The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-02-13

loved every last one of them as h,
pressed the soil down around tn,
roots. When you look at that bowe
of color and beauty, you will be glat
that the Ogden man furnished tn,
money for Smith to come to Idaho
otherwise he might have gone int
some other state, and you would no
see that bower of beauty. The fail
association did much to pull settler.
into Idaho and to make beauty grow
where LONELINESS had flourished
Smiths plants and trees are all III
and down the valley for 200 miles
and if you should come back to earth
in 100 years from now you would
still find them handing their flames
Of beauty and their golden fruits
down to quicken and to elevate HUI.
imam lives. Can you beat that record ?
An Original Tax Payer
HENRY DUNN came here first
He was here when you came, and
when all the rest of us came. No
body sent for him to come into Idaho
and he began to pay taxes the year
he landed. Back in 1854 or some
where along there Mr.. Dunn paid
$1.5O taxes. on cayuse pony that
served his as "transp and it
wasn't much of public utilities
either, but he was the whole thing
when it came to chauffer and mo-
torman.
Mr.. Dunn was stockman all his
life and is yet. He and his family
raise Short horns and kept up the
reputation of this county at the fair
by their fine exhibits. He was not
very strong on spending money to
get new settlers into Idaho, but he
was always willing to put up good
stock exhibit to show those who were
here. He likes animals and things
that are alive, and does not get at
all excited over the question of
which car is the best or will take a
crowd the farthest on a gallon of
gasoline. Besides the ranches east
Of town, he has fine home on Shil-
ling avenue and he plays the game of
business very successfully.
Investor With Vision
For the fair-year Of 1906 George
F. Gag0n was president, and he had
with him on the board Alex Younie
and w. H. Scott, along with others
we have already written about.
MR.. YOUNIE had not been here
long in 1906. He had travelled all
over the United States and Canada
looking for a place that was little
better than any of the others, and he
chose Blackfoot, string
town, county seat and seat of an,
asylum. True, there were residences
not included in the expression,
string-town, but all the business
houses were on Main street, ranging
from the -four mill up to about the
location of the C. W.. & M. Co., and
it was customary in those days, to
regard the town as a close corpora
ton or something of the kind. When
the Mackay branch railroad was
built in 1901, it was about an even
guess whether the town would "go
down." or hold its own, and in
truth business improved little. 1t
lost the trade of the old team freight
ers, but it gained lot of business
created by the travel up and down
the line that always goes with easier
and quicker means of transportation
The merchants and dealers who
withstood the changes due to the
coming of the new branch road con-
sidered themselves fortunate, and
nobody wanted to see any new bust
ness or new dealers come to town
unless it was to engage in the other
fellows line and not in his. The
priciple of common sympathy and
common danger brought them all
more or less together on the
acknowledged conviction that the
town had reached its limits and it
behooved those who were in bust
ness to try to maintain the equalib-
rum of the village as it then stood.
Very few men would say openly that
they did not want the town to grow,
but none of them wanted any more
competition in his own line, and if
anybody tried to rent a building in
the town for business purposes, he
met with opposition from whoever
his enterprise would come into COM
petition with and from as many of
his friends as he could stir up to help
obstruct the venture.
When Mr.. Younie discovered
Blackfoot and decided to stay and
launch somethings he could not get
in. There we're no places for rent,
and no business locations for sale.
Others who came ahead of him look
ing for locations had been told the
same thing and they had gone on
and settled in towns up and down
the line where it was thought that
there was room for growth. But this
man Younie had meal ticket or its
equivalent and he remained in
Blackfoot. When he found that he
could not get in on the business
street as it was then constituted, he
decided to make another street and
open it UP wide to anyone that came
along. If nothing more was wanted
on Main street, he would take the
to his street. He bought
up some of the village common and
some of the old residence lots that |
were going to seed, and some old
barns and corralls, and thousand
acres or so Of farming land out
across the river that nobody seemed |
to want, paying cash for everything
and taking the discount. There were
q lot Of water rights too, that no
body priced, and he took them and
went to paying the assessments as
IL -