An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 152

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 152
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 152
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 152
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 152

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The climate is exceptional. High hills protect from the winds. The summers are delightful. The days from twilight to sunset lengthen to about 16 hours. With the going down of the sun a refreshing breeze blows across the country to fan the brow of the weary toiler. The winters are free from severe blizzards, so common to other parts of the country, and last only from eight to ten weeks. Mountain ranges protect it from the chilling blasts from the north, while the warm southwest winds sweep across the country, melting the snows, which soak into the soil for the summer moist- ure. Here is where the man who toils may sleep with

comfort, for the summer nights are ever cool and re- freshing.

Almost through the middle of the Potlatch country flows the Potlatch river, one of the branches or feed- ers of the Clearwater. Emptying into the Potlatch from the north are a number of small, clean streams. These streams flow through gulches which divide the country into what are known as the Potlatch, Ameri- can, Big Bear, Little Bear, Texas, Fix and Cedar Creek ridges. These ridges are considered the most valuable agricultural and horticultural lands of the north. The section has been hidden to some extent by the large amount of advertising given to other parts of the northwest, but it has needed little more than the practical demonstration of its possibilities to give it proper prestige among the farming sections of the country. Farmers who have come to this district from other parts of the United States and who have seen with their own eyes what it will grow on its fertile helds have lost no time in selling their eastern places to take up their abode in a region where a clause guaranteeing success can almost be incorporated in the deeds of conveyance. Here is a section, of which there are few in the far west, where corn will grow both for the table and for feeding purposes. Ears 12 and 14 inches are the usual lengths. In much of the upper country the nights are too cold for the proper maturing of corn, but here the nights are neither hot nor cold but seem to maintain an even temperature that develops the growth not only of this cereal but of all others.

Wheat here grows to a height of five feet, carrying some of the largest heads that can be found anywhere, with firm, large berries. Potlatch wheat has a repu- tation second to none. It is first sold on the market because of its fine grade and early harvest. A Pot- latch farmer received at the World's fair at Chicago a gold medal for having the finest wheat grown in the world, which, when considered, is an astounding show- ing for a small district far off in the west. Oats yield here the largest crops of any part of the state or of the world and grow tall and luxuriant. Timothy grows six feet tall with heads 12 inches long, while alfalfa with its immense yields without irrigation testifies to the adequate moisture contained in the soil, which is the foundation for the successful growing of all vegeta- tion. Flax will run on an average over 25 bushels to the acre of a special grade that brings an extra high price. Tobacco does well, as experiments have proved, but has not been raised commercially as yet.

The fruits of the Potlatch country have a national reputation. Apples that are a credit to any community are shipped out in quantities and form a conspicuous part of the wealth of the country. Last spring 8,000 boxes of these apples, which had been stored from the previous harvest in warehouse at Kendrick, were re- packed and shipped. The loss from wither and rot from the time the fruit was first stored was shown to be less than two per cent., which is considered a re- markable showing, even for Potlatch apples, which are noted for their keeping qualites. These apples grow large and red and possess a flavor which brings for

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thiem the highest prices in the eastern and middle western markets. Some of these apples won the first prize at the Chicago fair. There is such a demand for this fruit that it is 110 common thing for buyers to purchase the fruit on the trees. One orchard of 110 acres of six-year-old trees produced a crop for which a buyer paid $8,000 on the trees, and such instances are not uncommon. Cherries that compare favorably with the California product in size and flavor, are shipped in quantities. All the small fruits thrive and produce in abundance. Strawberries two inches in diameter are common and are solid and sweet to the center and juicy as can be wished. They lose nothing in flavor by reason of their immense size, an acre of strawberries netting the owner $200 often, and under favorable circumstances and careful cultivation often producing more. Grapes do excellently and vineyards of large size are being planted. At a Spokane fruit fair one year a grape grower of the Potlatch made an exhibit from his vineyard which was an object lesson to all who saw it. From the department of agri- culture he secured colored pictures of two varieties of grapes, showing the ideal bunch of those varieties of the fruit. He framed these pictures and beside them in his exhibit he suspended two bunches of grapes he had grown in his vineyard. In size, shape and coloring the Potlatch fruit showed up better than the ideal picture.

Vegetables of all the usual varieties are cultivated and yield abundantly. These products find a ready market in the towns and in the markets of the trib- utary and mining districts. Dairying, live stock, poultry and kindred pursuits affiliated with agricul- ture are engaged in to some extent and bring excellent returns. Greater attention is being paid to these branches of late as their possibilties are becoming bet- ter known and as the markets for the products are increasing. Lumbering is already an important in- dustry and promises to become a source of immense wealth. The great forests lie along the streams just to the north and east of the Potlatch country. As the timber is cut the logs are floated down the streams to the railroad shipping points in the Potlatch country. Here there is abundant water power available and mills are established to turn the logs into lumber and this lumber is then placed on the railroad cars to be transported to market. The three saw inills on Pot- latch creek above Kendrick have about 2,000,000 feet of logs in their boom. Another mill, five miles 11p- stream has 900,000 feet, and another mill further up the creek lias 400,000 feet of logs for sawing. There are two other mills in the district. Others will be established ere long as lumber is in great demand.

Three lively towns divide the trade of the Potlatch country. Kendrick is the largest of these. By reason of its location in the center of the district and the further fact that the natural contour of the country makes it easier to haul products to it than to other shipping points, it has become the metropolis of the Potlatch, a position it seems destined to maintain. Juliaetta, in the southwestern part of the Potlatch, has an excellent and prosperous tributary country, while

Troy in the northwestern part of the district also en- joys a large and rapidly increasing trade.

The towns of the Potlatch country are situated hundreds of feet below the level of the grain producing ridges, in the canyons of Potlatch river and Bear creek, through which is built the Northern Pacific Railroad. While there are many good wagon roads built from the town, up to the farms, the grades are steep, too steep for ordinary use in hauling grain and other products to the railroads for shipment. In getting grain down to the warehouses, tramways or inclined cable roads on various plans are used. Ware- houses are built both at the tracks of the railroad company and at the upper end of the inclined way for the convenience of the farmers. The use of tramways in the Potlatch country has encouraged the farmers to raise more grain and to utilize more of their lands for other produce, as they have proved very success- ful in expediting the handling of all commodities. Many of the tramways already built are being taxed to their utmost to carry down the supplies delivered to their upper terminals and still more is coming to be handled. The success of this manner of handling farm produce and getting it to transportation points has also stimulated other sections to introduce and maintain tramways. It was at first thought that their operation would be unsuccessful owing to the bad working of the first one built. Improvements having since been made, it is found they save long hauls in getting the grain into the canyons where the railroads have their houses and tracks and so much time is saved as well as wear and tear on teams and wagons. An- other item in favor of the tramway is that they are built and operated at very little expense and in most cases by the farmers who have subscribed and have the privilege of sending down their grain in this manner.

The first large movement toward the establishing of orchards in the district was in 1894, when $27,000 was spent for the purchase of trees. By 1898 there were 3,000 producing trees in the orchards about Ken- drick and 127 carloads of fruit were shipped from that point. In 1890 the total shipments of cereals from the Potlatch were 50,000 bushels. In 1898 the ship- ments had increased to 800,000 bushels, of which 275,000 bushels were of wheat. Shipments in later vears have grown to immense proportions.

There is a significance attached to the nomen- clature of Idaho districts which is of interest. Para- dise valley is a most appropriate title to apply to such a beautiful and bountiful land. Potlatch, which is a Chinook (Indian) term meaning free giver of free gift, is most appropriately applied to a district where nature is so lavish in her benefactions. In an- other chapter of this work we have quoted an inter- view with John P. Vollmer, of Lewiston, in which Mr. Vollmer tells how the Genesee valley came by its name. It was during the summer of 1870 that Mr. Vollmer in company with Mr. Stone and others took a drive from Lewiston through the breaks and over the hill country north. Mr. Stone, who was at that time agent of the O. R. & N. steamboat line at Lewiston, was a native of New York, and during the

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

drive remarked that the valley reminded him of his old home, the Genesee valley in New York state. Alonzo Leland. afterwards editor of the Lewiston Teller, was of the company and in descriptions of the country in his paper referred to it always as the Genesee valley and the name has ever since clung to it.

The Genesee valley lies to the north of the Lewis- ton country and adjoins Whitman county, Wash., the original center of the Palouse country, of which this valley is a part. The valley is part of the territory drained by the Clearwater river, and Cow creek, its principal water course, is a tributary of that river. The general character of the country is similar to that in other parts of the Palouse-long rolling hills, which are tillable at their highest points : whose gentle slopes are almost as easily farmed as a level country, and retain moisture better than flat plains. The benches are broken through by deep gulches, in which the creeks and streams run. Generally this part of the Palouse is less broken and contains fewer untillable breaks than other parts of the county.

The productiveness of the soil was in evidence when the first settler arrived as the rolling hills were covered with a wealth of native grasses. Stock raising was the pioneer industry. With an influx of more people attention was given to agriculture and from that day the returns from crops and cereals have been the ad- miration and delight of the land owners and others. Nowhere in the famous Palouse is produced better quality of grains or more abundant yields. A few words regarding methods of cultivation here, as well as in other parts of the Palouse; may not be amiss. Farms are generally large and many horses are re- quired. The machinery employed embraces single and gang plows, section harrows, drills and broadcast har- rows and combine headers and threshers. Following the old biblical custom of the time of Moses the farmers as a rule let half their lands lie fallow eachı year. Summer fallowing is generally practiced, a plan which experience has proved wise and profitable. A few years ago it was the practice at harvest time to use a header, with three header wagons and using from 13 to 30 horses in all. Some times the headed grain was stacked but often it was threshed as soon as headed. Not every farmer owns a header, many hiring the work done, as well as the threshing. Today the combine does the work of both machines. Big farmers own their own combines. Others hire the work done. Usually as the grain is threshed it is hauled to the warchouses in the city and stored, ware- house receipts being issued and a small charge being made for the handling and storage. This leaves the grower free to hold his crop as long as he chooses and take advantage of any fluctuations in prices.

The comparatively slight labor and more than generous returns from cereal crops have made that branch of agriculture the chief one in the Genesee country. In later years the advantages of the country as a fruit growing section became known and more at- tention has been paid to horticulture. The rich soil, which is permeated with moisture during growing season, the warm sun and mild breezes combine to

give the fruit of this section a size. color and flavor which is excelled nowhere. In no other place are the vields more abundant. In consequence the fruit grow- ing is fast becoming one of the most important indus- tries of the district.

As the district grows in population the tendency is toward smaller farms and more diversified and in- tensive farming. Dairying, which offers most re- munerative returns, is being more and more engaged in, a business which is made unusually profitable by reason of the adaptability of the soil for the growth of large crops of tame grasses and all varieties of forage plants and the abundance of fresh and pure water. These same factors contribute to making the raising of live stock a profitable industry. Small fruits yield large crops of choice quality, as do all the vegetables. Large revenues are received by those who devote parts of their lands to these products. Poultry raising is another branch of farm work which is a money maker.

A new industry in this vicinity is the growing of grain seed. The reputation of Genesee vegetables has become so pronounced that eastern seedsmen have urged that a seed farm be started. Mayor Hermann of Genesee has decided to devote a 100-acre farm to that purpose next season. He will produce seeds of all the usual varieties of vegetables and has already re- ceived orders for more than his possible crop. An lowa farmer secured some Idaho seed oats and this year planted a strip of his oat field with them. The result is that farmers from miles around have viewed that field and have sent orders out west for more of that seed. The Idaho oats stand up about two feet above that raised from Iowa seed, are earlier and carry a heavier berry and more to the stem. The seed in- dustry promises a bright future in the Genesee country as well as in other parts of the Palouse.

In 1888 shipments of cereals from the Genesee country were estimated at 800,000 bushels. The growth in diversity of products and otherwise is shown by the fact that in 1892 the shipments from the dis- trict were 1500 carloads of grains, 60 carloads of live stock and 15 carloads of fruit. Those do not take into consideration the large amount of farm and orchard products sold in local markets and at tributary mining and lumbering districts, nor do they include shipments of dairy products, poultry, eggs, vegetables, etc. This : ear's products will show a large increase in volume, diversity and value over former years.

It is rather peculiar that a pioneer industry of the Palouse country which was abandoned to a large ex- tent has been taken up again with promise of greater profits than the pioneers ever dreamed of. This is the live stock industry. The earliest stockmen raised cattle and horses, letting them run wild over the plains where they fed on the rich bunch gra'ss of the uplands. For their market they drove to the small towns or to the more distant mining camps that were springing up all over the territory west of the Rockies. As a rule no effort was made to secure good breeds of animals, as a result of which the stock was scrubby and of comparatively little value. In the hard times of 1893

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the stockmen suffered with the rest of the country and the industry was almost abandoned. Then came an influx of new settlers into the country, taking up farms, and the horsemen found that farm animals were in demand, and few to be had. With the new popula- tion came a demand for tame grasses and for the first time experiments were made which determined, as might have been expected, that lands which produced such bountiful crops of native grass would yield equally large returns of the tame grasses and of fodder plants.

The stock industry was revived. From the first there was a desire to secure blooded stock, animals which would give the largest returns for the labor and money invested. This idea was aided and made gen- eral through the efforts of the agricultural colleges and the results have been more than satisfactory. Many extensive breeders have visited this section, have seen what can be grown in grasses and grains and have been eager to predict that the Palouse country will soon be furnishing the breeding stock for the far east, where now eastern buyers secure their stock across the ocean. They base these predictions upon the climatic conditions and what is produced here for develop- ing. That this idea is reasonable is evidenced from the fact that an Inland Empire calf, shipped from the Palouse country, at Chicago recently stood first in his class and was sold for the highest price in his class. One reason for the great success of the industry has been that the stockmen appreciate that the best breeds mean the largest returns. Cattle can be raised here cheaper than anywhere else. For at least ten months of the year cattle feed and fatten rapidly with- out cost to the farmer. They are placed on the sum- mer fallowed lands, where immense crops of weeds and wild oats spring up, which is excellent pasturage but which would injure the land if the farmer was not able to turn his stock upon it. The stubble of the wheat fields afford good grazing and then for the few weeks when the cattle have to be fed in winter there is an abundance of alfalfa and other grasses and fod- der plants readily raised in great quantities. Horses do equally well. Heavy draft and general animals, of thoroughbred breeds, are raised in numbers and find an ever widening market. It cattle Herefords and Shorthorns are the more popular breeds, although many others are represented, such as Jerseys, Dur- hams, etc. Percheron horses have been bred in the Palouse country for years. Sheep raising has long been a profitable industry, but is not progressing in recent years because of lack of range. The great American hog is the big money maker in the Palouse. With agriculture began hog raising, and the industry grew with the growth of the grain farms. For a time it afforded the most profitable outlet for the wheat and barley. Government experts in this section have developed by long and careful experiment that wheat fed to hogs in the Palouse will return better than $1 a bushel and the industry is attracting many, and is already a source of great revenue, which will increase from time to time. In this industry as in others the growers insist upon only the best breeds. A potent factor in educating growers to the value of blooded

stock has been the Inland Registered Stock Breeders' Association, covering a territory comprising eight counties in eastern Washington and five in Northern Idaho. At a recent meeting the Latah county breeders present and the lines in which they are specialists in- cluded Prof. H. T. French, Shorthorn cattle and Po- land-China hogs; Theo. Reed, Hampshire and Dorset sheep, Duroc-Jersey and Tamworth swine ; and B. T. Byrns, Shorthorn and Hereford cattle.

Dairying is an important and growing industry in this section. The abundance of cheap and excellent feed, and the further fact that there is a great de- mand at large prices for the cream to be shipped to large creameries at Spokane have attracted many to engage in this industry with resulting profit. One Palouse farmer five years ago started out with five cows, shipping his cream. Today he milks 50 cows and owns 640 acres of land, all paid for out of his profits from cream.

When one considers that it was but a comparatively short time ago when the first tame grass seed was planted in an experimental way in Latah county it is surprising to learn that in the spring of 1902 estimates made showed that within a radius of ten miles of Moscow there were 10,000 acres in timothy, alfalfa, red clover, orchard grass, tall meadow, oat grass, bro- mus inermis and other cultivated grasses. Yet in- dications are this large acreage will be doubled within a year. The development of this branch of farming has come within the last five years and during the same period the stock industry as practiced in sections where no public range remains has been inaugurate.l and is gaining more and more of a foothold.

M. J. Shields, who has an 1800 grass seed farm near Moscow, has made a success feeding sheep for market, pasturing them on the farm. For feeding the sheep he uses spelts, the grain which is extensively raised in Denmark, which resembles barley in char- acter and produces abundantly in the Palouse coun- try. The straw after threshing is almost as good feed as grain hay. All grasses thrive in this favored land. Clover is the basis of all the grasses and five varieties have been grown successfully-common, mammoth red, white, Alsac and alfalfa. Two crops are har- vested each year, in June and September, respectively. Tall varieties grow to more than six feet high. They are hardy and are valuable for early spring pasture and return a second heavy crop. The orchard grass keeps green winter and summer if grazed down : stands frost and has proven a fine grass in that soil. Samples are shown often five feet tall. The average in the Palouse is about four feet. Meadow fescue, or Eng- lish blue grass, grows to a height of three feet. It is fine, nutritious, hardy and will grow anywhere. It yields four tons per acre and is ready to cut in July. The Russian brome grass yields usually five tons to the acre. It makes good summer pasturage. Rye grasses make excellent pasture but are not heavy hay producers. Two varieties have been tried, the Eng- lish and Italian. Canadian blue grass also makes a good pasture grass and stays green until the snows fall. Men familiar with the states named declare that

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grasses of these varieties do better in the Palouse than in Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and other states.

There are some large grass farms near Moscow. M. J. Shields & Co. have the largest, 1800 acres be- ing devoted to raising various varieties of grass seed for which there is ready market. At this place 200 acres are devoted to raising alfalfa seed alone. A new cereal the firm is handling is corn wheat. The kernels are much like wheat, except they are twice as large and the yield runs as high as 70 bushels to the acre. Mr. Shields has raised as high as 128 sacks weighing 120 pounds each from only two bushels of seed. Practically the same kind of meal can be made from it that is made from corn-meal that is palatable and has superior fattening qualities. Even the straw after threshing is found to contain fattening qualities to such an extent that stock thrive on it almost as well as on hay. The firm one year received more than 300 ot ders for the seed, coming from all parts of the coun- try. Minneapolis parties recently contracted for 1,000 acres for the growth of garden peas. Many of these contracts were made in the Kendrick neighborhood, where peas, corn and beans have long produced large crops. The peas run from fifteen to thirty bushels to the acre and bring from $2.00 to $2.50 per centel. Dairying is made profitable by the excellence and abundance of milk producing grasses and fodder. Nearly 150 farmers are engaged in the business to a certain extent. Hand separators are used and the cream is delivered to Moscow to be shipped to the big Spokane creamery. About $30,000 per annum is paid for cream here. The average price in 1901 for butter fat was 2514-cents ; in 1902 was 2614-cents and dur- ing December last was 3114-cents, which is nearly double that paid by eastern creameries.

Nothing demonstrates more conclusively the rapid development of this county than some comparative figures from the assessor's returns. In 1800 the total valuation of property was $2,798,603; valuation of

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 152

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524