The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-08-29
HIS GREAT GRANDSON WAS
HERE, AND HE TALKED
Descendent of Great Naval Hero Pas
ses Trough the Grove City From .
Business Trip to Lost River Valleys


Business Trip to Lost River Valleys
A distinguished looking gentleman
was in town Tuesday and we enQuir-
ed who he was. He was as nice and
sensible in his attitude as he was dis
tinguished looking, Sc We were glad
we approached him
He gave his name as G. G. Colling-
wood, and admitted that he was rel
ative of Admiral Cuthbert Colling-
wood who became admiral by the
death of Nelson at the battle of Ira
falgar where nineteen ships of the
allies were sunk in the great sea fight
between the English on one side and
the French and Spanish ON the other,
October 21st, 1906. Young Colling-
wood was distinguished for his ser
vices in the British navy at the
battle of Bunker Hill and at st. Vim
cent, and on the death of Admiral
Nelson at Trafalgar he took command
of the British feet when it looked as
if both fleets would be blown to pieces
before the finish. Five years later
the admiral died at sea, off the Bal
earic islands, and his great grand SON
now representing banking house in
London, goes to all parts Of the world
to examine and pass upon the merits
of irrigation projects where big sums
of money may be loaned or invested
He represented the British govern
ment while they were installing their
greatest irrigation works in the val
ley of the Nile, was connected with
the reclamation of the rich Cashmere
valley further east and many notable
projects in India and the Orient, in
California in drainage projects In
Louisiana and Florida. He has stud
led reclamation and agriculture in
some of the best parts of the world
and loves nature for the generous re-
sponse it gives to the right combina-
tion of soil and moisture and suitable
seeds.
Mr.. Collingwood had come in from
Lost river, and when asked what he
he'd seen out that way that impressed
him, he replied that he had seen what
he believe to be little better land
than he had seen anywhere else In
the world and he did not speak boast
fully at all, but just merely giving
credit where credit seemed due.
He had not analyzed the soil, he did
not need to; he rode about the plains
and entered the fields here and there
and saw crops and plant life where
water had been applied, and that was
enough. The alfalfa was the best he
had ever seen; the grain could not
be excelled, he thought, unless 1t was
by securing superior seed. Two crops
taken from the land would secure ti-
tie to the farm if rightly farmed but
not all of them were being we'll farm
ed. The average farmer, he said,
would admit that he had fine land
and in a good climate, but they did
not seem to realize that this was
literally true and that securing such
land under the Carey act was almost
like getting it for nothing. He had
spent most of his time looking over
the project of the Blaine County Ir-
rigation company promoted by Woods
& Parks on Little Lost river to see
if it would be we'll for his house to
loan them some capital to be used
in securing a more perfect water sup
ply. They had built a reservoir and
it with canals to con-
troll and conserve the "run-off" that
had been going to waste, and after
expending quarter Of a million
dollars it still seems advisable to
have large sums to enlarge and p"r-
'ect their system and supply water
% greater acreage. He was surpris-
I'd to find such large bodies of land
"a he saw on Lost river and the
Snake river plains with a soil that
would seem inexhaustible If the crops
ire properly rotated.