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Show STATE UNDERGOES CHANGE WHICH BRINGS PROSPERITY Irrigation and Dry Farming, Stock Raising and iMining Experience Wonderful Development De-velopment in 191 5. IDAHO'S 1915 RECORD. Passe-"! through a periud of evolution that lias done much lo ri'.it many wrongs of the past; reduce-! inflated valuation at lands down to a proper basis; witnessed the passing of the period of frenzied finance; enjoyed bounteous crops; a distinct revival in mining and development along many lines that promise prom-ise ;i distinct activity along business 1 ines in 1116. Rained a fruit crop that netted horticulturists $2,000,000 through the ehip-I ehip-I rnent of the greatest number of cars of fruit in the state's history; developed a seed crop that promises to make Idaho the seed capital of the world; shipped iOuO carloads of potatoes, although it was a short crop. Increased its yield of grain from 40,000,000 to 4-j, 000,000 bushels, valued at $':S,Oi)i.i)00. much of which has found a market with prevailing high prices, although al-though millions of bushels are being held in warehouses for future delivery; increased in-creased its dry farming area until it has become one of the largest on the American continent. Manufactured a billion pounds of sugar or more in four factories nnd raised thousands of tons of susar beets valued at $9,000,000; because of the European Eu-ropean demand for horses, sold close to $l.u00,000 worth, while livestock of other kinds went to the eastern and western markets by tho carloads. C lipped CO.OOu.OcO pounds of wool from 2.j00,00o sheep and received record prices for the clip, brinjrini; to the coffers of sheepmen approximately $3,000,00u; raised 1. 000,0-30 tons of alfalfa and seeds, valued at more than J3,u00,0i 0. Sawed more than 400,00u,u00 feet of timbor. the end of the year witnessing witness-ing a revival in the lumbering industry, which represents a valuaLion of Sl,ui0,-OO'i. Sl,ui0,-OO'i. Its factories, numbering more than 1?00. turned out manufactured goods worth $30,000,000, paying out In salaries $12,000,000. Total annual output of Us mines shows an increase of $0,000,000 over preceding pre-ceding year. Value of metals mined in 1914, $24, 000,000; in l!Ho, $30,000,000. Paid close to $10,000,000 In dividends; opened many new and promising properties proper-ties and developed those of the old. i Built thA highest irrigation dam In the world, the Boise, at a cost of $5,000,- j 000. which endowed Itself by delivering water to lands in the Boise valley and project a year ahead of time. Operated the state government at a less cost than (n the previous year and , made a record in total amount of state money loaned and land leased; assessed valuation of the state, $41tj,i:i;.964 ; Inaugurated a. new state administration. legislature met and passed many important Inws, including state-wide prohibition prohi-bition act, classed as most rigid in its terms of any state in union, ma-kins Idaho dry on and after January 1, 3916. Electrification Marks Beginning Begin-ning of New Era for Railroads Rail-roads in Region. By H. A. LAWSON. Special to The Tribune. BOIS.E, Idaho, Jan. 1. The horn of plenty was filled abundantly for Idaho in the year that has just closed. Crop yields were greater and above the average, tho mines found a ready market and higher prices for their minerals, while there was a marked mining revival. Stockmen and sheepmen sheep-men feel that they lived through a year of prosperity. The horticulturists picked one of their best fruit crops and sent it to far points for consumption. The irrig-ationist saw completed the most gigantic masonry dam in the world, the Arrowrock, a masterpiece of engineering. Dry farming was conducted con-ducted on a more extensive, scale than oyor, a great acreage being tiled. Produce Prod-uce of nil kinds was grown in abundance. abun-dance. There was manufacturing, lumbering, lum-bering, educational, financial ancf moral development. With the dawn of the new year Idaho enters a state of prohibition, the legis- i latnre having declared that on and niter January 1, 1016, the state shall cease to manufacture or sell intoxicating liquors. liq-uors. The formal passing of 1015 finds Idaho abreast of the time's, content with its record of the past and confident the future will be bright. Prohibition Prevails. Take Idaho year in and year out and parallel her annual record for certain crops. Since this state has advanced into that, stage where much of hor fertile fer-tile land3 are settled and cultivated, her industries have become' established and farming has been placed on a scientific scien-tific basis, and crop failures under normal ; conditions are almost unknown. In j spito of the fact that 11)15 was the driest year for the past twenty-five,, there wore good crops. In some sections sec-tions they could have been called bumper. This is an irrigation state. The man with the shovel has taken the place of the man with the hoe. More equitable distribution of water taken through i canals from the great waterways of the ! state has produced the Jiet result of ! greater yields df a better variety of produce." The water hog is gradually: passing and will soon be no more. Live : and let live appears to be the motto : that has brought about, a better feeling in this state. Idahoans are proud ot the territory formed by tlm boundaries ; of their commonwealth. The past year ! gave them no particular reason to" revise re-vise this belief. Benefit of Evolution. This state has been passing through a period of evolution a period that has ; been righting some of the wrongs, some of the mistakes of the past. This period j of unfolding before Idahoans some of ', the more regrettable things that have j been done has had a stimulating effect. , Lands, the values of which had been given a blue sky hue, which had been speculated on until the inflation threatened threat-ened disaster to the state, have happily been brought back to their normal level. Fortunately for this state and those ' who live in it, this wa-s accomplished while Idaho was yet in its development stage. I'nf ortuuatelv for some of the older states ot' the middle west they ; are only now experiencing the same ! inflated values. Lauds today in Idaho 1 and most of the western states can be purchased at a lower price for value received than in many of the sister, states of the Mississippi valley. The ruinous speculation in irrigation lands and projects and the gloom 1hat traveled in on its heels have been done away with. Some of the gluuni is hn't, but there will probably never be r-hf same speculation and frenzied finance. Those irrigation projects the hardest hit. like a ship crippled in the storm, are gradually righting themselves and will weather the storm. It was this aftermath after-math which accounts for the small development de-velopment in the irrigated area of the state, representing in irrigation projects alone a billion dollars. Mines Are Active. There is a bright lining to every dark cloud, and with the opening of the new year that beam of brightness for Idaho looks wider and more promisin g than ever het'oro. Hence the optimism which prevails among those v.-ho stand for a bin tier and a greater Idaho. The marked revival of the mining industry in-dustry alone is considered one o! t h1 best "omens of prosperity. Xot onlv wt-re the larger mines active, b:;t pome remarkably rich, strikes wore- Uiaue; old, properties wore re-prospected and opened. op-ened. The market for silver and lead offered an advance that meant hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of dollars to the mine owners and their employees. Idaho . demonstrated in 1915 that it was typi-i typi-i cally a mining state as well as an agricultural agri-cultural and atock state, i The addition of a vast area of dry I farming lands to the grain sections jii-! jii-! dicated last year that no longer can the dry farm be classed as an experiment. experi-ment. It is here to stay and to attract the settler willing to ake his chance under the enlarged homestead act to follow the plow aDd reap a bountiful harvest. The two most striking illustrations illus-trations of the dry farming development develop-ment are given in the American Falls section of southern Idaho and the Idaho Falls section of southeastern Idaho. Eight years yes, six years ago the barren rolling nills near'Ameriean Falls were considered worthless. Today one can ride through grain fields for forty miles. American Falls has become one of the greatest gTain shipping points in the United States. The yield in that section last year was greater than ever before. The story oi the Idaho Falls and the Rexburg section reads almost the same. The lands formerly supposed to be worthless in 191j were turned into farms, and the end is not yet. Fruit Is Abundant. 1 Southern and western Idaho, the fruit territory of the state, gave their portion to the horn of plenty. The greatest prune crop in the history of the state was raised in tho western section. sec-tion. Southern Idaho raised a shorter apple crop than in 1914, but the prevailing pre-vailing prices were better than in 1U14. The cherries and the grapes of the panhandle, pan-handle, found their outlet to eastern markets. Pears, peaches, apricots and other fruits were also raised in abundance. abun-dance. A largo area of new producing acreage was added to the state as the result of orchards coming into bearing. bear-ing. The success with prunes in particular par-ticular promises to develop an extensive canning industry in western Idaho in 1916, for heretofore it has not been developed, due to the short demand for canned prunes. Xo industry probably showed greater progress during the year than the seed raising. Idaho, as 'a result, promises to inherit tho title of the ''seed pea capital of the world." Most remarkable remark-able results were obtained. Farmers received re-ceived checks of from $3000 to $1(5.000 for last year's seed crop alone. Hundreds Hun-dreds and thousands of acres of pea, red aud white clover, alfalfa, alsiko, beans and other seeds were harvested. This year the acreage will increase, yet the industry is but m its infaucy. Stockmen Prosper, No year was more prosperous for the sheep men. They received record prices for their wool an average of 22 cents a pound, and some of it sold for as high as 26 and 27. cents a pound. It was a fair range year, the wool was clean and the mutton brought better than standard prices. Home feeding of sheep by the farmer on his ranch, the desire to increase the standard for breeding purposes, is taken to indicate that while tlio range will continue to diminish in area the industry will continue con-tinue to thrive and Idaho will hold its own as a wool state. Lumbering showed pronounced activity, activ-ity, especially in the southern part of the state, due to the launching of the Boise Fayette corporation, the opening of its largo mill above Boise aud the building of a railroad into its timber holdings in the basin to the north. A chain of retail lumber yards across southern Idaho has been secured and part of the mill product thereby locally local-ly distributed. North Idaho has and continues to excel any section of this state in the manufacture of lumber. The great mills there and in tho south sawed four hundred million feet or more during the year. Railroad Progress. The- first mountain niilnjad of the ! west to be electrified was that part of the system in the pauhandie of this state and Montana ot the Chicago. Mil- i waukee & l . ' i'aul, which was com-, pleted for train operation the latter J part of 191 3. Wliiie the ost of this I was in the millions 'of dollars the re-diu-tion attained in tlte operation of trains and improved -ervh-e will more than repay the investment'. The other common carriers :n;'de f v extensions, but spent many hoa-ands of dollars m upkeep. The Mrg..:; Short Line railroad's rail-road's main li:ic in provcaic n ts were the erection of a handsome d'pot and rearrangement re-arrangement of the Pocatello yards at a cost of si'j.OJMi and the fnrn-pMni: of the belt line in thf Idaho Falls section at a cost of $1 ":o.l ii. , j Along the several other lines of in- dustry there was pro'jres a No. The I fictorios Jurn-d out their uual quota j of manufactured goo. Is; eitius, towns 1 laud villages improved in the construe- tion of business blocks and residences.! vl".'!e many miles of paved streets were laid. Th'1 state govc-nnimiT was op- i erntc-l more economically, the schools' and colleges maintained their high standard of etficieccy, a system of highways was laid out r.nd improved. Idaho progressed slowly, but most l surely. |