The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-08-11
Expected Changes Here
but Development
Astonishes

Z. o. Church, one of the earl,
engineers of the American Fall
canal, visited this county the frs
of the week on his way to the Vel
lowstone park after an absence o
thirteen years, and his observation
on our farms, crops and roads rea.
like an education.
Mr.. Church was accompanied OF
his trip by his daughter, Mrs. F. A
Stearnes, and his grandson, l.. c
Stearnes and wife, and Mr.. Church
hunted up Editor Trego to smile will
his as in the old days of canal build
ing.
Mr.. Church was genuinely sur
prised at several things in this coun
ty and in Blackfoot. OF course he
had always kept things in mind here
as they were when he left here thir.
teen years ago. He had expected the
country to develop and the town tc
build some, but when he came thru
his surprise was so genuine it was
surprise to his friends
He saw such a transformation in
the Aberdeen country that he kept
confessing is was beyond his fond
est pictures. All the way up thru
the tract it was joy to him to see
the changes, and at Blackfoot he
said the thing that he was not pre-
pared for was the classy appearance
of the town; the new buildings were
to be expected but not in such num-
bers, and the old buildings he had
not expected to see remodeled and
modernized as they have been. The
clean substantial look of everything,
the lavish growth of crops along the
road and the abundant streams of
water flowing into the fields All
looked SO good to him he was all
but excited ali the time. , He kept
saying II couldn't have believed
it," and yet he was an engineer lay
ing out bitches for new and better
civilization all the years he was here.
Lessons of California
When Mr.. Church left here he
went to take place in really great
undertaking, the Kuhn project in the
Sacramento valley, where they tar
the river near Chico, and have can
ais in three units of forty miles
each, and used seven million dollars
in the work. There were as many
as $50 engineers in the field at once
and the average number during the
period of construction was eighty.
In the parts of the valley not sup
piled by irrigation they are no long
er getting good crops, and much
shrinkage has come to the streams
furnishing water for the canals, so
the land owners during the past
three years of drouth have been
taking losses and looking about for
means of relief. Meadows that had
been producing five crops of alfal-
ia per year and getting watered
fifteen times have dropped to as
low as one watering now, and al
most no crop. Wells are being bored
and pumping plants installed, but
there is difficulty in keeping up the
supply of water to operate the pow
er plants and this makes a shortage
of current to operate the pumps.
That calls for gasoline engines, and
all the attendant troubles of get
ting delivery in time to save the
crops in the making. They stop at
nothing in the way of expense if
they have fair prospect of getting
water. Alfalfa used to sell at 81
to IS ton and now brings $40 to
$50 and it does not exist there in
quantities to supply the demand.
The dairymen must have it, and if
they had any kind of freight rate
from the Snake river valley and no
quarantine against the Idaho alfalfa
they would ship it. He thinks they
will ship the Idaho hay regardless
of cost if they can get by the quar-
antine. The state of Nevada has suf-
fered the same drouth and cannot
supply California.
OrcnarQS tnat nave survived the
first years of drouth and raised lit
tie or no crops are now dying, and
in the race for wells and iron pipes
to carry the water, the supply of
pipe is kept exhausted, so that each |
brings it's train of other
troubles in it's wake.
Talks Of 0ur Roads
Mr.. Church motored thru via Port
land, and we wondered what an engi
neer like him would say about our
roads if asked, and without saying |
to give him a tip as to how
we stood on local road matters, we |
asked him if he had taken notice of |
our roads, and what did, he think
would become of them. He said he
had noticed the roads as he came
thru from Aberdeen. He said that
California had already expended for
" million dollars in good road con-
struction lately, and was using most
y concrete base with some kind of
lsphaltum top. Owing to the Sc
verity of the heat, they were using
Is much crushed rock as they could
n the mixture so it would not soft
IN during the heat Of the day.
Tho old woods ba ,oid %h,,o +I,+1