Evening star., 1909-09-03
.|DAHO'S WATER POWER
Immense Force That Is Now
Going to Waste.
ALL UTILIZED IN TIME
Few Possible Sites That Have Not
Already Been Located.
NO BELIEF IN TRUST CONTROL"
People Of the State Also Are In
different to the Roosevelt Con-
servation Policies.
70 BELIEF IN TRUST CONTROL"
RY WILLIAM f.. CURTIS.

RY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence OF The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
BOISE CITY, Idaho, August -. 1909.
The public generally out here take only
languid interest in the controversy con-
cerning the conservation policy of the
government. either regarding timber or
water power, Notwithstanding the fact
that nearly all the available sites for
power plants upon the Snake river and
its tributaries have been taken up by
various interests from different sections
of the country.
The Snake river has been called THE
Jugular Vein Of Idaho 1t runs 800
miles through the state and drops be-
tween 5000 and 5000 feet during it's
circuitouS course between the boundaries
of Wyoming, where it rises, and Wash
ington, where It flows into the Columbia.
1t irrigates. with its tributaries, more
than 100000 acres of land, and its tre-
mendous current has energy enough to
turn all the wheels that are revolving in
the United States today.
This valuable property has been gradu
ally absorbed by corporations from Cali
fornia. Colorado. Illinois, Pennsylvania.
New York. Massachusetts and other
states, as we'll as by local individuals
and syndicates, chiefly for speculative
=
be found here to sustain the conten-
tion OF President Roosevelt in his mes
sage TO Congress, or of Clifford Pinchot
in his public speeches, or other advocates
OF conservation policy. that there is
any collusfon or understanding. much less
a partnership between the interests rep
resented. Nor is there any evidence or
even ground for suspicion that the Cen
eral Electric Company or the Westing-
house Company or any of the great cor
poratlons OF the east are behind the
movement as has been so frequently al
legged. On the contrary the people who
are getting hold of the power sites are
either local electric light and power COM
panieS. who wish to utilize the energy
that IS going TO waste. or spectators
who desire to obtain control of available
sites in order to make a profit by SELL
ing out to companies which may be
organized in the future to utilize them.
Scout the Trust idea.
Nobody here believes in the alleged
Waterpower trust. There is more evil
dence of rivalry and even hostility
among the interests that hold the
claims. Instead of collusion there is a
grand scramble to secure a share of the
wonderful possibilities represented by
the Snake river and it's tributaries
purely as a gamble on the future. There
is nothing whatever to justify the as
sertion that these claimants are fling
III lIic lHtSIcSl OI OJ0e1 persons. THOSE
who are familiar with the affairs of the
General Electric and Westinghouse
companies and similar corporations
know that waterpOwer sites more or
less valuable in different parts of tho
country are offered to them every day
usually for fabulous prices based upon
the Presidents message, the report Of
the conservation commission and Iha
popular impression that waterpower
trust is grabbing everything il can
reach.
Waterpower sites can he acquired
under the laws of Idaho by filing an
application and paying a fee, provided
they are not already located. These ap-
pilcations are granted by the officials
at Boise City upon the stipulation that
the power is to be utilized in good faith
and the locator must do a certain
amount of work within a certain limit
OF time. If he has market he usu-
ally organizes a stock company, floats
bonds enough to pay for a plant and
sells light and power to the public If
the applicant is merely a speculator he
puts up bluff and when his legal
rights expire he arranges for a part
ner or friend to make a filing on the
same location before he relinquishes it,
By repeating that process a syndicate
OF spectators can control the water
power site for a number Of years, but
If the power is needed for any practical
purpose they fight for control or sell
out to those who would make practical
use of it.
Within a radius OF ninety miles OF
BOISE there is not less than 100000
horsepower awaiting development, but
all of the available sites have been
taken up by individuals and corpora
| tons which are well known and do not
represent any monopoly east or west.
They have no relations whatever and
have conflicting interests This water
power represents several million dollars
worth OF coal annually to Boise City,
and the optimists OF this section are
confident that the time Will soon come
when 1t will be needed and used for
practical and profitable purposes. There
| is no manufacturing here now There
is no possible use for this power. but
there are plans for electric mills to
grind the wheat into -four. for factories
| to spin and weave the wool from the
sheep that Craze upon the mountain
sides. There are plans for mills to man
ufacture breakfast foods and other pat
ent cereals and engineers who are
| thoughtful enough to grasp the situa-
| ton recognize that a considerable part
| of the energy of the Snake river will be
water into irrigating canals at higher
levels than can be reached by the Ordi-
nary flow.
Valuable in Time.
| AS | have said. more than 1000, ,OoO
h.ie5 VI uestft lHilu nave Deen brought
| under irrigation already, and every acre
Will be taken up and cultivated within
a very few years without satisfying the
land hunger that prevails in this coun-
try. Then it will become necessary to
utilize the slopes of the foothills and
| the mOuntainsides, where the soil is
| quite as fertile as it is upon the plains
and can be farmed with equal profit
whenever it can be irrigated And that
Is only simple problem Of engineering
1 The Snake river can be compelled to