The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-09-07
NO EXCITEMENT
OVER OPENING
"Five-MiIe Limit Fort Hall
Lands Easily Disposed of.
LAND OFFICE WAS PREPARED
BUT THE MAD RUSH DID NOT
DEVELOP.
fspeelal 70 The Herald.l


Blaekfoot. Ida, Sept. 6.-The weary
waiting of the line Of homeseekers who
have been camping in front of tie
United States land Office at this place
was brought 10 an end today by the
formal opening for sale at $3.50 per acre
of those lands lying In a radius OF five'
miles around Pocatello on the Fort Hail
Indian reservation and officially know
as the Five Mile Limit Lands" There
was a surprising dearth of excitement
in the proceedings and the several
hundred spectators who had gathered
to witness the opening in the hope of a
'DOnnybrook fair occasion were
sadly disappointed.
Many Carried Guns.
Tie incident Of yesterday, when a
husky sooner attempted 10 butt into
the front rank, and was elected by the
sheriff. had left the crowd in an ugly
mood and was responsible for the APP
pearance of much artillery about the
persons in line and likewise kept the
sheriff and half dozen deputies on
the qui vive for possible usurpers in
the crowd that pushed and damned
against the rail that separated the APP
plieants from the curious spectators.
The land Office was prepared for the
rush, if such il may be called, and
sent the applicants through at the rate
of fifty and hour.
Squatter Came First.
First to enter was S. M. Nixon, who
fled on 100 acres located near the
reservoir site of the city of POcatello
and upon which he las been a squatter
for some years. He had been in line
two weeks and was almost exhausted
by the strain and hardship.
He was followed by W. B. Bartholf,
another patient waiter Of nearly two
weeks.
After the first twenty-five or thirty
had passed there were many who had
been in line several days whose selec-
tons had already been taken. 1t was
this feature that enabled the land Of
flee to dispose of all the applicants In
line today.
OF the lands opened only $500 acres
are classified as agricultural lands.
These are desert in character and
valueless without water.
Future Possibility.
Six miles to the north of the north
ern most section of these lands the
Idaho canal ends its sixty mile journey
in the spOnge-like sands about Ross
Fork. 1t is this canal and the rain
bOw-hued possibility Of it's extension as
far as PocatelIo, that baited the ap-
plicants. THIS canal, which formerly
had the support Of the government ana
was intended to create a taste in
poor 10" for products of the soil. has
lately fallen into the sordid hands OF a
private corporation. From some dis
lance above Idaho Falls, where il heads
from Snake river to the edge of the
reservation, il is a respectable life
giving stream, but in the twenty Ave
or more miles of its meanderings over
the reservation it is reduced 70 a mere
triclIle. Besides this the waters of the
Snake are about TO be decreased which
leaves the status of the water for the
Five Mile Limit Lands" in grave
doubt until the waters of the Snake
have been supplemented by govern
ment aid.
1T was noticeable that few ex-
perienced agriculturist5 were in the
line this morning. There were clerks,
laborers, bartender spectators, and a
scattering Of Greeks upon whose citi-
zen papers the ink had scarcely dried.
but men who bore the stamp of the
rancher were cOnspicuoEsIy absent.