Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-06-14
This Practical Miracle Work bCiteS the
Wonder of Chicago News
PAPER Writer.

September its members VIII nave |
an opportunity to inspect some of
the greatest irrigation works in
the world. Its members will be
within a short distance Of the
famous Twin Falls irrigation
works, which have been construct
ed at an expense. of several million
dollars by private capital, and
which are converting hundreds of
thousands of acres of desert land,
heretofore the home of the sage
brush, coyote and jack rabbit, into
the most fertile and productivee
lands in the world. Its members
will also have an opportunity to in
Spcct the vast reclamation works
which the national government is
now constructing, known as the
Boise-Payette project, which is to
cost a total of $1,000, 900, and
which will throw open about 300,-
900 acres of desert land to settlers.
Idaho is being transformed by ir-
rigation. With mighty rivers flow
mig in its confines and hundreds of
millions of gallons of water daily
going to waste, its lands have been
simply because of the aridity of the
climate. For miles and miles one
can travel through deserts in which
nothing grows but the sagebrush.
Put water on these lands, however,
and the result is nothing short of
miraculous. Land apparently of
no earthly value is found to possess
the elements of fertility to the most
astonishing degree; before the water
the sagebrush disappears, and the
whole face of the country is trans
formed as if by magic. That is the
metarnorphosis that is taking place
in Idaho today, and that is attract
ing new settlers into the state by
the thousands. The waste places
are in truth being made glad, and
the state is fast taking its place as
one of the agricultural states of
the Union.
In the works now being built by
the government and also by private
capital the rivers are being brought
under subsection and their thunder
ing torrents are being controlled
and gently spread over the deserts
to transform them into garden spots.
There is never any lack of water
in Idaho-the only problem hitherto
has been it's control. From its snow
capped mountains in the summer q
constant stream is flowing down, as
the snow and ice upon them melts,
and these streams are now being
diverted to the benefit of man.
What has been done in Utah ano
California is now being done on {
vastly greater scale in Idaho, anc
already the beneficial effects of the
great, and comprehensive plans o
the government are apparent.
One of the advantages of life il
an irrigated country is that you car
make 1t rain just when you want i
to. The farmer does not have t.
postpone his blowing, for instance
because the ground is too wet
neither does his wheat sprout in thu
shock because it is too wet to stack
Drought has no terror for tn
farmer, because he can supply jus
the requisite amount of water to hi
land at any time, and at just tn
time when the growing crops nee
it most. Irrigation enables tn
farmer to conduct his work OF
strictly scientific principles am
eliminates the law of chance en-
tirely.
All that Idaho has needed in tn
past has been water, and now it i
getting it. The soil is there, an
its climate is an ideal one. Cyclone
and billiards are unknown. 1t
essentially land of sunshine, tn
sun shining there from 500 to %
days a year. In the summer tn
temperature sometimes goes to tn
100 mark, but, owing to the elves
tion of the country and the dryne:
of the atmosphere, men can wor
out during the hottest weatht
without the slightest danger of SUI
stroke, while ii is always comfor
able in the shade. In the whit,
there is an abundant snowfall, bl
the days are generally clear ar
crisp. Owing to the light, dl
atmosphere, the cold is not felt
in the eastern ststes, where the a
is full of humidity.
What can be grown in Idah'
This was a subject on which l fe
considerable interest and one whit
took great deal Of trouble to i
Vestigate on a recent visit to 4