300
THE WEST SHORE
Mil Whin, tflhtiliriilirr 900 OflO nm-,.a tJ nru aruliln lnti.1
' 0 .VW.WV W & ......
Wb. rvor thin has bean brought under cultivation by
mnn of irrignfinj (l:tchc3 thii iuo;t wonderful result
have been obtained. Many largo tracU have averaged
forty-five buahels of wheat to the acre for a series of
year ami .how no .igna of exhaustion of vitality. Never
KUfTlirillir from ai) eiCMM of IiwiinlnrA mut 1.fiMii ,Ir,,ntl,
with hia irrigating canal, the farmer of this region is
enabled to harvest a full crop year after year, exempt
irom mo VKMMHUuiiei that remler agriculture bo uncertain
in the MiaaisMippi Valley. Six tun. of alfalfa mul f,.nr
tons of red clover to the acre are cut on tracts an largo aa
sixty acre An high a 1,000 bushels of potatoes to two
acrea, l,2.r0 bushel, of ouioua to two acres, 113 bushels
01 uariey, over 100 bushels of out ami CO bushels of
flint corn to the acre are riorW bv the fi.rmr r,f i.uf
regiou as being the product of irrigated land which but
few year, ago was a dreary aage bruah desert Thou-
aamiM or auro. or audi laud are uuchiimod iu the valley.
Fruit ia the special product of Boise Valley. Applus,
jwara, pluuia, joachea, nectarines, cherries, etc., produce
in the greatest abundance and are of large ai.e and ex
luiaito flavor. Laat year 400,000 MUudii of fruit were
mupjHHi iruia mo valley to Butte, Montana, and thin year
..n .m,u,iw are oorreomling!y hirga When the
railroad readies Boise, next season thia auerb fruit will
have the whole Kant for
Jtiniiitf above tlmviilltw 111 ft Ufiritttt (if liiittiai.,.. 1.. I
. ..--w. luiuirunu IJtlllUIWB
or broad plateau., sloping gently toward Boise and Snake
naa a aoii equal, if not luiierior. in quality
u mat or the bottom land. Thia land ia bo aituated
that it can be easily irrigated by a canal from Boise
Kivor. The Idaho Mining and Irrigation Company ia
: . ' UBU a c,i"ul' tlllrty '"'"'a long and
uuny-uve i.m,1 wide at the bottom. It will carry four
, Z.T ' mm W acre of thiadeaert
and. The aupply ,,f WHter in the river, derived from
he melting .now. of the Sawtooth Mountains, ia ample
Jj. keep the canal full at all aeaaona of the year. Uere
the immigrant will find the beet of aoil, with an lrriga
liouditeh rea,y to wnW it for a alight annual tax per acre.
The climate of Boise City ami vicinity ia salubrious.
IU i atmoaphere u. dry and clear in .ummer, and in win.
W th. .now rardy fall, to . great depth. Heavy .now
.torn,, an, confined to the mountains, whence the stream,
iu summer derive . never-failing .upply 0f wuUr. A
snowfall of from five to eight inch. in the valley is car.
ned off w one day by the warm wind- from the coast,
known throughout the West a. the Chinook." Water
fowl and other migratory bird, remain during the winter
.now and ioe M being .uflidently continuous to cause
. b Uj, for a more aouthern location. In .ummer
U,e beat bMupored by ending breexe. frotu tLe mouu.
talua, though heavy wind atorm. are unknown.
Taken aa a whole, there i. mu.-h iu BoU City and
vicinity U, tempt the immigrant ..king . f.rm
looaUon. and Ui. the eity and .urnmnding country
ahould gnw ,.p,dl, durmg the next decade would aeem
to be facta too evid.ut to fear ouutraJictiou.
THE PINE CREEK MINES.
HAVING apent a week in Cornucopia, the "camp" of
tLo rino Creek mines, I am prepared to give you
an idea of the country passed through in reaching that
new El Dorado of Eastern Oregon, as well as to express
an opinion as to the character and extent of the quartz
ledges that have created so much excitement, an opinion
baaed on an intimate acquaintance with quartz mines,
and with old and new mining camps, extending over a
long series of years.
Fussing without comment upon the charming scenery
of the Columbia IUvor and Blue Mountains, which
claimed bo much of my attention from Portland to Baker
City, I will begin at the latter point, where I exchanged
the ease and comfort of a Pullman car for the cruder and
more musculur accommodations of the stage and buck
board. Baker City is a beautiful town of some 2.200 inlmln-.
tauta, three fine schools, four churches, some very nice
luminous houses, and a class of citizens, generally speak,
ing, alive to their interests. It has several good hotels,
iu one of which, the Arlington, I found rest until the
next morning, when I secured Dassaire on KelWu'a linn
of atngea to Cornucopia for the sum of $G.
Leaving Baker City, rather a desolate atrin nt nnntr
was passed over for a distauoe of eighteen miles, a region
that can be equaled only by the sace brush conntrv nf
Nevada. Not a tree nor anything else was in sight to
remind the traveler from the Willamette Valley that he
was still in the State of Oregon uutil the Powder River
Valley was reached After passing on ten miles further,
whore a nice timber belt was reached. I behold the wrwk
of an old mining town called "Gemtown," where, in
forraor years, this industry was carried on extensively;
but, like many such places in California, nothing more
than the decaying log cabins and unturned
left to mark the spot where, perhaps, millions were ex
tracted, and the greater portion, no doubt, squandered.
A few men still romain there eni'n in 17 a mnra livina in
some surface diggings. They work during the spring
moniiis wniie Mature rurnishes water free that would
otherwise have to be purchased. Two miles further on
is Sparta. Thia is also a mining town, consisting of a
Btoro, post office, two hotels, and, strange to say, only one
saloon. There minim? is ntill nnrriaA nn n;ia tnn
Bively, but, unfortunately for the surrounding country,
ymuipaiiy Dy Mongolians, ol whom some hundred or
more find emnlovraont in lh 1in.t.t n..ii.o. ti,
tins region of country has many mineral bearing lodea
will, no doubt, be proven ere long, for the mineral belt
of Pine Creek no doubt commences at this point and
form, an entire range extending beyond the Snake River
uiiy .ixiy miles or more.
After dininn at SoarU w rvtntin lifts) rn s lo r1 a V 1
ley. Thia u a fine valley, some ten miles long, into
which the emigrant fomul hia ...
ago. Here everything in the shape of vegetables and
fruit u raised, the only drawback being the want of a
good market, a lack which, if the mine above prove aa