Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1912-05-17
INDUSTRIES OF
THE GEM STATE
HOW THE PEOPLE OF IDAHO
MANAGE TO KEEP THEM
SELVES BUSY

Thirty five years ago Idaho was
a vast unclaimed desert, only about
one third Of it being settled. Boise
valley possesses some Of the oldest
land marks in the state. This val
ley was then chiefly mining sec
tion.
The Snake river valley because
of its many springs and artisan
wells was quickly settled and
brought under cultivation. Farm
ers barely made a living in those
days, for the towns were so small
and so far apart that their produce
found very poor market.
All the towns and ranches were
built along the rivers, as their wa
ter supply depended on. that one
source. Every rancher built his
own dams and bitches and in dry
seasons there was great strife over
water. To-day the great irriga-
tion systems have charge of the
dams and canals and each rancher
is allowed as much water as his
contract calls for.
Cattle and horses were then the
principle stock, and thousands of
them roamed over the vast unset
tied country winter and summer,
living on the nutritious bunch
grass in the spring and summer, ,and
brousing on the sagebrush in win
ter when snow covered the ground.
The wealthiest cattle man in Idaho
at that time was o. P. Johnson
who owned a large ranch in the
Hagerman valley and herded his
thousands of cattle over the sur
rounding country.
Placer mining was great indus
try in Idaho for many years, its
rivers and tall cliffs being fer
tile with precious metals. Great
-dredge boats dragged the bottom
of the Snake river from its source |
to its mouth, finding thousands of |
dollars worth of gold mingled with |
the shifting sands on its bottom. |
Some valuable silver mines were |
found in the Boise basin and work
ed profitably for ten or fifteen
years. Around HALEY, Bellevue
and Ketchum a number of mines
were located which panned out
thousands of tons of good ore for
ten or twelve years; some OF which
are still being operated on small
scale and are yielding fairly good
percentage every year.
The western Federation of Min
ers" was organized in the northern
part of the state. Some very yalu-
able ore has been mined in those
parts, and men are still prospecting
among the mountains of the Seven
Devils country, also around the
jackson Hole, feeling sure that
those mountains still contain gold
and silver.
The lumber industry is carried on
extensively in the northern part
of the State where there are large
belts of fine timber of pine, fir
and tamarack. There are num-
Der of saw mills located in these
timbere belts, of large capacity, one
of which called the Potlatch has a
daily capacity of cutting seven
hundred and fifty thousand feet.
This timber land is owned chief
ly by the Great Northern rail road
and eastern syndieates. The Gug-
enheim company have taken up
large tracts of this timber country
and have bought up what they
could not get under government
regulations. The Great Northern
railroad company own timber land
in every other section for twenty
miles on either side of their right
of way through this timber region.
Much of this timber is shipped to
eastern markets and some TO for
eign countries. The lumber indus
try is an exceedingly profitable
one.
About twenty three years age the
sheep industry began to open up
in Idaho. At first they invested
in fifty or seventy five head,
but the size of the flocks was grad
ually increased until some of the
leading sheep men owned as high
as one hundred and fifty to two {
hundred thousand head of the t
I
The flock masters can no longer
run such large numbers today, for g