
die western states are held so high
that laboring man or a young
man of moderate means would sell
himself into life servitude if he at
tempted to buy one of those farms
on time, and would be likely to
lose his possessions in the end.
The laboring men who remained
in the cities may have succeeded
in making living and raising a
family respectfully, providing they
were honest, temperate, economical
and Industrious, but the greater
portion are simply employees, with
no hope Of ever bettering their con-
dition.
The injunction to go west has
just as much force today as it had
when it was first announced, and
is just as applicable to the young
men Of the Mississippi valley states
as it was to the young men of the
Atlantic states 80 years ago. The
young men of good habits who
settled on the lands OF the middle
west years ago now own their own
farms and to-day have money to
loan, and many of them in their
old age move to the towns and live
on the income from their farms.
1t is usual to settle contiguous ter
ritory first, and the rush is now to
the Dakotas and Minnesota where,
as rule, farming is not u very re-
muDerative industry and these
states as rule are not prosperous.
During the last 20 years the Da-
kotas have been repeatedly parched
by drouth and swept by storms.
The land on the river bottoms is
excellent, but on the high prairies
the soil is light and in dry season
almost destitute of water, except as
it is obtained by artesian wells
from 1000 to 1900 feet deep. The
conditions are severe, being
to six months winter and
three months late in the fall, to
which may be added three months
of roasting, hot summers. But in
spite of these drawbacks the eli
mate is healthful and the soil
adapted to wheat raising.
But westward the star of empire
takes its way. Emigration is now
its last move toward the
paradise in the Pacific
From the time when
the emigrants left the Atlantic
coast 100 years ago every remove
has found a better soil
and better climate. The final
has been found in
Idaho, Oregon and Washington,
between the Rocky mountains and
the Cascade range. Idaho has the
lowest death rate of any state in
the Union, and the same death
rate applies to the entire north
west. In the lands of this state
there are no fogs, floods, cyclones
Or thunder storms and no crop
failures. At the Omaha and Buff
falo expositions the finest apples,
peaches and all kinds of fruit not
tropical were grown in Idaho. ro- |
tatoes weighing six pounds each,
apples weighing 2S ounces each,
and wheat running 65 bushels to
the acre were exhibited as the
products Of our Idaho soils. This |
is certainly one of the states des-
tined to be very quickly settled up.
Land is cheap and very fertile, and
Any industrious farmer can make