The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1910-06-10
SHELBY VISITING
RELATIVES IN CITY
RECOUNTS EARLY HISTORY OF
IRRIGATION IN IDAHO IN
AN INTERVIEW.
Tells Of First Canal i'm Southern Ida
no and How IL Was Built-FOE1MeF
General Manager Of Great North
eEn Whiting I'm Caldwell-Wm Re
main Some Time,

Mr.. p. p. Shelby OF San Francisco,
formerly general manager of the
Great Northern Railway and later
general freight agent of the Union
Pacific, is in Caldwell, the guest OF
his nephew, Mr.. Gilbert Shelby and
wife. He will remain here some time.
Tuesday he was in Boise and gave
he Statesman the following very
interesting interview:
Il came to this part of the coun-
try more than thirty years ago. he
said as he sat contentedly in the
easy chair at the Owyhee hotel. Il
was sent here by Jay Gould to exam
inc the country and report to him on
the possibilities of working up a
freight trafic between Portland
and Salt Lake. Things did not look
very promising at that time. Port
and was a city of perhaps 10000 and
Boise had less than 1000. There
were few settlers in the intervening
stretch of territory. remember very
well many years later when as general
freight agent of the Union Pacific,
was called to Boston before the eX-
ecutive committee of the road to say
why the Oregon Short Line was not
doing a bigger business.
The officers of the road could not
understand why a road through 900
miles of country was unable to make
| EXPENSES. The freight business was
exceedingly light. told them that II
they wan ed to get more business here
hey must get more people into the
Icountry. They thought there ought to
re more people here. l explained to
hem that from the outside the
country was anything but inviting In
"ppearance, but the land was fertile
md If canals could be built, would
probably be made productive.
Start of Canal building.
II then told Mr.. Ames, president of
f the Oregon Short Line and the
,ealthiest man in New England, OF
a man at Caldwell who had been talk
.ng canal to me for long time. MT
| Nmes asked me why | did not fall In
with the project. l replied that we
1T scarcity of funds for executing
% stuDendous a scheme. He said:
For every $1,000 you will donate
O the project will give 100000
, I'VE started then and there to raist
money for building the canal from
Caldwell to Parma and that was thu
t inauguration of canal building III
: IDAHO. 1t also encouraged many PEG
,le to settle in the territory"
Mr.. Shelby was interested in tn
: building of the Great Northern Rail
r -vay and built the greater part of tn
q DAD IN the state OF Washington t
; he terminal Seattl". He was 1t tia
e Ne wee president Gnd general man
3 ager of the Great Northern.
e Mr.. Shelby has a good stock
q tories of prominent men he ha
known. He knew Henry NJ. Stanley
he explorer, as a newspaper reporte
10 On the Omaha Republican 45 year
, ago.
- Il lived in Omaha at that time,
y said Mr.. Shelby. IAN Irishman b
!" the name of Mcdonald was workin
" on the opposite paper. the Heral'
>" Stanley and the Irishman were afte
the same girl. The Irishman was
witty. smart fellow and Stanle
= feared that he was losing the rae
- He began to write poetry to the CIR
She showed the poem to her Iris
=, sweetheart and he recongized 1t
the same he had heard in a popult
opera and looked it up and verih'
his suspicious. He then advertise
NO Stanley rs a plagiarist.
m Was willing to Fight.
,rt STANLEY heard about 1t and g
RS mad. He started out to find the
ishman and give him a thrashir
They met on the street and Stanl
nh sailed into him and would have pu
cd meIed him soundly had not bystand'
pulled him of. Stanley could hs
whipped him, but he wrote no m'
vas poetry to the girl.
ing Mark Twain visited Omaha WI
was living there Is years ago. ]
before he went there the Ep'
,yn- church had been sold to a man v
wanted 1t supposedly as an inv'