The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1916-12-01
LEMHl AND CUSTER STOCK
FARMS PILlNG UP RICHES
BY Newton Hibbs

DurlhS the past month the writer
visited many great stock ranches in
the Hallhon river and Lost river dis
tl4clS' more fortunes have been made
III Lemhl and Custer counties in the
iast lew years by agricultural pur-
SUITS Than any other section of the
country at any stage of its develop
Llehl ana progress. Fortunes of from
9ou'oOO 10 nall a million are repre-
Sehleu Dy common farmers in every
NOOK ana corner of this region.
1t is an accepted principle of econ
omy that fortune is the price of a
ilie-tlme OF eternal vigilence. In this
district fortune has come to every
man who waited and did not waste
ms opportunities. The ow-brow and
lht hlgh-brow drifted into opulence
SIDE by side. The sheep and cattle
were accumulated almost without eff
Tort. They seemed to spring from
the hlll-sides that were carpeted with
evergreen government grass. And
then came prosperity and turned
| them to gold
There was no fixed business princi-
pie that was required to make for
tunes IN this country when all the
cattle and sheep which fortune sent
had Velvety beds of government
| grass. The pioneer conditions have
| gradually changed, but the road to
| fortune is still open and wealth is
more certain than ever before in all
! this favored land The stock bust
ness is now an exact science without
the hazards of the pioneer system
There was always danger of loss and
low prices in the years that made SO
many opulent farmers throughout
this district The fortunes are still
certain without delay or risk.
Land is the foundation of all agri
cultural prosperity. The pioneers es
timated land at the government price
of $1.25 per acre. Now every tillablt
acre of the rich land of this interior
realm of wealth is worth one hundred
times that government price. 1t is {
certain asset at this hundred-folC
price, because the value is based OF
the possible hay production. AnC
hay production is the simplest of al
business propositions 1t is an auto
matte business proposition. Irrigated
lands cropped to clover or alfalf;
draw their fertility from the air. Sucl
lands are self-fertilizng Such land
/ grow richer every year while produC
ing the most profitable crops that cal
) be grown in any country in the world
The average acre of hay land il
= this district will support two COW
t and grow and fatten their increas
/ for the beef market. The cultivate,
areas of Custer county have turne,
off four beeves to the acre for the cat
; lie men-an average of $500. TIL
sheep farms for the past season pre-
. duced lambs and wool valued at NOR
than $500 for every cultivated acr
, These figures are high record i
returns from agriculture. But wit
Y every acre of hay goes permit t
S pasture 25 acres of government gras:
S With every acre of tillable land /
+ Custer and Lemhi counties such
= pei nit is a perpetual asset to dol
4 Bile its production in meat values. Th
n production of hay and the protectio
a o. the range for the use of the farme
e by the forest service makes this
+ surer land of fortune than it was
Il The days of the pioneer that laid tn
foundation of the fortunes that haV
l. come without effort in the past. E
n cry farm in this great country is
sure foundation of a fortune, as 1t ha
been for the past 40 years. Land
cheaper now at $4,000 an acre tha
y it was to the homesteader 20 yeal
n ago.