The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-02-16

tOWuS are usually UullL DIS Ju6T0 Is
necessity for them. The fact that
there are difficulties in the way does
not prevent the building of the town.
Where it is easy to build, people are
slow to appreciate their opportunities
and they neglect to act. Blackfoot
is an example of the latter kind. Elm
many places it is necessary before
starting building to level down
a hillside to prepare the site. In
some cases the site has to be blasted
out of solid rock or out of hard form
alton with boulders predominating;
then the sewer line has to be blasted
out below that yet, and by the time
they are ready to start erecting the
building a large amont of money has
been spent.
In Blackfoot the task is perfectly
easy. The site is already levelled
off by nature. The projectors of the
building go to work with their teams
and scrapers and scoop out the ex-
cavation. When the bottom of the
cellar or basement is reached they
encounter mixture of sand and
gravel suitable for mixing concrete,
and by the time the excavation is
completed the materials are on the
bank ready for building the founda-
ton and the walls to the top of the
ground. To prepare the trenches
for the sewer they have only to
shovel out the loose sand and gravel
and lay the drainage pipes. When
this Is done they back"f1ll, lay &C.
ment floor and have expended but
little money in the undertaking. Yet
with all these advantages, Blackfo ot
has been town of slower growth
than some of it's nelghbors, and there
has never been time in 80 years
when families wishing to settle in the
town could be assured of being ablc
to buy or rent htme at any time
of the year they might wish to oc
cupy 1t. There is steady increase
in the demand for houses suitable
for residences and people are slow
to build them. When they do they
usually build them without cellars
or Easements. One would expect that
where these things are so easily
made it would be the rule rather
than the exception to have them.
There has scarcely ever been a time
o1hCC LuC LO"h was CoLoUlAOACu w lCA
there was vacant business house
for any considerable length Of time
and scarcely ever good business
house vacant that was not engaged
and occupied in just the length of
time that it took the owner to- re-
model it for the new tenant. The
town is surrounded by a great agri-
rultural district and its future
growth is assured-yet with the
steady and increasing demand for
business houses with Easements, peo-
pie are very slow to build them.
Blackfoot is just now considering the
matter of buying or building a water
system and as men discuss the mat
ter of buying the old system and the
certainty of having to take up a few
miles of the small pipe and lay in
larger ones, or the prospect of lay
ing a new system after the franchise
expires, they throw up their hands
and hold their breath at the thought
Of digging trenches, and laying pipe
lines in an ordinary soil-or with
some hardpan and gravel at the
worst.
If we had to dig these trenches
thru lava rock or a formation made
up mostly of boulders there should
be some excuse for dreading the job,
but as it is with everything in our
favor and fortune smiling at us on
every hand, there is no reason why
we should not take hold of the pro-
ject and rejoice that the task is so
easy and so inexpensive. The simple
f~.,1fh nf hn OF 10 hof plo nly 20 ~
is so indolent and so lacking in en-
terprise-in the snap and pluck and
courage which constitute real citizen
ship-we ought to go on short ra-
lions of water and with inadequate
fire protection as we have been, only
more intensified, as a penalty for our
not living up more fully to the great
measure of our opportunities.