The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-08-08
129 Days and
Nothing Done
A LESSON TO OTHER
LITTLE TOWNS ........-


Blackfoot is q little town, but
s;h.. . are others smaller. Blackfoot
will grow larger, and the rapidity Of
its growth and the character Of its
people will depend very largely upon
inc character OF effort and action put
forth by those who live here now.
Blsckfoot had q narrow escape
from an illness when It nearly al
lowed its fair grounds to pass into
private hands, and for that narrow
escape we are all more or less re-
sponsible. In order to show Just
where we are and how close we came
to being i'll, we want to tell you q
true story of another little Idaho
town that was ambitious and pros
pered for q while and then fell i'll
and isn't even good stopping place
now. 49s' N.
This little true story is about
Downey, Idaho, situated on an irri-
CATION project in Marsh valley. The
town was unveiled" with a bang
and a banquet and all went merrily
while people did team work and
pulled together for the upbuilding Of
their town. OF course there were
dull days and people worked and
planned cheerfully and brought the
kinks out of dull days and Downey
was a good town. Then came still
better days when five Of its young
men banded themselves together in
team work to put on little fair at
Downey and put their town on the
map. At an outlay of about $500
they got the show ready and felt sure
they would be able to get the money
all back again from the gate receipts
and other income, and they planned
to take the loss themselves If there
was a loss, and in case there was q
profit they would turn it into the
public school fund or hold it to help
put on another fair the following
year. They were donating their
own work and taking all the risk. A
few days before the fair was to open
one of the five fellows saw q great
cloud on their financial horizon and
he said, Nov suppose we should
have three days of rain instead OF
three days of good attendance at the
fair. Who would pay back this
$500 that we have spent getting
ready for the fair?" Then all the
five fellows saw the same cloud on
the horizon and they sat back in deep
thought till one of them declared it
could not possibly rain at the right
time to spoil their little fair at
Downey, and they took courage and
hoped to it again. They worked
early and late till the fair was ovor
and then they worked some more to
clean up the place and settle all bills |
and found they had $50 left in the |
treasury.
During the fair the attendance was
almost as good as they had hoped it
would be, and people complimented
these five men and told them what |
great benefactors they were and as
sured them that they were doing
great good to the whole valley and
all that lived therein. The merchants
Of the town did big business and
declared that people came from
everywhere and Oxford, and that
while there they bought goods of
avery kind and paid cash and they
never had had such boom days. 1t
brought new customers to the stores
Ind new money into the valley and
prospered. The butcher
Ind the baker and all lines of SER
rice also waxed fat and each night
he pool hall man had so much
money he worried about what to do
o safeguard it till the bank opened
n the morning, at which time he
ugged his sack down to where it
would be safe. That was in the year ,
# our Lord one thousand nine hun
red and thirteen.
In the year Ammo Domini 1914
hese same men, viii Coffin, S. f.
ohnson, Jess Richards, j. A. Fits
nd G. E. Leighton, put on another
air and that time they did it on q
luch larger scale and it also was q
cry pronounced success and they
anne out just about even financially. /.
hey had worked very hard for q /.
ong time and all thru the fair they
eglected their own work, but their
elbow townsmen were busy coming t
honey for themselves by selling I
heir goods or butchering or baking {
r operating their pool hall or their l
axi or whatever they chose to OPP 7
rate to make money. I
When the fair was over everybody c
'as pleased and had made plenty of t
loney, and the five busy boosters
( theskeam work called a public +
1eeting and told the other men Of I
he town that this fair business was a
rowing such a good thing for the a
own, all but themselves, the five a
Tho put it on. that they proposed to Q
-salize the whole town into a cor h
Grafton and have all of them assume +
heir share of the expense and the b
isk, SO that If there were profits it d
1ould belong to the permanent Or
and be used for the COM t
lunity, and if there happened to be t
Amy days and a loss of money 1t /
'ould not fall heavily upon five men '
nd break them, for the risk was i
nnning into thousands of dollars. t
Then did these wise men of L
owney, who had been making /
loney out of the fair rise up one
tier another and behave just as did s
lie money-lenders at the ancient city
Ephesis when 1t was proposed to
D out and get some new business Q
If the city by doing team work and d
lere was need of each individual a
aIn;Y1p finance .it THEW nut ont q