Evening star., 1909-09-03


is 1900 horsepower. which can be in
creased to $1,000 whenever the demand
will justify it. 1t now supplies Pocatello
and neighboring towns with light and
power at such low rates that the farmers
have wires running into their houses and
are using electricity in their farming
operations more and more every year.
Free factory sites and free power for
one or two years are offered as induce
ments to manufacturers to locate
there, and the opportunities are simply
unlimited. American Falls has more
power running to waste than is used in
many cities of half a million population.
Near Mountain Home, also station on
the Oregon Short Line. fifty or sixty miles
east Of Boise, anadian syndicate has
undertaken the development of 10000
horsepower to pump water upon the
1900 horsepower for light and manu-
featuring purposes by April !. 1910 At
the town of Rupert, the United States
government is preparing to develop l2,0'D
horse power to pump water upon the
upper levels of the Minidoka tract, where
10000 acres are being reclaimed.
The Shoshone Falls which are capable
Of producing much power as Niagara,
are already utilized for a 10.O01-horse-
power plant owned by II. L. Holl ster of
Chicago and associates. Mr.. HolliSte:
has very large interests here. He is one
of the owners of the Twin Falls Land
and Power Company, which has been eX-
tremely profitable for its promoters. 1t
Is Sal1 ItldI the IdlHIiy u the late .. d
A1iIner of Salt Lake have drawn out
more than 100000 profits since his death
upon his investment of S36,0bt.
Owned by Senator Clark.
1T eShoshone Falls are five miles from
Twin Falls, and are reached by a fairly
good road which is Travelled ncessantly
by tourists and excursionists, for Sho-
shone Falls are one Of the most impressive
l
days man by the name Of Sullivan To-
Gated homestead claim upon the south
ern bank of the falls. and Charles Wal
gomot located upon the northern bank,
| for quite a distance up and down the
| canyon. They sold out to a company
composed of former Senator w. A. Clark,
the copper king of Montana: John A.
Creighton, banker, and Dewey & Stone.
wholesale furniture dealers of Omaha.
These gentlemen started III to make re-
| sort of the place built a small hotel. put
| on ferry boat and spent altogether
about $4,000 upon a road into the can
yon, but they soon lost interest and all
OF the partners are now dead but Clark.
He collects a small rental from the man
who runs the hotel. but will make no
further improvements and is supposed to
be waiting for proposal from somebody
who wants to buy the falls.
| The power plant is on the northern side
at the bottom of the canyon and from
Il -
| area at prices so low that farmers can
| use 1t for every kind of purpose
| Forty miles farther down the canyon al
Lower Salmon falls. near the town OF
Hagermann, the Kuhn brothers of Pitts
burg are building a dam for irrigation
and power purposes. 1t is notable
structure, of solid concrete, extending
across the Salmon river canyon, and is
2l2 feet high. Already $50 carloads OF
cement have been used in construction
| The dam will back up the water of the
| Salmon river. one of the tributaries OF
| the Snake, so as to create a lake thir-
teen miles long. which will imround
water enough to irrigate 10000 acres OF
| land. and will furnish power for elec-
trio railroads. electric lights and other
propose almost without limit.
Five miles from Hagerman are the
| Upper Salmon falls. which are capable OF
| furnishing an equal amount of power
They are held by an eastern company.
A Natural Phenomenon.
| One OF the greatest natural phenome-
non in the country may lie found in the
canyon of the Snake river. about seven
miles from Hagerman and about eighty
miles from Boise. After flowing more
| than a hundred miles under barren
lava plain. an underground river bursts
| from the walls OF the canyon in a thou
sand different places about POD feet above
| the river and forms a cascade nearly a
mile long.
| From the rim of the canyon. stretch
| ing back 100 miles or more. and immedi-
ately north of the main track of the
Oregon Short Line from American falls
| to Shoshone, is a desert which is desiS-
mated on the map rolling plateau.
The surfce is covered with the outpour-
ling of prehistoric volcanoes from iOo to
600 feet deep. Under that crust is a
strata of clay, inpervious to water Be
! tween the two stratas flows several riv-
! ers which find their sources in the Sal
mon river mountains in Custer, Blaine
and Fremont counties When these sub
| terranean streams reach the Snake can
yon $500 cubic feet of water a second
| Dours into the Snake river in a continu-
Gus stream and affords almost unlimited
water power. The cliffs on both sides of
the canyon. from 400 TO 800 feet above
| the river bed, are part Of the greatest
lava flow known in the world. 1t ex-
tends from Wyoming TO California.
through central Idaho, Nevada, central
Oregon and northern California The
this lava bed. but the subteranean
stream which forms the One Thousand
| Springs found a passage under it.
| Another extraordinary phenomenon in
| this immediate vicinity is the Malade, or
| Big Wood river. which rises near the
town of HALEY in the Saw-Tooth noun
| tains. flows for sixty miles through a
! disappears from view Several miles dis
| tant, across a plain of rolling lava. it re-
| appears, a powerful stream, carrying a
| cubic foot of water every second, which
! is enough to irrigate ninety acres. Ac-
! cording to the measurements of irrigating
| engineers that flow would irrigate 5000
| acres. This underground stream is not
nf n ha 1rN q Hntx-a n Il