The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-06-29
What the Farrr,lialjiI:I
Are Doing Z
Continued from page three

Continued from page three
has about fifteen acres Of hay, two
acres of wheat and some potatoes.
West Wapello
The country lying on the west side
of Snake river west of Wapell0 be-
tween West Firth and Rose we shall
speak of as West Wapello. The
school house is situated In the
central position is known as the
Lavaside school house. 1t Is good
brick structure with basement, heat
ing plant and other equipment.
When West Wapello draws line
around it's territory it counts forty
two families within ito lines and
about 1000 acres Of agricultural
land under irrigation. 1t estimates
that 1t has 100 acres planted to po-
tatoes this year and allowing the low
average of eighty sacks per acre on
all of these farms will raise $4,000
sacks or 666 wagon loads Of forty
sacks apiece. It takes q little over
half a day for trip to Firth and
back and about three-quarters of q
day to make trip to Blackfoot and
back. The people living at the ex-
tremities of either community find
It possible to make two trips to town
and back by putting in long day
and getting prompt service at the
unloading station. They are look
ing forward to the day when they
can afford to have a bridge across
Snake river at the narrows between
them and Wapello and be able to
make two trips day from any part
of the settlement. Notwithstanding
their long haul to market or loading
stations they have been engaging
rather heavily in the production Of
potatoes and seem to want to con-
tinue to do SO. Until such time as
they can get their bridge into opera
ton it might be to their interest to
study the raising of clover seed or
feeding live stock on some such plan
as that outlined by Mr.. OFT in our
issue of June Is. That would re-
lieve them of the burden of hauling
the heavy products the long dis
tances.
The site selected for the bridge is
on the line between sections 4 and
5, township 2 south, range SO east,
and is directly north of Wapello, a
mile and half
Wapello Wants StOckyards
For twenty years the town of
RlackfOot has been wanting to get
the stockyards moved farther out of
town. Some years ago the railroad
company moved them a quarter Of
mile out, and almost Immediately
the town began to agitate to get
them moved again. For the past
two years the agitation has been
emphatic, and all the suitable and
unsuitable sites above the sugar
factory have been considered. Only
one site has been acceptable, and
both the railroad and the town re-
fuse to buy the land for such pur-
pose, and in the meantime the yards
are in the way and are objected to
for the reason that they yield bad
odors. The road at that point is
narrow, and small herd blocks the
traffic.
Wapello has decided that it
wants the stockyards and that it has
a suitable place for them. Wapello
is six miles out of Blackfoot and
points to the experience of most
cities and towns that have stock
yards and packing plants and shows
that they are generally located a few
miles out. South Omaha and
Kansas City, Kan. are conspicuous
examples land if Wapello and Black
foot do not become as large as
Omaha or Kansas City, they can at
least feel as big and point to Salt
Lake and Ogden as possibilities
which may be attained in their de-
velopment.
Wapello has big potato ware
house, big farms, big canals, shipped
140 carloads of potatoes last year
and is likely to double it this year.
A town that can increase it's business
by such leaps gets on the maps If it
keeps up it's lick, and Wapello de-
clares it can't be kept down. A new
bridge over the Blackfot river has
just been completed, and adds a belt
of new farming land to it's territory,
and connects it directly with the
great ranges of the upper Blackfoot.
Its Commercial club is now address,
ing itself to the task of getting a
new steel bridge over Snake river to
connect it with the limitless range
of the Snake river plains and the
agricultural belt described above,
and to give its people an outlet to
the timber on the lavabeds.
Wants a Depot
Wapello wants depot, and it has
heretofore had to admit that there
was hardly enough business to
justify keeping an agent there, but
now that it is doubling its potato
shipments it asks why they keep an
agent at Pingree whose business is
less. One reason why the railroad
company does not want to move the
Blackfoot stockyards farther out of
Blackfoot and yet ship from there is
that they would have to employ a
man to take care of the business,
and Wapello argues that If the COM
pany will place the stockyards at
their town, the depot agent can take
care Of the stock shipments and
other work. A petition is being
circulated to get the approval of
Blackfoot business men, and another