The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-05-22
GEM STATES
GREAT RIVER
Millions of Acres Reclaimed and
: Thousands of Horse Power De-
veloped from the Turgid
Reaches of Snake River.

ShoShOne journal: From the
roof of the continent, from the eter-
nal snow-clad peaks of tn main
range of the Rockies, come the wat
ers that supply the Snake river val
ley irrigation projects. The Snake
river has it's head in the great Yel-
lowstone National Park, that land of
wonders, where the world seems to
turn up on end, where through the
thin crust is vomited the strangest
medley of hot water, hot mud, scor-
lac, and where tremors Of the earth
are of frequent occurrence. One
could almost imagine that the Evil
One dwelt there lurking in the gey-
sers, the streaming cones of the hard
ly extinct volcanoes, and the seething
hot mud boiled over Tintanic cauld-
rons of solid rock.
But not all the products of this
strange region are grotesque or
merely spectacular. From the noun
tains where the snow drifts in places
to a depth Of hundreds of feet, the
glad streams flow down to the sea,
now broad and placid, now turbulent
and precipitous, but always down
ward to the thirsty lowlands and on
to the Pacific. Denied the great boon
of a copious rainfall, the genius of
man has taken the mighty river that
traverses Idaho for 500 miles, and
by cunning art has brought it out
of the rock-walled canyon, on to the
once arid fields where sun and soil
and water together conquer the des-
ert almost at a breath.
The Snake river has two principal
branches. The North Fork rises In
Henry's Lake in Idaho just west Of
the Yellowstone park; flowing shrdl
the Yellowstone park, and the South
Fork rises In the Yellowstone park;
flowing first south for $50 miles on
the east side of the Teton range. 1t
then breaks through this mighty
range Of granite and turns back on
its track and flows northward nearly
the same distance until 1t meets the
north fork of the river near Rexburg,
in Fremont county. After the south
fork breaks through the Tetons 1t
enters broad fertile valley and at
the junction of the two rivers Is the
center of one of the earliest and most
profitable sections of irrigated land
in the state. The upper river valley
was early irrigated, because 1t was
comparatively easy to get the water
out of the river into the bitches. The
lower valley Is also easily watered In
the same manner, as well as getting
much water from the Boise, Payette
and Weiser rivers.
South Central Idkho New Field.
But the middle valley Is the por-
tion that is today receiving the at
tention of the entire world on ac-
count Of the magnificent irrigation
schemes being carried out In 1t. The
soil and climate of this section of the
valley are unsurpassed In Idaho or
any other state. The reason these
sections have been left SO long un-
developed is that 1t required nothing
short of millions of dollars to erect
the necessary dams and works to get
the river up onto the lands, and Ida
no was short just $999, ,999.50 She
had the four bits and plenty of grit
and nerve, so she started to work to
interest capital She has succeeded
and today a million acres of these
lands are either under water or are
rapidly being placed under water.
The government project known as
the Minidoka project, the North Side
Twin Falls and the South Side Twin
Falls tracts; the Salmon river tract
and the big Wood river tracts are
practically one body of land having
practically identical conditions re-
garding soil, climate, water supply,
etc. But each has been developed by
a different company owing to the
cost of each enterprise.
Millions Invested.
To give the readers some idea of
the great cost It is we'll to cal latten-
tion to the fact that the irrigation
and power projects now being INSTALL
ed in Lincoln county alone have an
initial cost Of twenty millions OF dol
lars. The irrigation, power and rail-
way projects are all the direct results
of the development Of the great re-
sources of the middle Snake river
valley and now actually In course
of construction will aggregate at
least forty millions Of dollars. All Of
this is being accomplished In three
counties. Lincoln, Twin Falls and
Cassia.
II this article reaches ssme eastern