Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-09-08
BUHL, IDAHO,
Aug. %, 1908.
To the Editor of the WAUsAU PILoT:

myself once more In the Twin L dlls
and Bull country. From appearance;
the people of these tracts are the great
est hustiers and boosters on the face o.
the earth, for the entire face of the
country for miles upon miles has been
changed and instead of vast area ol
sage-brush, desert in appearance, one
sees at this time of the year, extensive
acres of yellow grain, mainly wheat
and oats and other areas of green,-
alfalfa fields, yielding the, third crop
The claim shanties, in hundreds OF
cases, have been replaced by neat one
story cottages already painted and
ornamented with vines and surrounded
by trees still in their infancy but grow
ing. While the city of Twin Falls has
had miraculous growth in the two
years, thousands of substantial modem
homes having been erected, the city OF
Bull has hardly kept pace with the
marvellous growth of the country
tributary to it, namely-the original
south side Twin Falls tract, part oil
the north side Twin Falls tract, the
Salmon River tract, and the Hagerman
tract. The people regard the steady
growta as good feature. AS it is, in
two years, Buhl has about forty bust.
ness concerns, prominent among which
are implement houses, hardware stores.
blacksmith shops, general stores, banks,
drug stores, lumber yards and real
estate offices. twenty-five new homes
are to be added to the residence quarter
before Dec. 1. The people who have
purchased parts of the 100000 acres
called the "Buhl Country" are getting
it ready for fruit raising as rapidly as
possible, but the yield so far has been
mainly wheat, oats, alfalfa and garden
vegetables. The first mentioned has
yielded all the way from thirty five
to sixty-five bushels to the acre, oats
from sixty to hundred and ten, and the
excellent yield of four hundred bushels
of potatoes from an acre of land was
obtained only two and half miles
from Bull The equable climate rang
ing from zero only in winter to S5 de-
grees in summer, and all the elements
necessary for the production of fruit,
tend, inevitably, to make this country
a great fruit tract.
Churches and schools are prom
inent feature of the tract. A twenty
five thousand dollar school building
the gift of Frank Buhl, president of the
Land & Water Co., is being erected
and will be completed in the near future
The Episcopalians and Methodists are
just little in advance of other church
organizations, having their buildings
now or nearly completed, but the
Baptists, Catholics and Presbyterians
have already organized societies.
The farm of L. H. and A. G. Gurnea,
father and son, where the writer was
is one of the interesting
spots near Bull. Only spot in the
wilderness two years ago, it has been
transformed into home in the truest
sense of the term. Rows of grape,
raspberry and strawberry vines auorn
the five acres in front of the house.
Between these are plots of grass and
growing trees. At the side is the vege-
table garden and such sugar beets, car
rots and especially potatoes the writer
had never seen or tasted in Minnesota
or Wisconsin. Many of the potatoes
were of enormous size and possessed all
of the rich flavor of the virgin soil. A
neat little bungalow stands in the rear
of these grounds and row of locust
trees separates it from the fields and
barn-yard. In the latter are horses,
cows, pigs, chickens and ducks. To
accomplish such a change in the time,
required some genius in the line of irri-
CATION and that Mr.. Gurnea possesses
He is an architect by trade and has
spared no pains in the perfection of his
bitches and sluice-b boxes so that irriga-
ton with him is carried on with the
greatest of ease. While many are dam
ming up stream here and digging
away there, the water on Mr.. Gurnea's s
fields is flowing in regular silver lines
without any attention.
Cne of the greatest hustlers >. Buhl
is Mr.. j. Warren White, tie editor of
the Bull Pioneer, to whose courtesy
the writer is indebted for much of the
foregoing inform alton. During a resi-
dence of a year and half he has
worked up paper covering ten pages,
in which no line of improvement is lost
sight of and no industry is overlooked.
To number of such pioneers, who are
courageous, fearless and hopeful for
the future, Bull and the whole tract,
owe their present prosperity and their
future success.
All who find comfortable homes are
indebted to those conquerors of the
desert, the pathfnders to lands of peace
and plenty. To such | dedicate the
following lines, which, though they
may lack in beauty and poetical quality
are not lacking in sincerity.
When you're tired of life in the citys mad rush
And of skies that are gray
And cyclones that crush,
When you long for bright Skies
And winds that blow free;
And people whose hearts sing:
''My country, it's thee,''
Come where lights gleam from homes,
By the thousand and more
| 'Mong sweet fields of grain
Which were desert before,
For vast reaches of sage-brush
Loomed by night and by day
Serving not to invite but to keep man away,
Now he fears them no more
As foe filed with strife
Since the Grand Canal winds
With the water of life
Come where larks sing so sweetly
From morning till cen.
Where alfalfa grows tall
With blue blossoms among green
Leave behind the great marts forests, fountains
Breathe the perfume of sage-brush,
Still soothing and sweet
In Idaho, gem of the mountains.
RosALIA BoHRER.
Whu