GENERAL CONDITIONS AND DEVELOPMENT.
In his book “Astoria,” written about 1840, in which he gives the
history of an attempt made by the first John Jacob Astor to establish
a fur trade to the west of the Rocky Mountains, Washington Irving
repeatedly regrets the fact that the great stretch of the western
plains must forever form a desert stretch between the civilization of
the west and that of the east. In one place he says: “Some portions
of it (the prairie) along the rivers may partially be subdued by
agriculture, others may form vast pastoral tracts, like those of the
east; but it is to be feared that a great part of it will form a
lawless interval between the abodes of civilized man, like the wastes
of the ocean or the deserts of Arabia; and, like them, be subject to
the depredations of the marauder.”
In this the great writer proved to be a false prophet. Irrigation and
the principles of dry farming are fast converting the desert into
productive farm land, and land that a few years ago could be had for
a song is today held at high prices. The United States Census report
for 1910 gave the average value of land in Bannock county as $7.76 per
acre. In 1910, the same bureau gave the average value as being $21.57.
This increase in value, however, is not due to development alone, but
also to the increased rainfall during recent years, which has made it
possible to profitably till soil that was before considered arid. The
total precipitation in Pocatello in 1901 was 7.56 inches. In 1906,
it was 18.17 inches, and in 1907, 17.43 inches, while in 1914 it was
over 18.60 inches. Some scientists explain this by saying that the
increased areas of irrigation give off a sufficient evaporation to form
clouds, which precipitate the evaporated water in the form of rain and
snow, while others maintain that the surface of irrigation waters is
not large enough to effect the annual precipitation. But whatever the
explanation, the fact remains that many hitherto unproductive tracts
have now sufficient natural moisture to make them productive.
The only weather bureau in Bannock county is situated at Pocatello, at
an altitude of 4,483 feet, and the following statistics were registered
at that place: The average number of days per year with more than .01
inch of precipitation is 92. The mean temperature is about 47.5;
nearly the same as that of eastern Massachusetts, but more equably
distributed. The earliest killing frost of the winter usually comes
about the middle of October, and the last in the spring toward the end
of April.
The population of the county in 1910 was 19,242; in 1900 it was
11,702. Some idea of the cosmopolitan character of the population may
be gathered from the fact that there were in this county in 1910, 52
Chinese, 360 Japanese, 129 negroes, 641 Greeks, 483 English, 288 Danes,
280 Italians, and 232 Swedes, beside smaller numbers from fifteen other
nationalities. Only 51 per cent of the population were native born
children of native parents. The county contained 11,405 males, and
7,837 females. These were divided into 3,668 families, housed in 3,560
dwellings.
In 1910 the county had 1,503 farms, as against 769 in 1900. The value
of all farm property was $10,957,609, an increase of 188.6 per cent
over the total valuation in 1900. The value of all crops in 1910 was
$1,339,642, the most valuable being cereals, which totaled $653,768.
Hay and forage came next at $610,585. The remaining crops were made
up of grains and seeds, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and a few other
products. The total irrigated area is about 110,000 acres. The
altitude in the valleys varies from 4,250 feet to 5,780, while among
the mountains it is, of course, much higher. There is a large acreage
of fine, well-watered pasture land in the county, on which grows an
abundance of nutritious bunch grass. McCammon, Downey, Oxford, and
Soda Springs are all surrounded with rich agricultural lands, and at
the latter place are a number of hot mineral springs, whose waters are
bottled and widely sold. Lava Hot Springs will in time be a health
resort of more than state-wide fame, the beauty of its surroundings as
well as its health-giving springs making it an ideal spot for rest and
recreation.
There was a time when deer, bear and other game were plentiful in this
county, and it is only about ten years since a settler was sitting
quietly in his cabin one summer evening, reading a magazine, when he
was disturbed by a slight noise. He paid no attention to this, but
was suddenly startled a second time by an ear-splitting scream from
his cat, who made a dash for the door, and in her exit, jumped over a
bear, who was calmly walking in. The settler was not in the habit of
entertaining stray bears in his cabin, and was at a loss to know how to
greet the visitor. In his perplexity he emitted a yell that startled
all the bears for many miles around and caused the one lone bear in
the cabin to make a hasty dive for cover under the bed. The rancher’s
gun hung over the bed, but he did not turn that way. He headed toward
the door. As he neared it, the bear, for reasons known only to himself,
made a dash in the same direction and man and beast were jammed in the
narrow entry. The man pushed in and the bear pushed out, but in his
excitement the animal turned clean about in the open and presently
rushed back into the cabin to his own surprise no less than that of the
inmate. The latter, however, was now safe on his bed, and reaching for
the gun, he probably added considerably to Mr. Bruin’s perplexity by
sending him unexpectedly into kingdom come.
Parts of three national forests are situated in Bannock county; the
Caribou in the east, the Cache in the southeast, and the Pocatello in
the western part. The Pocatello division of the Pocatello forest was
created September 15, 1903, from an examination by Edward T. Allen.
Following an examination by Robert B. Wilson, the Portneuf division was
created March 2, 1907. The Malad division, created May 28, 1906, as a
part of the Bear River forest, became a part of the Pocatello in the
reorganization of July 1, 1908. These national forest lands, covering,
in general, the Portneuf and Marsh Creek watersheds, were merged into
the Pocatello forest July 1, 1908.
The Bear River forest, almost encircled by the Bear river or its
tributaries, was formed May 28, 1906, and with the Logan became the
Cache July 1, 1908.
The Caribou forest was established January 15, 1907, the part in
Bannock county lying mainly on the watersheds of the Blackfoot, Salt,
and Bear rivers.
Peter T. Wrensted, Clinton G. Smith, and J. F. Bruins, in turn,
supervised the Pocatello, the headquarters during this time being at
Pocatello. The Pocatello and Cache were joined March 1, 1914, for
administrative purposes, under Mr. Smith, whose headquarters are now
at Logan, Utah. Logan is the headquarters of the Cache, which has had
four supervisors, John F. Squires, Mark G. Woodruff, W. W. Clark, and
C. G. Smith. The Caribou has been administered by Supervisors J. T.
Wedemeyer, N. E. Snell, and George G. Bentz. The headquarters is at
Montpelier.
The need of planting to restock the great areas of burned and
insufficiently forested land in the national forests was recognized
almost as soon as they were proclaimed. Particularly was this need
felt as to the forests withdrawn for watershed protection, and on
watersheds furnishing a domestic supply the need was most urgent. At
that time a pleasing theory existed that every forest ranger should
have a nursery in which to raise trees for setting out in the hills
during his spare time. With this idea, the nursery on Mink Creek among
others, was started.
It was then realized that nursery and planting work presented
specialized technical problems calling for a high degree of skill to
meet successfully the adverse conditions of an arid region. Soon after
the nursery was started, it was realized that success could be hoped
for only by centralizing this work at favorable locations. The shipping
facilities at Pocatello, together with the need of extensive planting
there with a favorable site for the nursery determined the location at
that place.
The early work was experimental and principally valuable as indicating
the future methods to be followed. However, actual production of stock
was begun on an extensive scale in 1911, and since that time half a
million or more young trees have been shipped each year to the forests
of southern Idaho and Utah. The present capacity of the nursery is
about 2,000,000 plants a year and the nursery is firmly on its feet
with a record of successful production of stock for several years at a
cost not exceeding five dollars per thousand for the stock supplied.
At present there are probably three or four million young trees in the
nursery, the principal species being Douglas fir and yellow pine.
Stream flow protection is the first object of the service on the area
of the Pocatello city watershed. During the time that this area was
part of the Indian reservation there was not much difficulty with
stream flow protection, but when it was opened, the citizens received
an object lesson in the effects of free grazing that led to the
inclusion of the watershed in a forest and the prohibition of grazing.
The protection of this area has been devoted to prevention of fire,
prohibition of grazing and replanting to forest. During the last
five years, not five acres of this area has been burned. Control of
grazing is more difficult because the boundaries are not fenced, but
it may be stated that with the exclusion of stock, the forage has been
completely replaced, forming a sight such as gladdened the eye of the
first explorer and incidentally a cover that prevents erosion and rapid
run-off of water. The streams are almost always clear and the city of
Pocatello has an exceptionally pure and palatable supply of water.
The planting operations will probably have no effect on the water
supply of the present generation, as it is being undertaken for the
future timber supply and present experimental value. About 200,000
trees are being planted a year and recently with good success. The
conifers planted are slow growing, but the early plantations are a foot
or two high and even the present generation should see fine groves as a
result.
Lately the question of stocking this area with game has been
considered. It is pointed out that the area is an ideal natural
range for elk, deer and other game, also that such a use would not
interfere with the stream protection, but would furnish meat, sport and
attractiveness to the region and would tend to reduce the fire danger.
To provide complete use with complete protection will be the next
logical step.
In spite of the wild and sometimes forbidding scenery that meets the
traveler’s eye from the train window, there are probably few more
peaceful communities than Bannock county in the farming sections of the
east. Women frequently live alone and unprotected on isolated ranches
and are seldom molested. The case of Hugh Whitney, the bandit and
outlaw who robbed Pocatello of a true citizen, and upon whose head
there rests a large reward, is today an exception. His story is too
well known to be repeated in detail here. In brief, Hugh Whitney, who
was a Wyoming sheepman, and a companion, held up a saloon at Monida,
just over the Montana line, in 1911, and were apprehended on a train
running south toward Pocatello. The sheriff who had boarded the train
to make the arrest, placed his guns on a seat in order to handcuff
the prisoners. Whitney grabbed these and shot both the sheriff and
Conductor James Kidd, who was helping the officer. Conductor Kidd died
in Pocatello within a few days. The sheriff recovered.
Whitney and his companion jumped from the moving train and separated
in making their escape. Whitney was trailed by posses for weeks, and
in the course of the chase killed several of his pursuers. Although
blood-hounds were used in the attempt to capture him, he eluded all
pursuit with an ingenuity worthy of a better cause. When the excitement
had died down somewhat, he and his brother held up a bank in Cody,
Wyoming, driving the employes into the safe and locking them up there
while they made their escape.
Evidently the days of “bad men,” in the criminal sense of the term,
are not yet ended in the far west, but the facility of communication
afforded by the railway, telephone and telegraph makes their trade
very hazardous, and the ordinary citizen lives in less danger of being
held up or shot than does the wayfarer on the streets of New York or
Chicago.