Evening star., 1909-09-04
BOISE CITY OF HOMES
Idaho'S Men of Wealth At
tracted- to the Capital.
PREFERRED FOR RESIDENCE
Grows From 5000 in 1890 to 10000
at Present Time.
WHOLESALE BUSINESS CENTER
Agriculture It's Principal Source of
Wealth-Transform by
Irrigation.
PREFERRED FOR RESIDENCE
WHOLESALE BUSINESS CENTER
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago ord-Herald.
BOISE CITY, Idaho, August 26. 1909.
The capital of Idaho is called by sew
eral terms of endearment, and seems to
exercise the same fascination that is at
tributed to the city OF the Pharaohs, OF
which it is said: He who visits Cairo
once is sure to come again. Boise is a
home town. People who make money In
tie west usually go east to spend It, but
in Idaho they come to Boise, build at
tractive homes and consider it privi-
lege instead of penance to remain here
do not know of any other town in the
west, unless it be Portland or Colorado
Springs, where civic loyalty is so in
tense Boise is considered the most liv-
able place between Denver and Port
land, and a friend of my boyhood. CALVIN
Cobb, publisher of the Idaho statesman
who Is looked up to by everybody out
here as a wise as we'll as a good man
tells me that there are more retired pep'
pie OF wealth living in Boise because
they prefer 1t as residence than in any
other town In the west.
Boise passed the rough period long ago
The average of education, culture and
refinement is as high as in any city OF
its population in New England. The
men OTeSS IOr dinner without IdlhiHe
about it, and you may judge accurately
Of the tastes and tendencies of the peo-
pie by the contents of the shelves at the
book stores. by the catalogue of the
Carnegie Library and the architecture OF
the houses
Boise is not SO big but the people here
claim that it is growing faster than Salt
Lake City. A recent census showed
more than 1900 children of school age,
as against 2,4O0 in 1908. Multiplying the
- -. l.
rule is out here, there must be 10000
and some insist upon $4,000, population,
an increase from 1900 as given by the
census of 1890. and from 5000 in 1890
Boise Is not a new town, however. 1t
dates back to the gold rush of 1862. In
1865 Fort Boise was established here to
protect the miners from the Indians. and
city was built up around it. When
Idaho was admitted to the Union in 1886
Boise was made the capital of the state
Gold Of Snake River.
In eight years after the discovery Boise
Basin is said to have produced 100000,
600 in placer gold. Nearly every stream
in the valley yielded enough to pay for
working. and in a single year s21.o56 ,O7t
was taken out of the ground. Mining has
been reduced to a regular business and is
conducted nowadays very much as ir
Pennsylvania or Illinois. The United
States assay office, which occupies the
center of shaded square in the heart
of the city, receives an average of 1,5Ol
deposits of gold a year, valued between
$1.0OO,00O and $2,OO00O0. and the various
mines in the vicinity now yield steady
revenue between s5.O0O,C0O and $4,000, ,0g
a yea of gold, silver, copper, lead anC
zinc.
1t has been said that the Snake river
contains enough gold to pay the nationa
debt and make every citizen of Idaho q
millionaire. 1t is no joke that people
who use the water of that famous stream
are actually drinking gold. The grains
are SO fine, however that 1t is almost
impossible to recover them. Several
miners are living in the canyon and are
able to wash out $40 or SO a day in gold
dust, but they have to use the greatest
care. and mining on a large scale is un-
profitable. For many years dredges and
siphon pumps were engaged in sucking
up the mud and sand on the bottom and
the banks of the river. but the grains OF
gold are too fine to be handled in that
way. They slip through the smallest
meshes of a wire sieve The other day
as we were coming down the railroad
saw a dredge hauled up on the bank near
Glenns Ferry. 1t belonged to some min
ers who had abandoned it there.
Monster Sturgeon.
more practical source of revenue in
often weighing a thousand pounds. |
saw a picture the other day showing one
hanging from a tree that was 10 feet II
inches long and weighed 632 pounds.
These monsters are caught with hooks
baited with bacon attached to long line
or rope stretched across the river. me
lines are hauled in every morning, and
If there happens to be fish, an inch
rope is drawn through his gills and tied
to a tree on the bank. while the flSher-
man cuts off his head and carves him
up as he would a steer or hog. j ne
meat is shipped east, where it is in de-
mand at construction camps. Mayor Col
tharpe of Hagerman had contract to
furnish sturgeon for the construction
mess of the railway being built up the
Snake River valley and in that way laid
the foundation of his fortune,
Boise is the supply point for several
important mining camps within forty OF
fifty miles. Long caravans Of four-horse
wagons are crawling back and forth.
bringing in ore and bullion and returning
with foodstuffs. powder, machinery, tools
and other supplies for the miners The
Trade Dollar Mine owned by P1ttsburg
parties. had been the most profitable in
the state 1t has yielded about $1,000, 900
and contains as much more. 1t is being
operated by electric power supplied from
the Swan falls The Del La Mar mine
has yielded almost as much.
Wholesale Mercantile Business.
But Boise does not pretend to be min
ing camp. The mines are only one of
several sources of revenue. The whole
sale mercantile business is more profit
able, for the city is located about mid
way between Salt Lake on the east Port
land on the west and Spokane on the
north, each about five hundred miles dis
tant, and thus controls large territory
There are eighteen wholesale houses in
the city. employing nearly 300 men, and
doing a business of nearly SJ,oO0.o00 The
manufacturing output amounts to almost
as much annually: the six banks have
deposits exceeding S3N0,OO9. and clear
for western Wyoming northern Utah
southern Idaho, northeastern Nevada and
eastern Oregon. There is a great deal OF
local wealth here. Most of it has been
made in the valley, but a large amount
has been brought in from the east. There
are ten miles of electric railway within
the city limits and seventy miles of in
terurban lines. giving the people of the
ha fur