Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1916-02-03
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE STATE
LEGISLATURE is RECoMNdENDEn


CONTINUED from page ll
orangeVliie, making his maps, and as.
sufed many citizens of that city that
"hitepird was the only practicable ont
iet from the Salmon River CANYON. ana
tnat ne has established a good railroad
grade between Whitebird and GRANGE.
Vliie, and that this stretch of the road
could be built for less money than the
cost OF construction down the Salmon
rrser TO Rocky canyon, IL miles below
Whitepird. The first eight miles out of
urangevilie is practically level prairie
1ouf commission approximates the
average cost of rock work and GRADING
raiiroad bed between Grangeville and
higgins at $4,000 per mile. This does
NOT Include bridges, culverts, ties on
steer. Engineer VanArsdale, of Lew.
istoh, who has been over the route be-
tween urangevllie and New Meadows.
estimates the cost of construction, in,
cluaing bridges, culverts, ties, rails,
stations and the line ready for the
ioiiing stoek' at $4,000 per mile.
Elevations.
From the best data obtainable wa
learn that the elevations at various
points on the route are as follows.
McoaIl ............50 5000 feet
New Meadows 3911 feet
nIsgins ..1710 feet
"hi'eoiru 1850 feet
uS,lanseVile =. .3347 feet
Grangeville (summit) $500 feet
The construction of this road hoe
been agitated ever since the creation of
Idaho territory. In 1872 and subse.
quent sessions of the national congress-.
the United States war department. re-
commended the appropriation of 500.
000 for the construction of a WAGON
road as military necessity. NOTHING
was done, however, until Its construc7
ton was authorized by house bill No.
81, approved Feb. 10, 1899, which an
proprlated @27 900 for the construction
OF wagon road between Little Salmon
rails and Doumecq Bar, three miles
above Whlteblrd, and connecting at
ooth ends with existing wagon roads to
salmon Meadows and Camas Prairie
inns appropriation was supplemented
by a donation of $4,000 from the Ore
gon Short Line Railroad company. and
by an equal amount from the Pacific
Idaho Northern Railroad company.
oWlng to the lack of efficient state
supervision, the contractors largely 10
nored the established survey and the
specifications, and followed the line of
cheapest construction, with the result
mat the road in places and for long
Instances is simply narrow shelf high
above the river, with few turn-outs and
very rocky. At several points the road
is flooded and impossible at high wat.
er stage. As connecting link between
the north and south, it is a positive
disgrace to the state of Idaho. Travel
ing over 1T under the best conditions is
hardship. The United States mail
route between New Meadows and
Grangeville, times a week both WAYS, |
occupies two days going and two days
returning, the all--night lay-over BEING
at Lucille, where the stages arrive late
and depart early. AS a NATURAL conse !
quence the road is used almost exclu- |
slvely as a local highway, whereas if
made into good road it would become
the most extensively used and inter
esting highway in the entire state.
When converted into a substantial
highway it will form an important link
IN the proposed International highway
between Mexico and British Columbia |
tsee exhibit 1.)
In 1911, under authority of chapter
q of the 1911 session laws, an appro.
priation of yI5,000 was made for the
purpose of constructing steel bridge
across the Salmon river about two
miles below higgins.
The road from Round valley is built
on the east side of the Little Salmon
river to point below the falls, where
1T crosses to the west side and con
tinues to the state bridge, where the
river is crossed, and thence continues
on the east side of the main Salmon
river on to Whitebird.
Valuation of Property.
The assessed valuation of the tax
able property in Idaho county. real
and personal, in the region directly tri-
butary to the PROPOSED road is $1,097,-
693. In this region, there are 90 school
with a school census of 637.
The officials of the Nez Perez Ma
tional Forest service give the following
estimates of merchantable standing
timber within the jurisdiction of its
forests, in the region tributary to the
road:
Yellow pine ......... $50 million feet
Lodgepole pine 49,. 600 million feet
Red fir ............. go million feet
White fir .......... 1885 million feet
lamaraek ........ 100 million feet
The livestock industry, under existing
conditions, is the most important fea-
ture attending the present development
Of the Salmon river country.
The acreage owned by the state on
the east side of the Salmon river drain |
age basin, directly tributary to the pro-
posed road, is 26,040 acres. The land
ON the west side of the river is 1850
acres. The commercial values of these :