Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1906-06-02
Boomers Ferry

charitable pine, FIR, cedar and tamarack. mis-
plain has an area Of about 500 900 acres, and
most of it is level or slightly rolling, while
some portions are more or less broken All
billy. 1t extends from the river bottoms
back to the high mountains which rise ma
jestcally in the background The soil is
mostly a light loan with a good subsoii
which holds moisture, and in some places /
is black loan with clay subsol Many
creeks running down from the mountains
and through lateral valleys furnish good
quality of cold, uncontaminated water for
the use of those who will occupy the lands
Some of the larger streams, tumbling down
over cataracts, will furnish power for manu-
featuring the various timber products that
surround them and for other useful purposes
Just as soon as capital learns of the extra
ordinary advantages presented. There are
also numerous lakes and perpetual springs
scattered over this area, furnishing good
water for domestic USE and where these are
not found wells have been dug, varying i'll
depth from 10 to so feet. What is said of
the ownership of the bottom lands is also
true of these lands. 1t is only within the
last five or six years that these beach lands
have been settled upon.
The government land is about oil taken
under the homestead and timber laws, and
the purchasers of the odd numbered sections
Go not live on the land; there is not more
than one-third of its area that is actually
settled upon. The settler usually finds some
part of his claim that has light timber, easily
cleared, where he is clearing and cutivating
what he can each year. Orchards are set
out on almost every claim and it is a COM
co 60, oil Hran l-tt1
down with big red-2o ounce apples; clusters
of plums or prunes as large as hens eggs;
cherries, pears and peaches. Strawberries
and other small fruit grow to an enormous
size and are perfection itself in appearance
and flavor. Some of the older settlers now
ship fruit, unexceed in size, appearance and
flavor, by the carload. While this land is
essentially fruit land, many of the older
settlers have made splendid timothy, clover
and grain fields Potatoes, cabbage and
other vegetables yield abundantly in addition
to their orchards Lands of this kind can
be had at a very low figure in quantities
from 4O-acre tract up to whole section
or a dozen or more sections There is no
more favorable place for the settler of mod
crate means TO procure a home and it is
especially adapted to coonizing. We invite
the attention of prospective colonists to this
place before locating There is plenty of
room here for several such settlements,
where they have room to grow and expand
THE TIMBER.
The timber in the Kootena valley is the
largest visible source of wealth at the pres
ont time. 1t consists of yellow pine red fir
tamarack, white pine, cedar, spruce and cot
tonwood. The greater part of the timber
now available is of the three first named
kinds and the cottonwood. There is consid-
cradle cedar and white pine now available
but the larger bodies of these are more re-
mote in the mountain basins but can be
easily reached when wanted The timber
is not as large as that found on Puget sound
but it grows tall and sound, making good
lumber, with good percentage in the up
per grades, running about from three to six
logs to the thousand feet. There is enough
of this timber in the Kootenai valley tribu-
tary to Boomers Ferry, to run several large
Sawmills for so years. For a distance of
$50 miles above Boomers Ferry this splendid
river and its many large tributaries flow
through tinibered country Logs can be
floated down without difficulty to Boomers
Ferry, which is at the foot of the swift wa
ter and the logical manufacturing point for
the entire product of this vast forest. For
80 miles below Boomers Ferry it is also
vast forest and the logs can be towed up the
river or brought up on the Kootenai Valley
railroad. The numbering industry is yet in
its infancy here. There is one large sawmill
with planning mill, all modern construction,
with a capacity of $4,000 feet per day, Civ
ing employment to several hundred men in
the mills and timber but there is plenty of
room for several such institutions and it will
not be long until they are here There is
also an abundance of material for the manu-
facture of paper pulp and wOodenware. The
three railroads before mentioned cut through
this timber in such manner that none of it
IS hard to reach, and supplies can be taken by
rail to within a short distance of logging
camps everywhere. One or more wagon
roads traverse nearly every township of this
timber
STOCKRAISING AND DAIRYING
With plenty of nutritious grass growing
all through the timber and in the bottoms,
summer grazing is unlimited, and the ease
with which winter fodder can be procured
makes this an ideal valley for stock raising
Lie Il