The daily sentinel., 1908-06-04

AS stated by The Sentinel yester-
day John ID. Secor, of this county,
was one of the first fifty winners.
All will be interested in a most
graphic account of the drawing and
the first days events (Monday being
the first day. taken from Tuesdays
Salt Lake Herald. In part it follows:
Intense Excitement.
The barrel containing the cubes
numbered to correspond with the
registrations was given its initial
whirl by Secretary of State Lands
don at 10 o'clock. Two thousand
pairs of eyes were glued on that bar
rel For many in the crowd it housed
their hopes of future homes and fat
bank accounts. The opening was at,
tended by continuation of the
downpour of rain that had rendered
conditions in Twin Falls far from
agreeable for the past twenty-four
hours and the discomforture was in
| creased by q brisk and searching
wind But the crowd that faced the
officials at the outset of the greatest
| land opening in the history of the
northwest was unmindful of the ele-
ments. If the chill blast of the Arc
tic or withering and suffocation ST.
moon of Arabia had swept over them
the enchantment of dame chance
would not have been dispellcd. In n
solid mass they stood in the square
before the barrel. unmindful of wind
and rain and beating the mud into
batter beneath their feet until it was
necessary to haul straw to save the
space from becoming an unSghtly
pond and the landseckers from being
/ rooted therein.
Hope in Each Breast.
The crowd was not warmed by an
enthusiasm evidenced by outward de-
monstrations, but there was some
thing burning in each breast, some
thing that flared up as cube after
cube was lifted out of the barrel, but
that was restrained from belching
forth into delirous exhibitions by the
cool and business-like procedure of
the officials who handed out first
here and then there something for
nothing, and really that is what II
all meant The drawing proceeded
without ceremony. General S. H.
Hays made few explanatory re-
marks on behalf of the company, and
Registrar Church, on behalf of the
state land board, under whose super
vision the drawing was conducted,
the board being represented also by
Secretary of State Landsdon and Miss
Chamberlain school superintendent
Drawing of the First Number.
I-andsdon gave a barrel a whirl
and a small hoy dived in and fished
out the first number. 1t was 81. held
by DR.. c. B. Weaver of Galva. Kan,
attorney for o. C. Paulson of Gree
ley, Colo The doctor filed on 1GO
acres just above the highline canal
and a little over four miles from
/ I~,n 1T In
section S, township IL. range H..
Coinc.dentally. he drew the last
number of the box at the Jerome
opening last fall. Milo Thomas of
Twin Falls drew the second cube, and
he selected forty acres. The draw
ing proceeded slowly at first, but
within an hour the delays incident to
the start had been reduced to min
imum. From the drawing booth the
lucky ones proceeded to the filing
booth in line. There large force of
clerks operating under a perfect sys-
tenn devised by Robert McCollum
handled the business as fast as it was
presented.
The crowd remained impassive out
wardly. Occasionally a shout went
up as some well known man palmed
a cube and started to file, and when
was announced the initial demonstra-
ton occurred. She is Miss Anna
Wetzel of Philadelphia, and her at
torney was handed the forteenth cube
and filed on forty acres for her.
Again the crowd lapsed into silence
and the drawing proceeded, monot-
onously broken by the droning of
husky-voiced young men with mega
phones. Number % was given an
ovation. 1t was drawn for Edward
Staples. Gradually the chart post
outside the filing booth began to
take on a checker board appearance.
There was no unanimity of opinion
respecting locations. The first hun
dred filing dotted the chart literally.
Any evidence of general preference
was with reference to the land un-
der the highline canal near Twin
Falls. For a long time the land
around the proposed town of Holli-
ster went begging. The first to file
there was ]. NJ. Spackman of Twin
Falls, who took forty acres adjoin-
ing the townsite on one corner.
Among the first from Boise to draw