Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1920-01-04
7 Of 1919 SEES BOISE BANKS
WITH LlRGER AMOUNT ONDEP0sT
IhANLTAAN TINE IN HISTORY CITY

five to eight tons Of alfalfa: fourteen
to forty tons Of stock beets. The mild
winters make 1t unnecessary to build
the expensive barns required where the
climate Is more severe. Cattle, horses,
sheep and hogs thrive. This is q nat
ural blue grass country, while white
clover gives to stock strong bone. The
grains thrive. The average Yield or
wheat 10 thirty five bushels to the acre.
1t has gone over fifty often. Oats av-
erage 10 bushels TO the acre and have
gone as high as 90 to 100. Potatoes do
well. The potato bug II unknown.
RICH VALLEY
Fruit orchards OF commercial variety
dot the landscape. Boise valley 10 the
home of the purple prune. and the big
red apple. Peaches, pears, cherries
and other fruits are also grown In
abundance. The variety of prunes are
the Hungarian and Italian: the apples.
the Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Delicious,
Grimes Golden, Arkansas Black, Wine-
sap, White Winter Permain and other
varieties The peaches are the Elberta,
Crawford and Orange Cling; peare.
Beurre d'Anjou. Winter Nellis. CharA
geau. Bartlett, Flemish Beauty.
Into the valleys are hauled millions
of feet Of timber which Is sawed into
lumber that reaches the markets of the
u
the northwest operate in this vicinity.
and have standing timber in their pos,
session to keep running for many years
Such property would have been inn
possible were 1t not for the foresight OF
those who years ago saw the possible
ity OF irrigation. They drew the at
tention of the federal government to
the Importance of lending a helping
hand In the reclamation OF arid lands.
ia cQn n N
following 1t the remarkable engineers
ing feats by which water was taken
from lakes and streams or impounded
in reservoirs to be diverted through
canals and laterals to the thirsty land.
Once this was accomplished the land
POISONED like the rose.
ARRoWRoCk DAM
The Arrowrock dam was the out
growth Of this development. There is
none other like 1t. None Is as mighty,
none as high. 1t stands like Gibraltar.
anchored on solid granite 90 feet be-
low the normal bed of the Boise river.
1t is located 90 miles above Boise to
the east and north. To the eye 1t rises
a sheer concrete arched pier 261 feet
above the river. The average 10 or
Is story business block looks small be-
side 1t. II piled in a column 10 feet
square the concrete in 1t would rise to
a height of 20 miles.
The interior contains three complete
galleries running full length from
mountain side to mountain side from
which possible leakage is cared for and
it's twenty giant outlets are controlled.
There are more steps in 1t than in large
hostelries in many cities. One Is IS
feet high. Across its curved top lie
! a solid concrete roadway 16 feet wide.
laundering from it's outlets Is the nor
NAL flow Of the Boise river. Towering
arc lights on pedestals illuminate its
crest.
GIGANTIC RESERVOIR
The artificial mountain lake backing
1t floods a canyon to a depth Of 200 feet
| for a distance Of Is miles, when filled
to its capacity.
The Boise project proper was segre-
gated from the public domain some
years ago. An idea of the topography
| of the southern Idaho country should
be gained to appreciate the task the
reclamation service had before 1t ia
successfully work out plan by which
! its lands could be irrigated. The great
| Snake river finds its source in the Te-
| ton mountains on the border elevations
| of the Idaho Montana line. 1t flows in
a southerly direction into the eastern
Idaho basin. making a sweeping curve
! west and slightly north, crossing the
entire southern portion of the state, q
distance of over 900 miles, and contin-
ues on as 1t bends north to the Colum-
bia river. into which 1t empties. So II
| drains a vast basin. The Boise river
Is one of its tributaries in the western
part of the state. From the Snake ant
its tributaries level and plateau land
once the home Of 3ackrabbits and coy
otes. have been reclaimed until ths
basin has become dotted as a rich ag-
ricultural belt.
PROJECT PROPER.
The Boise river has its source in thu
| Boise mountains to the east and nortl
of the city Of that name Boise ttsell
Is backed against the foothills of thest
mountains. The river, after cutting 6
way through deep canyons, flows on Il
the south at the feet of the city. Thii
plain is made up Of the Boise valley
proper and series Of bench lands ris
ing and dropping away to the Snal,
river valley. 1t is this area that form
the Boise project, dotted with severa
important cities and towns, including
Boise. the capital Of the state, Namp;
and Caldwell. They form triangl,
J by connecting interurban, system
Meridian and kuna are two smalle
villages on the project. The Oregon
! Short Line railroad, part Of the UnioI
Pacific system, skirts the southerl!
boundary, and IL the principal avenu,
: Of transportation. Salt Lake, Portlan,
and Omaha are the main outside mar
ket depots.
When the project was first startes
system of deep, wide canals wa,
!: constructed and a diversion dam wa,
thrown across the Boise river q shor
, distance above Boise, diverting waite
into what Is known as the New Yorl
canal virtually an artificial river. I
) was carried distance Of thirty fiv
miles over the valley, distributing tn
fluid to those settlers actually on Ian,
J and storing the surplus In what 1