Camas Prairie
WOOD RIVER TIMES
T.C. PICOTTE,
PUBLISHERAUGUST 5 1885
SOLDIER, Idaho July 30 1885
Yes, we have grown cucumbers here on Camas! Some think their grain will do to cut next week. Choke cherries and wild currants are a total failure, owing to the ravages of a tent caterpillar this spring, which eat all the foliage, tender shoots and flower buds. Every one on Camas ought to put out pie plant, gooseberries, currants and strawberries, as there is no discount on these, and they are far preferable to no fruit or buying.
It is my opinion, based upon a two years residence, that if any one suffers from want on Camas Prairie, they are certainly to blame; for the soil is excellent, and the warm season long enough to raise lots of produce if we cannot raise pine apples and such There is a plenty we can raise and we can just beat the world raising small grain, potatoes and turnips and if we cant have beefsteak and pork of our own, there is plenty of game.
What has become of our Soldier gold excitement? You want to keep that booming. If you can get a few score of prospectors in here, perhaps we can sell a quart of milk or a pound of potatoes.
Now, what would you think to hear that a five dollar gold nugget was only a gun cartridge. Sometimes they turn out so. (The nugget referred to is worn by Road Supervisor Samson as a scarf pin Ed) But if these old hills are made of gold, won't we all get rich?
The most fertile valley in the world, and the richest gold mining region on the globe, would certainly be nice neighbors. Laying all jokes aside, I see no reason for there not being lots of paying minerals in the hills back of us, but I expect it will take time to develop. Uncle John Cross has lost ten head of horses from his band on the head of Soldier, and is considerably worried about them. He thinks they must have been driven off, as he has missed them for three weeks and cant find them in the hills.
The crack of the shotgun is quite frequent since the bird law is off; and no wonder, for the grouse is mighty fine eating, and the covies of young birds are so plentiful as to be an irresistible temptation to any one who can handle a gun.
We frequently see deer from the house. If they only knew it, they are not safe in the valley, even if the game law is still in force. Who has been talking to you about Camas Prairie Now? Didnt you know there were already some poor men on Camas Prairie who had breaking plows and teams, and who want all such work they can get at $4.00 per acre? I guess, if you or any one else would try to break prairie here now, you could soon be convinced that ground got too hard to break, even on Camas Prairie.
And as to hauling poles and posts during the four winter months that the snow lays on, I guess all the ranchers in the valley would pour blessings innumerable on your head if you would only get some one to come and keep the roads open; but one man and common team cannot do it. In fact, as long as the snow falls as it had the past two winters, there ain't men or teams enough in the valley to do it. There are more men now who want to get out fencing than there is money to pay.
Wonder if it don't hurt the Hailey merchants for the ranchers to sell their butter to the consumers instead of them? As for sweet California butter, I have yet to see the first of it. All I have ever seen or tasted was as ripe as an 18 months old cheese. But there are those who like strong butter as well as old Cheese.
Camas Prairie
WOOD RIVER TIMES
T.E.PICOTTE
PUBLISHERJUNE 11 1884
Camas Prairie is looking her best now. From the summit of any of the mountains, which command a view of that valley, the scene presented is lovely beyond description. There, stretching for sixty miles in an easterly and westerly direction, and fifteen to eighteen miles northerly and southerly, lies an almost level plane alive with flowers of varied hue, which make it look as if covered by an immense carpet. New houses for the first settlement on the prairie, is scarcely three years old, are seen in every direction, usually on the edge of a piece of plowed ground, the coal black color of which indicates its exceeding fertility.
But it is not its beauty as much as its productiveness that attracts settlers to Camas Prairie. Where ever the plow has scratched the surface of the ground, the earth has yielded more than enough to ten times reply the laborer for his work. The fertility of this soil is really wonderful, and although the experiments heretofore made, were on too small a scale to admit of averaging results, yet they sufficed to encourage the settlers to enlarge the scale of their operations. As a consequence broad fields were plowed this year where only small patches were broken last year.
Camas Prairie is probably one of the largest valleys in the mountain region of Idaho, as it contains 20,000 acres of tillable land. Three years ago there were scarcely half a dozen settlers upon it; now there are over two hundred. While the entries at the Land Office indicate that many more have filed upon land there. Many have, however, filed under the preemption and homestead law, who have failed to establish their residence upon their land within the time required by law, and their claims will revert to the government. This may cause some litigation, but not for two or three years, as there is enough rich land on the prairie to supply all who will come to make a home there, within that period.
The best land lies from a point about two and half miles east of Crichton to the new town site of Soldier. This creek seems to be the dividing line between the first class and second class land. That land lying east and north of Soldier is a rich, coal black loam which will require little or no irrigation at all; while that adjoining Soldier on the west and south contains many sand and gravel bars that will require frequent irrigation and much care to produce crops. Again, the black loam will produce anything that similar land anywhere in the same latitude will produce, while the sand and gravel bars will not be so prolific. Potatoes, it is said, will do better in the latter, while wheat will yield most abundantly in the black earth.
Although there are few flowing streams to be seen on Camas Prairie in summer, there will probably be no trouble in securing enough water for all purposes, as one can hardly strike a spade down without water immediately filling the hole thus made. Good drinking water can be got at a depth of four feet, and when a depth of six feet is attained, further progress is greatly impeded by water.The area under cultivation has been small heretofore. Last year there were scarcely two hundred acres cultivated; this year there will be two thousand acres, at least; and next year, it may be depended on, there will be 20,000 acres.
The mountains surrounding Camas Prairie abound in timber and game, and the streams with fish, while it is only 20 to 25 miles to a good winter range for stock. Taken altogether, it is doubtful if there is a region in existence that offers as many advantages to the immigrant, rich or poor as Camas Prairie does.