The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-06-29

side of the river whom he talked to
stAbeut It said something like this;
"Oh, 1t doesn't matter about daily
mail service, l 60 to town every Sat
urday and / get my mail then and
that is often enough Mr.. Williams
sold his place and moved to Rexburg
but after a year he returned. Dur
ing that time the petition had been
in one of the settlers hands over
there, who handed 1t back to him
when he moved back to that local
ity; then Mr.. Williams got some Of
the leaders of the community to help
him in talking and running around
the country looking for the hundred
settlers and after another three
weeks work he got enough names
on the petition to make a total Of
ninety-six or ninety-seven. There
were three or four other families
who were on the line and were in
different about it and did ont care
whether they got their mail service
or not since they had to buy metal
box and put it up on post in order
: to get their service. They said II
they had the box they would sign up,
i but they would not sign up If they
had to buy the box. So. Mr.. Will
Jams bought their boxes for them to
keep the whole thing from being q
failure, and they put up the boxes
with the understanding that Mr..
Williams owned them. That was in
the summer Of 1904 and in April,
1905 they got the carrier and IL we
! remember correctly, Mr.. Weigel, was
! the carrier. After the route had
| been in operation a few months, Mr.
Williams went to these three or four
families that he had bought mail
boxes for and asked them which
! they wanted, their mail baxes or let
| him take them home with him and
they all declared they wanted the
mail boxes and the service.
A number of years ago Mr.. Will
| Jams had chance to buy forty
acre farm on the Rich lane just east
>of Blackfoot for SIS an acre. It had
no buildings on it and nearly all the
!, ground would have to be graded be-
fore it could be irrigated. They
moved on to the place and Mr.. Will
Jams planted an acre of corn, and
about an acre of potatoes on spots
that could be watered and went to
work to make farm by grading.
The corn was of variety that could
grow quite tall, and it grew only
about four feet high, his potatoes
were spindly and poor and both
crops were practically failure. Mr..
and Mrs. Williams looked it over
and concluded that they were stung
on buying that land at any price.
But Mr.. Williams decided that
there was possible remedy for it
and so he fertilized the ground that
fall, plowed it, put it in shape, and
the next spring planted it again to
corn and potatoes and raised an
abundant crop, the corn being eight
| or nine feet high. That years OPP
erations convinced them that the
soil would be alright when graded
and fortified so they kept right at
that job for the next seven years
and got it all in fine state of cult
| walton. At the end of the second
summer they had it yielding sixteen
different kinds of fruit and many
kinds of vegetables. Real estate
men taking prospective purchasers
out thru the country used to stop
there because the place looked so
attractive and they had many offers
to purchase the place. Each year
they had better offers than before,
they did not have to do any advertis-
ing to get customers. The appear
ance of the place brought the Gus
toners to them and finally Mr.. Will
Jams sold it at $500 an acre. In the
meantime he had built good house
on it and done all of this grading we
had spoken about. Mr. Williams
says that he thinks the mere plant
ing and raising of the various kinds
of fruit and vegetables in the gar
den added at least $1,000 to the sale
price, besides the fruit and vege-
tables yielded some Of the best in
come of anything that was on the
farm. He thinks that If person
wants to sell a place the best thing
he can do to get customers for it is
to set some of it to fruit and vege-
tables and vines or other ornamental
things. Mr.. Williams says that if a
mans home is barren and he wants
to live on it the best way is to set
the fruit and vegetables and vines
and ornamental things. If it is bar
rem and he wants to get rid of it, the
best way to find customer is to set
those things and get them growing
and yielding and identifying the
place.
Man Met Misfortune
Arthur Scott was farming north
of Wapello and had dry farm at
the edge of the foot hills east Of
Wapello near Goshen. In the year
1918, when we had the high water,
Arthur was working in the bottom
lands to build bikes to keep the
foods back of of his crops and
worked in the water for a long shift |
and chilly day. He had been suf-
fering a little with rheumatism in |
the hands and now 1t extended thru |
other parts of the body and disabled
him. He has never been able to do
anything since and has had to quit
the farm. He has moved into Wa
pello and is waiting for the person
to come along who can effect cure.
He has tried everything that he
could find without being improved
at all