East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-03-30
A VISION Or THE TRANSFORMED DESERT

There is an industrial epic of sur
passing beauty in the transformation
Of the sagebrush deserts of the west
into happy homes and this epic has
been no more prettily told than by the
Boise Capital News, which says of the
reclamation Of the Idaho wastes:
1t is a pleasant vision to dream OF
the time when the waters will be stor-
ed at Jackson lake and other great
reservoirs at the head of the Snake
river to be transported 400 miles and
then taken out in huge canals and
transported another 200 miles and
placed upon thousands and thousands
of acres that have never yet felt the
revivifying effects of water.
Nor is it beyond the possibilities
that this very thing may be done so
that an almost unbroken chain OF
happy homes and rich farms may ex-
tend from Teton City through st. An
thony, Idaho Falls, Pocatello. Minido-
ka, Twin Falls, Buhl Salmon river
country. the Bruneau on up across the
Snake again, joining the great gov
ernment project of the Payette-Boise
to the oregon line.
But most of the people Of the state,
instead of being able to appreciate
this vision of the future, cannot prop
erly appreciate the actually that
meets the eye of the visitor to the
70 q fYpaa 4
within the last three years from the
desert, and failing to appreciate be-
cause they have not seen, they are
inclined to discredit the enthusiasm
of the actual beholder of the marvel
GUS transformation that has been
wrought
And 1t Is not strangA- Nothing but
an actual visit to the scene of the
change can render any adequate idea
Of the work that has been done.
Fabulous Land Prices.
Is it not hard to believe that in the
desert on the south side of the Snake
river where but three years ago there
was nothing but sand sagebrush,
jack-rabbits and coyotes, there is al
ready the foundation laid for a wealth
which in a very few years will equal
the total wealth of all southern Idaho
three years ago? Yet such is the case,
and the fact is readily impressed up
on the mind Of the visitor.
Is 1t not hard to believe that some |
of that land which three years ago
was worth absolutely nothing, is now
by the wizard work Of water worth |
all the way up to $500 and perhaps
even higher, per acre?
Is it not hard to believe that all that
land, so many thousands of acres of
It, Is in such demand that small tracts
of five and 10 acres, sell readily at
from $4OO to $500 per acre, and that
farms sell in 16O-acre tracts at $125
to 5000 per acre and above?
Such things are of daily occurrence
about Twin Falls, which is the center
of the "old" land-this land that is
SO old that 1t has attained the mature
age Of three years!
Desert Is Disappearing.
Thirty thousand acres have just |
been placed under water in a new |
tract. It is all sold, and has been
practically all prepared for cultivation
and will this year produce crops. A
hundred thousand acres more will be |
ready next year and 1t is nearly all
taken and still the cry is for more |
land. and the fear of all newcomers
is that there will not be any land for
them when they arrive.
Arrangements have ben made for !
the entry upon 5000 acres next month
and the indications are that every foot
of 1t will be taken as soon as offered
and More" will still be the cry.
With these actualities, why should
II seem fanclful that the great Snake
river will be drained dry and that
great reservoirs will be built from
It's source 400 miles or more away
and that other great reservoirs will