The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1911-05-26
NEWPORT REPLIES
TO STATESMAN
WILL NOT MAR BEAUTY OF THE
PAYETTE LAKES.


CATION Company-Published State
MINUS Compel Him to Set His
Corporation Right in the Eyes of
/ Me People of the State.
Editor Statesman: In the Idaho
Weekly Statesman of the 18th inst
appears an article under the caption:
"Payette Lakes for An Enormous
Reservoir" which is entirely wrong
in concept and unfair and unjust in
statement. l call your attention to
the article that a grave injustice
may be corrected. AS an officer of
the Black Canyon irrigation dis
trict | feel that the other side of
the question should be presented to
he readers of the Statesman.
The article starts out with the
question: Shall the Payette lakes
be preserved for their beauty, or
shall they be submerged into a
great artificial reservoir? Shall the
lakes and the land around them,
! and its beautiful trees and shrubs
, be preserved as a resort of health
and pleasure for all southern Idaho
or shall commercialism wipe this
= beauty spot off the map?"
Even if the catastrophe suggested
| by these questions were about to
han nd ny
of them, who would advocate the
use of the lakes for reservoir pur-
poses. Some can see scenery in the
vineyard, beauty in the sheaf of
! wheat and health in the apple bios
t som. There are those who look
= upon the transformation of the des-
r ert into a garden without disgust
The. commercial utilization of the
= powers and even the beauties Of ma.
r ture is not necessarily a crime and
s dissertation. In the case in ques
e ton the beauty spot will not bt
wiped off the face of the map. Mel
e Their is the scenery nor the healthful
d ness of the resort will be destroyed
/ or even violated. The officers o
: the Black Canyon irrigation distric
e have no intention of marring thu
l. beauty nor destroying the trees ant
e shrubs growing around the Payett
Re lakes
Al The engineers we have employed
have thoroughly investigated tn
conditions adjacent to and sur
r rounding the Payette lakes. The
propose to raise the level of tn
lakes 10 feet, not 20 feet, as state
III in the Statesman. In order to rails
the level Is feet about 700 acres c
land to the northeast of the lake
1s will be submerged This happen
to be state land. In consequence,
. the directors asked the consent {
10 the state land board. The director
eu- felt that in view of tn
cd fact that 5000 acres of stat
~ land lying within the BlaC
90 Canyon irrigation district would
re reclaimed and made valuable
d. reason OF the enterprise that II WI
&C. not too much to ask for the use
" 700 acres of its Payette lakes u
- derbrush and scrub timber. 9th
IN than the submersion of this II
90 acres no harm will be done to Il
beauty, scenery, trees or shrubs
re- the lakes. AS a resort of heal
]. and pleasure" the lakes will not
injured In the least. l. for or
sts would seriously hesitate ABOUT d
art stroying the Payette lakes as
OF health and pleasure resort. Ho
nd ever. when l find that the resC
dr. will not be injured and only z
Ike acres of land, not distinguished
beauty or healthfulness, will
IN submerged, l confess that l opel
err favor the utilization of the lakes.
ed. | do not wish to abuse your
thence, but l feel hat the arti
was greatly overdrawn; that
IA. conditions were ignorantly mis-
presented by some overwrought
ing porter. Those of the poetic te
by permanent frequently mistake tn
II, feelings for facts, and the fancies
fay their imaginations for the concl
hin ions of thorough Investigations.
en- Thanking you for the space
ion your valuable paper, l am resp
lied fully,
and JAS. B. NEWPORT
Pres. Black Canyon lrrigat
Dist, Notus, Idaho, May Is, Is
F. NJ. Hunt OF Boise was = Sun
visitor in Caldwell