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Show Co F&mons Rltic ILiks S&riw oif icf hio I r -w- a ip preppupp "I Described by W. R. DUVALL- H ? ! . . . , JI : J 10 feet lilsh? There is one of A- iiat dimension' nt Blue Lakes. fla irclosing the famous fruit . J.J ranch of I. B. Perrine. It V 0mrl" protection against even .. -i frauding village boy, were there 1 Thl" k,,ld 1 t,iat vicinity. fie many thousands who have '? fihUih of this remarkabletrult j Comparatively few have se3n It. 'j iie of the famous plncos of Idaho. ' Sear, st railroad point is Shoshone, ' 'A ?threc n.Il distant From there e line, also owned by Mr. Perls, Per-ls, gnfl to Blue Lakes and thence to i Urec-k a total distance of some-SH6re some-SH6re than Torty uHlea Leaving J &.t village of Shoshone . the ' $ luls almost due south. It Is a , forltli' dert road, without i jlna without a human hablta-v hablta-v Fsteht. There is not even a tree leve Uu monotony except some (cedar. 1 No siSn of a Kiver ?Shohorfc- occasional ridges and finourds of lava compel a wind-,ure wind-,ure lint at some times leads t'even point of the compass, but feu miles the- lava, except for rl feaslonal cutcrop, Is covered with Ry bwlv of that sandy but fertile TSr which the Snake river valley Hdw No sign, of a river can be & least not bv one with little- or 4erlence crc the desert. But it is TOievcrhclss only a few miles II a m is, nrmroaehed the sur- it tv country becomes somewhat jer and the lava outcrop more plen- SiSilddenlv the road Is barred' by vy farm gat..- hung to a precipice 1 H lid lava rock. It Is on the brink narks the point at which the de- ilnto the- canyon, begins. V 5 Is ot tne canyon of the Snake l .proper, but a lateral canyon, at Dttom of which and 200 feet above im, Waters of the winding Snake He rfJl V iure and beautifully transparent '."iakea As the descent of the wlnd- ";ad ie made a turn op the brink 355lprecipice is soon reached, from , ft the first view is obtained of sslfr tvo charming HtUe lakes et like inls ij iftm a .mall field of green foliage, it, cd K in turn Is inclosed by tangled, ' (-masses and1 frowning precipices 0T; lick and forbidding lava rock. the Beautiful Blue Lakes. i !ttDnt, almost beneath your feet, but rede of feot below, lie the Blue !;Vcalm and peaceful, with their ...'i fisand bottom and every rock In distinctly visible through forty-i, forty-i, 'cet of transparent water, and their "'V surface mirroring the few tall !"". pwoods upon the opposite shore. the left it short dls-tance and just rd the upper lake tire lateral can-r can-r tea ietTnlnates abruptly In a oheer lava , pice, imorc than -100 feet high. To Ight the- canyon widens, opening the greatr-r canyon of the Snake, iqfi ills here-, probably, nearly a mile T. :ath. 1311 Ithe juncture of these two Canutes Can-utes the famous fruit farm, or tthr original orchard which was eglnnlng Its enterprising owner ojsne all the land In the canyon te north slile of the river for two (below this? point and nearly a mile jwnei Came From Indiana. )C Perrlno 1j a native of Indiana, fas bten a resident of Idaho for thar twenty yeai-s. Eighteen ; P.1, ago he foresaw the possibilities of Epot and look up a homestead : ljcomprlstl within its limits? the plI "portion of his present farm. He 'd upon it and begani the- work of 4! 4ng a home out of the wilderness" Sj iinuaual difficulties. He was poor ?a he stmggle- was a hard one, but, Villi inP youth, energy and an abld-' abld-' lith in ultimate success, he reso-carrlcdi reso-carrlcdi out his plans1. The ample . (fence he rww enjoys and the .: Iflcent properties he can call his Fonj1 .re the lvsult. And he Is not done J. fn f;ict, he Is just beginning. 1 example of the unusual dlfflcul-hcountered dlfflcul-hcountered Is seen in the fact that J ie time- Jlr. Perrine SHjttled1 here thee? is alntost Impossible to get even rertS rsc Into or out of the canyon; to Mthlng of a wheeled vehicle. One d mst tasks as- to make a pack up the bottom of the canyon from r- iprth side-, and for years this was JBEi wa5 of Setting in or out. The ur piyagon he us-,1 on his new ranch n be ?owerfd from top of the cliff, more than COO feet high, by a rope and windlass, and the lumber for the first house erected there went down the same way. The work of constructing the present good roads Into the canyon on both sides of the river Involved' a great deal of labor, the work covering a period of several yenry and costing about J10.00D. The- road ow the south side was recently re-cently completed. The old trail on that side of the river was especially dan-gerous, dan-gerous, but the mall wa carried over It for years, and several horses were killed- tiiere while engaged! In that service. ser-vice. The mosi dangerous point was where the trail crept nloncr on a narrow nar-row shelf or ledge of rock with a vertical ver-tical precipice of 200 feet below and one of more thaw 100 feet above. Horse Foil Over the Precipice. On one occasion, when Mr. Perrine was taking: the mall over thly trail on horwback. and while leading the animal an-imal along this ledge, It became overbalanced over-balanced and' fell, striking squarely on Its back on the rocks at the foot of the precipice and rolling to the bottom bot-tom of the slope, mangled nnd lifeless. The saddle, and' it was worth more than the horse, was reduced to splinters and a mass of ruined leather. From the beginning Mr. Perrine believed be-lieved he could develop here n good fruit farm, and that idea has been consistently con-sistently carried out. When the suc- ui iiiu iw oi. uicnuni uemonsiraieu that this spot waif n highly favored one for fruit growing he began Increasing Ills orchards year by year and kept on In thai line until he now has -1000 apple trees. -1000 prune trees, 2500 peach trees and orchards of cherry nnd pear trees, to say nothing of mulberry and rows on rows of grapes, currants, gooseberries, gooseber-ries, etc. That the fruit grown here Is the finest fin-est In the world is not an Idle boast, as the numerous diplomas., medals, prizes and premiums awarded It amply testify. At the World's Fair at Paris in 1900 the Blue Lakes fruit exhibit received the highest awnrd'ln competition with the world and was granted two medals one gold, the other bronze and a -diploma. At the Trnns-MIssissippI exposition at Omahn in 1S98 Mr. Perrine was awarded award-ed the gold medal for the best collection collec-tion of fruits and at the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo In 1901 again received re-ceived the highest award and was granted a diploma for the best collection collec-tion of fruits and nuts. Fruit Fine in Flavor. The fruit ls fine not only In flavor" but In form nnd color as well, due to the perfect adaptation of soil and climate cli-mate and the almost constant sunshine. It Is also sound and In the main free from Insects nnd other causes of decay. For Instnnce. until about four years ago, that great apple pest, the codling moth, was unknown In this orchard. About that time a few were discovered and In the last three years they hnve multiplied with great rapldltyv Mr. Perrine believes the first ones were Im-pqrted Im-pqrted In old apple boxes. The heroic measure Mr Perrine Is resorting re-sorting to this year to rid his orchards of the pest Is characteristic of the man. It Involves nothing less than the destruction de-struction of his entire crop of fall and winter apples for this year, a loss he estimates at JC0O0. He has not only made a study of the codling moth on his own account but has had the assistance as-sistance nnd advice of the fruit experts ex-perts of tho United States Department of Agriculture nnd of A. McPherson, State fruit Inspector of Tdaho. The codling moth ls a little moth which deposits Us egg upon the growing grow-ing apple or pear. In a few days this egg hatches a worm which bores toward to-ward the dentfjr of ,tne apple. Tn a, short time this worm leaves the upple and, finding a place of concealment, enters the cocoon stage, from which It emerges a -week later as a njoth ready to deposit Its eggs and rear a new brood of. .worms. This Is repented In this climate about four or five times In a summer, according to the season. The mother Itself lives but a few days and the only form In which it can endure en-dure the winter ls In the cocoon stage. The Inst cocoons of the season are consequently the ones that live through the winter and produce the first brood of moths the following summer. It Is said the only place the moth will deposit de-posit its egg Is on the applo or pear, and the theory upon which air. Perrine Is proceeding Is that If the last crop of moths this, season can find no place to deposit the eggs there will be no cocoons co-coons to winter over and consequently no moths and no worrns next year. As there ls not another apple or pear tree within ten miles of the Blue Lakes orchards it is one of the few places In the United States in which such an experiment ex-periment could be tried with any hope of success. The moth possesses but feeble prowess of filght, sufficient to carry It from orchard to orchard in well settled communities, but unequal to the task of covering several miles. Picking the Apples. i In June Mr. Perrine began the work of picking and dropping to the ground all . the apples which ripen later than the' first df August, and when, the writer visited tho farm the first week In July he had from five to ten pickers engaged in the work of destruction. The crop promised to be a fine) one. too, and it seemed a pity to destroy It. The outcome of the experiment will be watched with interest by fruit experts ex-perts all over the country.. How many fruit growers In the United States would be willing to voluntarily suffer a loss of J5000 in this way? The visitor to Blue Lakes orchards finds, unless he has been previously informed, that they do not conform to his pre-concelved ideas in some respects re-spects at least. If he expects to see great .acres of level land covered with long, straight rows of trees he will be disappointed. The different portions of the orchard vary from the high water level of Snake river to 200 feet nbovo It, and much of It Is rocky. In fact, all the higher portions of the orchard, that lying In the lateral canyon can-yon and which ls traversed by the road from Shoshone, Is located on a great pile of Iuva rocks only partially covered cov-ered by a sandy sol J. Some of these rocks are as large as a small house and project above tho ground nearly as high as the trees growing among them. All the orchards are either Irregular Ir-regular In outline, on sloping hillsides, or set out among the rocks, with more reference to ease of Irrigation than to symmetrical arrangement. Some of the land ls entirely free from rocks, especially a long strip bordering the river, A considerable portion of this has not been set to orchard, but Is In alfalfa and produces several hundred hun-dred tons of fine hay every year. The cultivated portion of the farm now extends ex-tends up and down the river a distance of more Uti two miles and some new land Is brought under cultivation almost al-most every year. Abundance of Pure Water. One of the striking features of the farm is the abundance and purity of its water supply, which is entirely from springs within the canyon. The lakes, one of which Is a few feet higher than the other, are fed by springs and are about three acres each in extent. The water In them is clear as crystal, but with a tinge of blue, which makes the white sand on their bottom appear a deqided blue. Th water of the lakes is changed so rapidly that the difference between Its summer and winter temperature tem-perature ls but one degree. The temperature tem-perature of the wuter as It Issues from the springs Is uniform throughout the year. The upper lake has a surface outlet into the lower one, which has no surface sur-face discharge. From this lake the water wa-ter runs underground for about a quarter quar-ter of a mile, when It emerges and Hows In a, sparkling surface stream to the river. The lakes aro about :i00 feet higher than the river and probably three-quarters of a mile from it, The discharge of the springs flowing in this surface stream ls 7500 Inches, not more than 300 Inches of which Is used by Mr. Perrine. Mr. Perrlne's residence, boarding-house boarding-house and fruit packing-houses are situated sit-uated on the stream, about half way between the lakes and the river and about seventy-five feet above the latter. lat-ter. They are embowered amid the vines' and trees of a delightful grow, through whose Inviting shades flow streams of crystal water. The tall poplars pop-lars are dwarfed by the frowning precipice prec-ipice which, a few rods away, rises to a perpendicular height of nearly 700 feet. The view from the top of tills cliff Is inspiring. At the foot of the grove flows tho brook, every pebble of whose bottom can be distinctly seen through four feet of water. Visitors enjoy standing on the foot-bridge and feeding feed-ing the trout, which can be as plainly seen as If they were suspended In the air. For some time IIr. Perrine has had a system of waterworks in his residence res-idence and he ls now putting In a lore complete one to supply the other buildings build-ings and the grounds. An Artificial Lake. Besides the two natural lakes,, Mr. Perrine has, half a mile south of his residence, an artificial lake covering twelve acres. The basin of this lake Is a natural depression 'or "pot-hole" which was dry until vater from the springs was turned Into It It ls about sixty feet deep In the center and Is stocked with bass, perch, pike, sunfish, etc. The brook and tho Blue lakes abound In trout Much of the travel to the site of the new town of Twin Falls crosses the river here and last year air. Perrine put in a ferry for its accommodation. The ferry Is 11 good one of the type common to the Snake river, consisting of a suspended cable, to which the boat Is attached by a system of ropes and pulleys, the motive power lielng fur-jilshed fur-jilshed by the action of the current on a broad board placed against the upstream up-stream side of the boat and which can be raised or lowered as desired. , On the road leading out of the canyon, can-yon, on the south side, is a curious and Interesting thing. Perhaps two-thirds of the way up the road encounters a cove or recess In the perpedlcular wall In the deepest part of the cove the upper up-per portion of the wall is overhanging, projecting probably thirty feeL The road follows the wall of ' the cove, al-most'ln al-most'ln the shape of a horseshoe, and passes under this overhanging rock. On the plain above a "draw" leads down to the head of the cove. Usually this "draw" ls dry, but for a few weeks In winter and early spring, when fed by melting snow, It carries quite a stream of water, which then forms a picturesque fall as it leaps from the brim and, clearing the road by forty or fifty feet, dashes upon the rocks 200 feet below. Three miles below Blue lakes is Anger fall3, where the river descends 190 feet In about a mile and a half. They are not falls, properly speaking. but rnplds, the main descent being at a point where the river, compressed Into a channel less than fifty feet wide, but of unknown depth, plunges down a steep Incline "with a whirling, boring motion. Five miles above Blue lakes are the fsimed Shoshone falls 212 feet high and 900 feet wide and two and a half miles further up Twin falls, with a sheer de-scent de-scent of 187 fee. Throe miles due south of Blue lakes Is the site of the promising new city of Twin Falls but that is another story. |
