Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1910-08-12
WILL II PAY To d.
VIDE LINCOLN Co?
Southern Idaho Review Shows the
Practical Workings of
Financial Side.


are not concerned about whether or
lot Goouing must have a county
scat in order to bring back to 1t life
anu prosperity. nor are they worry
/ iEg ;lCui nuperts aspirations to
any .teat extent, especially the peo
pie n and adjoining the town Of
Heyi urH What we want to know
more than any other thing is wheth
er er net il will pay us in dollars
anG 4,Ils 20 divide the county of
Lincoln as II rcw l., into two or
three counties, ana have two or
three county governments instead
of one.
} IL liie rouEty should b. divided
Win a county seat nj G0oding, one
at Shoshonr. and one at Rupert,
there must needs be three county
court Louses. built ay the taxpay-
ers. and three sells Of county oifie-
ars paid by the taxpayers
Our project is comprised Of thous-
andS of acres of .hoce land, taken
under ihe homestead law as def'n-
ed hl thc Reclamation Act and wa
li,r must be contracted for from the
government. Upon each farm unit
ther. Is a lien for water charges
None of the farmers have paid more
than three water payments, which
lraNts lien against each claim on
'he Pre- jet Over and above this
The Hepburn school district is bond
q fCr $1,000, Schodde district for
5000, Pioneer district for $4,000,
Rupert district $4,000, and Acequia
fcr s2ql0. The old bonded debt o.
Alturas county, is 100000. Just
stop and figure up how much we
are in debt. OF course if Rupert
is made a county seat we will not
have to pay all the old county in
debtedness, but we will certainly
have TO pay our share.
As we are aware, our land is not
assessable until final certificate is
issued by the land office, and that
certificate will not be issued until
all Of the water charges have been
paid, which will not be before the
year 1917. Our improvements and
stock are assessable and have been
since we came here. Many Of our
residents have never paid any taxes
to Lincoln county, while many have
paid only a small tax, and never
once has an assessor sold a dollars
worth Of property belonging to a
farmer on the Minidoka tract for
taxes. Now this may not have been
strictly according to law, but we
think it can be attributed to a
friendly feeling for the new set
tiers. On the other hand, if the
county should he divided then our
improvements would have to be
taxed to their full value, as requir-
cd by law, and we would be fore
cd to pay our taxes in order to sup
port our new county government.
1t is advocated that the expenses
Of Lincoln county are growing, and
that is a fact not because we have
more territory, not because our
county is larger, but on account Of
our increased population. Our
county is the same size as when
it was cut off from Alturas county
in 1905. That year we had in the
county about 400 voters and our
tax levy was s2.lO for all purposes
Would The division of the territory
comprised in Lincoln county now
into two or three counties in any
way lessen the expenses? Our
county officers get no fees from the
county for mileage travelled. They
get a salary whether they stay at
home or travel all Of the time.
We think it is time for the man
on the farm, the man who makes
the town TO look into this matter OF
.he division Of the county at this
time and consider whether or not it
would not be advisable to wait for
a while until we have some Of these
debts paid. I'm other words, do as
prudent man would in his private
wait until he had met his
obligations before he
launches into other enterprises.
The division of the county at this
ime might not meet the needs Of
he people when all Of these tracts
are settled. But Governor Gooding
sees that if this thing is postpon-
ID any longer that he is not at
III likely TO be able to land the
county seat for his Town but that
may go to some Of the hustling
owns Oh the North Side tract