The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1904-07-08
IDAHO RANKS HIGH,
In Resources And Future
Possibilities.
MINING, NUMBERING, FARMING
White Pine Forests and Lead
Mines Unsurpassed.

ANAASS OuouI PdSSCu.
Idaho, one OF the last states in the
union to develop its resousces car
now boast that development is well
under way, says the Minneapolis
Journal. Millions of capital have
come and are coming into the state
from other states, increasing the out
put OF many mines, building lumber
mills in the vast forests of timber,
bringing into productive fertility
through irrigation thousands of acres
OF ard lands, increasing the immense
fiocks and herds, fields and orchards
and gardens, growing cities and
towns. Agriculture, stock-raising,
mining and numbering are the four
great industries Of Idaho. The area
OF the state is S4,7o0 square miles.
OF this land, 100000 acres are
suitable for agriculture and l2,OOO,-
Ooo acres are capable of irrigation.
In the northern part of the state
are large areas where the rainfall is
sufficient to fertilize the soil. There
are in Idaho, according to the report
OF the state engineer, seven hundred
thousand acres of land under cultiya-
ton by irrigation. This area is soon
to be greatly increased by private
enterprise cooperating with the
state in canal building and by the
United States government, which has
Withdrawn one million acres of arid
land from settlement To supply
this land with water the government
has planned to build huge reservoirs
/ to hold the floods that come from
the mountains in the spring; and
from these reservoirs this water is to
be distributed later in the season to
the lands which will be sold with the
water right at from SIS to $40 an
acre, the purchaser of lands receiy-
ing proportionate share or interest
IN the irrigation plant. Aside from
this plan of the United States gov
ernment ten private companies and
corporations are building irrigation
systems in the different parts of the
arid regions. These systems will
furnish water to about five hundred
thousand acres of land.
The timber area Of the state con-
tains ten million acres. Eight mil
lion acres are available for manufac-
ture into lumber. There is an
average of ten thousand feet OF lum-
Der on every acre, as shown by
United States government SURVEYS.
This would make a total for the
state of eighty billion feet. For
manufacturing purposes this lumber
is worth Sl4 for ono thousand feet.
SO that the total value of the timber
is, according to authoritative estimate,
the sum of one billion one hundred
and twenty million dollars. Idaho |
has the largest white pine forests in
the United States, perhaps in the
whole world.
Many fortunes have been made in
wool and mutton in the state and. |
according TO the estimate of 7. C.
Dresler, state sheep inspector, Idaho
will probably rank second in the
United States this year in the aggre-
gate number of its fleecy herds.
There arc now about three and a
half million sheep i'll Idaho. On the
ranges are about one million cattle
worth about twenty million dollars.
Idaho is fifth in the sisterhood Of
states in the production of precious
metals. More than half the lead
that is mined iii the United States
comes from there. Combined with
the lead is silver. Idaho has pro-
duced more than one hundred mil
lion dollars worth Of this metal.
There are immense deposits of iron
coal and copper that have not yet
been opened. The total product of
the placer gold mines is estimated at
more than five hundred million dol