Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1916-01-13
ELECTRICAL ENERGY
TO PLAY BIG PART
IN INDUSTRIAL development
OF IDAHO RES0URCES--A
BRIGHTER DAY HAS
DAMNED.

with her sister states in the sup
ply of electrical energy, and in
the present, as well as in the fu-
ture possible utilization of this pot
cnt factor in the industrial develop
rnent of our country, is not equaled
by any state in the Union.
The progress of electrical develop
ment in this state has not been with
out it's vicissitudes The long series OF
conflicts of competing companies,
| each trying to gain the mastery over
the other, and the consequent litiga-
ton that has been a resultant of this
! disastrous condition, has temporarily
proved disadvantageous to the state.
However, brighter day has dawned,
which gives every promise that el5c-
tIical operation in this state will be
dominated by a spirit of cooperation
| upon the part OF the electrical COM
panies with the people of the state.
The best men in every section of the
state-men in whom the people have
| implicit conference.-the to be placed
in the operative departments of the
company. These men, who hail from
the ranks of the people themselves
md who are thought to have the in
terests of their fellows at heart and
would do nothing to jeopardize the
interests of their own home sections,
are to be potent factors in bringing
| tons between producer and consumer
For the immediate future and for all
time, it is hoped, the electrical war
in Idaho is at an end.
STILL IN ITS INFANCY.
While Idaho has distinguished Itself
because of the part it has played in
bringing electrical development to its
present stage, it is apparent that little
more than a start has been made.
Notwithstanding the fact that I'M the
Boise-Payette valley there is now a
total motor-connected horsepower ca
pacity Of 1916, and something like
sixty-seven Thousand acres of land
irrigated by the use Of this power and
there is every indication of a vastly
increased acreage being added to the
land already reclaimed yet competent
authorities agree that even in this
pioneer section the development Of
electrical energy is in its infancy.
What is true of his section is true of
every agricultural section in the
state.
Through the application of cleo
,trieity for farm purposes, which is
a common scene in this locality, the
drudgery incident to farm life has in
a great measure been eliminated.
Some adequate idea of existing con-
ditiens may be had when it is stated
that throughout southern Idaho elec-
tricity is the ''hired man" employed
in lighting. heating, cooking, blowing,
threshing grain, cutting silage, grind
ing grain, irrigating land, pumping
water, saving wood, milking, churn-
ing, separating cream from milk, sew
ing, washing clothes, cleaning seed
and numerous other purposes.
In this beautiful valley, which is
destined to be the chief laboratory in
which gigantic problems pertaining to
electrical energy are to be solved,
there are already So miles of cleo
trical railroads operated from Boise 1t |
is no wild presumption to say that
in the near future this entire section !
of the state will ultimately have all
its prosperous localities well knitted
together by electric lines.
WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES.
That the capacity of electrical en-
ergy in southern Idaho in the course
of few years will at least be
trebled is not improbable. On the
Snake river alone power can be gen.
Grated on an average of every 80
miles by taking advantage of rapids
and falls and damming the river at
feasible points. The progress of this
section in the development of cleo
.ric power within the next decade
will more than equal past accom-
)lishment In that day the capacity
If electricity for utilitarian purposes
Will probably approximate the enorm-
,us figure of two hundred and fifty {
thousand horsepower. The numerous t
plants owned by the electric COM l
'anies at the present time in this {
tate have a capacity of nearly one G
hundred thousand horsepower t
With an eye peeping into the fu- /
ure, a pioneer in electrical develop Q
nent sees thousands of acres Of L
mall tracts of land added to the il
area of productive land in e
he state now in cultivation through n
rrigation by means of electricity, t
nd within the scope of electrical r
tilization viii then be numerous fac 4
prizes of different kinds, creating pay "
oils and aupmentfnQ the prosperity n