Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1914-01-30

to crest, 1872 feet wide at bottom and q
feet at the crest, $50 feet long at the
bottom and 1900 feet at the crest. The
lake formed by the impounded water.
has an extreme depth of 1876 feet
There are four main canals, with al
aggregate length of 200 miles. The
reservoir or lake was designed to holC
2O5,000 acre feet of water, therefore
there is no danger of shortage of wat
er in the future. Back of this, in all Of
its majestic grandeur. is the SawtoOtt
Range, raising its now-capped peaks
from 1900 to 1900 feet above sea
level md furnishing a drainage for
1900 square miles.
We have game and fish in supera-
bundanee, and here is another joy flea =
ture of cur lives. After finishing your
spring work you gear up the FLIES,
pack in your fishpoles, a pair of blank
cts, skillet, coffee pot, a slab of ba-
con and some flour and trek for the
mountain businesses to flirt with the
hnny tribe. A fifteen mile drive
brings you to the Maize Dam and Big
Wood River. You select a coulee
studded with cottonwoods, casting
their mantle Of green over some cool,
sparkling mountain stream, strike
camp, and picket your horses. Then
grab a fshpole, bend a spinner or fly
on your line, make a few judicious
casts, and you've got htm-a five
pound salmon trout.
After an hour or two of this sport
you hike for camp; and say, when the
fish come off the fire you eat and eat
and eat, then back up, take a fresh
start, and eat some more. Then to the
spring and down on adj tours you
chuck your nose into the sparkling
water up to your ears for a long, cool
draft IF Natures beverage. You may
talk about your champagne suppers.
BAH you would be epicures of the eff
fete and cotton wool tribes who infest
the regions of dollar chasing! You'll
never know you're alive till you drop
down here decked out with a pair of
ninety eight cent corduroys, a chip hat
and hob-nailed shoes, and spend a few
days with US rubes for whom you lie
awake nights, stacking the cards for
the next deal when pumpkins are ripe.
A few days with Dame Nature. in
which to uplift your head to the Won
ders of Gods Fairgrounds, famed by
the perfumed breath of all outdoors as
you slumber between a pair of army
blankets, and you would awake with
a clear head and better conscience.
You would then realize what we stur-
dy pioneers are doing for the uplift
and betterment of the coming genera
ton, and if your easy conscience and
callous heart were not beyond redemp
ton you might return to your dingy
urban quarters and start germ in your
blood With us, after a couple of days
outing, we are back into the harness
again. fresh as daisy
on a dewy morn, our whole system re-
charged with energy.
In May, 1912. I purchased my forty
acres from a homesick widower. I
had fifteen acres grubbed and broken
at long distance for 10 an acre. I
left Montana in September, 1912, with
three horses, a wagon, camping outfit,
dogs. gun and fshpole, and drove
nearly four hundred miles to reach my
future home. l passed through South
western Montana. reaching Idaho
through the Lemi Pass, thence down
the Lemhi Valley until we reached tie
headwaters of Birch Creek, follow.cy
that sparkling stream for nearly sew
enty- five miles in a southwesterly di-
rection, until made the east end of
the Lost River promontories, where
the creek vanished as if by magic
this is known as the Sinks.
1 skirted the foothills and lava beds.
arriving at my destination September
%. I had been on the road fifteen
days. I never enjoyed a more delight
full trip, camping every night under
the blue canopy of heaven, turning my
horses loose to Craze. Then, after a
feast upon a grouse sage hen and a /
mess Of rainbow trout, and a long
puff at the pipe, lay me down wrap
ped up in blankets to forget this old /
world and all its troubles until Old |
Sol threw his flashlight on me in the
\ souse in the cold mountain stream,
a pot Of coffee and flapjacks, while the
dogs brought in the horses. then in
span and another hike. SO it went to
the end of the journey. 1 purchased
my possessions through the recon-
Of a friend formerly Bos-
ton boy, who with his wife and baby
are making things hum on a ranch