American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1916-01-06

den the first year was small, smaller in fact than the gar
dens of those who located earlier on Brainard creek.
There were three gardens using water from that creek,
Nicholson and Afford, Hogan and Camel, and Tom Hills
which with ours on Porter creek made four gardens to sup
ply the needs of from fifteen to twenty-five thousand per-
sons.
There were only two small gardens near Boise that year,
the largest being in Stewards gulch, and none others near
|er than Walla Wala and Umatilla.
We gardeners were the first monopolists in Idaho, and
if you have ever been informed that a farmer cannot enjoy
a monopoly, your informant was not in Idaho, at least not
in Boise Basin, at that time.
Dollar a Bunch.
Four weeks after planting our onion sets we pulled them
all, one Sabbath morning, and tied them in lunches, one
dozen in a bunch. There proved to be one hundred bunch
es. | packed them into Placerville the same day and sold
them for $10O a bunch as rapidly as l could hand them out.
They were the first green vegetables offered in the mar
ing in the open market 45 cents per pound, tops and all,
the tops making most excellent green's. Green corn was
marketed at $500 per dozen ears; ~cucumbers, $500 per
dozen; tomatoes, S5c per pound; potatoes, S5 cents.
The advent of the first pack train load of waternelons
into Idaho City was an epoch in its early history not to
be be forgotten or 3 got 1ara by at sn least rgos one S,,! young g. man. asn who, VINO purchased as
on road had been constructed up More creek from Boise
valley, and among the first patrons Of the road were two
emigrant trains owned by a sturdy Missourian and his
family, the outfit having recently completed the trip
across the plains. The family consisted Of the husband,
wife and two grown daughters. The made a temporary
camp on Beuna Vista bar and erected a tent, but two gal
liant young miners, who occupied a log cabin nearby, prof
fered to give up their cabin to the family and they would
occupy the tent. Accordingly the transfer was made and
as probably was anticipated, friendly and pleasant rela-
tions were established.
Watermelon Deal
l appeared on the scene with my w~atermelons and was
halted within a short distance of the cabin which had been
surrendered to the family and was soon surrounded by a
camorous crowd all of whom wanted to buy a melon. The
attention of the girls having been attracted they impor-
tuned one of the young men to buy them a melon. Certain
ly," he responded, and Immediately ran out, crying "Hey,
there, Cap, bring us in a melon" | selected a large one and
delivered it at once. He asked the price and informed
him rs cents per pound-the weight was marked on the
rind. 1t weighed SO pounds, hence the price was So.
The girls were shocked, and | presume the young man
was Jared, but at that price for melons, rs cents per pound
they were the least profitable of any product of the farm,
owing to the loss in ~breakage while packing.
The foregoing prices appear fabulous today but it must
HIGH l. Sixteen dollars lar per sack Of & 50 pounds Of flour was
tailed at the feed yard for Is cents per pound.
Farming or gardening from the beginning was more
extensively carried on near the Payette than the Boise
river, for the reason that there were no tributary streams
entering the Boise which could be diverted for irrigation
except More creek, and owing to that stream being from
the first the tail race for all the placer mines within the
Basin, it was unfit for agricultural or domestic use.
During the summer Of 1863 several farms were located
on Squaw creek in the vicinity Of where the village OF
Sweet is now situated, while on what was called the Up
per Squaw creek, near the crossing OF the Brownlee trail,
Dove Newman and Reube Brown located a hay ranch and
for several years brought the baed hay into Placervlle
where they conducted a feed yard.
During October and November, 1865, / fed a pack train
in their yard two nights each week, paying l2I2c per
pound for hav, equal to two hundred and fifty dollars per
On. Dove Newman afterward moved to Ketchum and
kept a livery stable, while Reube Brown located and kept
a stable at Shoshone. There are many persons yet living
who knew them well. f
During the summer Of 1865, the farmers in Jerusalem
met their waterloo. From the first we had been annoyed
by crickets, but during 1863 we suffered but little dam
age. In 1864 they were more plentiful but we managed to
shoe them off without material injury to our crops, but
early in the summer of 1866 they returned in legions. We
had sown two thousand pounds Of wheat that spring for
which we paid 1871 cents per pound to have it delivered at
Bluff station on the Payette. From there we hauled it
home with our own team.