There were many avenues toward land ownership in Bingham County in 1890. The Land Register from Blackfoot listed the year's claimants in the Governor's Report as 212 Homestead Entries, 117 Timber Culture Entries, 176 Preemption Entries, and 172 Desert Land Entries.
The Land Register, Perry Janson, and the Receiver, W. H. Danilson, recommended the Timber Culture Act be repealed, saying of 1276 entries (over the last five years) only 3 had been proved up on due to the area's severe winters and drouth. There was a reason, apparently, the desert had no trees.
The Congress passed the Timber Culture Act in 1873, allowing settlers 160 acres of public land if they planted a quarter of it in trees. Hopes were that the consequent timber would allay lumber shortages on the Plains and, perhaps more importantly, that afforesting of the arid deserts and plains would increase rainfall. Later, when the first results of the act looked dismal, the required land planted to trees shrank to ten acres of the claim. Speculators, the Blackfoot officials said, were taking up valuable lands using this Act, lands better used by actual settlers bent on agricultural pursuits.
The Preemption Act of 1841 was another route to land ownership. It allowed squatters to develop public lands, then buy the improved land at a minimum price after adding buildings or other infrastructure. It, too, was abused by speculators.
The Desert Land Act of 1877 expanded the earlier Lassen County Act which pertained only to California—that act, in order to incentivize privatization of public lands in part of California, increased the amount of land a settler could purchase from 160 acres to 640 acres. The Desert Land Act copied that increase and opened up lands in several Western states and California regions. Some of the first claims on the bottoms below Springfield entered under this act and are evident on the 1879 survey.
The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed anyone—including women and immigrants—who hadn't taken up arms against the U.S. (i.e., Confederate soldiers) to claim public land. 180 million acres were given to 1.6 million homesteaders under this act. Forty percent of original claimants were able to prove up on their lands. In Bingham County, 35,000 acres already fell under this act in 1890.
The Governor's report gave property assessment totals that included railroad valuations. The 58 miles of Oregon Short LIne rail running through Bingham County was valued at $6500 per mile. The county had 55 miles of narrow gauge line that was valued at $5000 a mile and 129 miles of standard gauge—Bingham County covered ground from nearly Utah to Montana and eastward to the Wyoming border at that time. Much of the narrow gauge ran on the same right-of-way as the standard gauge, consequently there were three rails for that shared distance.
BIngham County had almost 58 miles of Western Union telegraph lines at that time valued at $70 per mile (just multiply that number by 40 to get today's valuation). Ranchers ran nearly 20,000 head of cattle, their average value $11.62. "American cows" were another category to be assessed, making up another 2400 head worth $15.00. Whether that term meant milk cows, registered cows, or crosses with no Longhorn blood, is beyond my determination.
There were sixteen thousand dollars worth of farm utensils, 591 hogs (worth a total of $2600), six $300 thoroughbred horses and 8300 other horses worth nearly a quarter million dollars. A hundred mules at $40 apiece were worth, in aggregate, more than the fifteen pianos valued at $200 each. The one hundred sewing machines in the county, according to the assessor, were worth $1500. Seven thousand plus sheep graced the area, ten thousand dollars their value, and nearly 15,000 wagons paid taxes on $35,000, their assessed worth. That number was almost equivalent to the value of farm machinery in the county.
The Governor's report listed Fort Hall Reservation statistics, too, counting nearly 1500 natives but less than 200 school-age children. There were 100 dwellings, five hundred acres cultivated and a thousand fenced, on which 7,000 bushels of wheat, 6000 bushels of oats, 400 bushels of potatoes, 300 bushels of turnips, and various other crops, including 2000 melons, were raised. Tribal members had harvested 2000 ton of hay, some no doubt fed to their three thousand horses and four hundred cattle.
The Blackfoot Insane Asylum had burned down very recently (several patient fatalities resulted) but the report listed remaining patient details such as place of birth—6 patients claimed Irish descent, three were of Swedish heritage and two of Norwegian, the three categories comprising nearly half of the inmates. Seven were Protestant, two Mormon, and four Catholic, with ten claiming no religion. Laborers and miners made up three quarters of those at the asylum. Only 6 patients were married with the rest widowed or single. Their afflictions? One insane, three suffered dementia, nine were manic and ten melancholic.
In his report, the Governor noted the advantage of Idaho's "duty of water," a term referring to the area a given quantity of water will irrigate in a season, which was 150 acres per cfs (cubic feet of water a second) as opposed to Colorado's sandy soil areas that the equivalent amount of water covered only a hundred acres. Idaho's sloping plain and heavier soil made this possible. Ten thousand acres on the Snake's North Fork were being irrigated in 1890, eight thousand on the South Fork.
Presbyterians claimed 14 Idaho churches, Catholics 28, Episcopals 35, Baptists 20, Methodists 26, and others numbered 17. No Mormon figures were given, but the Governor did close his report by referring to the Mormon Test Oath, which kept anyone (i.e., Mormons) who belonged to a religion or order supporting polygamy from voting. The Oath had come under fire and was being tested in the Supreme Court, but Territorial Governor Shoup seemed to think it would soon not be needed due to the Mormon President Wilford Woodruff's recent Manifesto ending support of polygamy. "The old time exclusiveness of the Mormon Church in all that pertains to social and business life has made the settlement of non-Mormons among them undesirable, but with the adoption of loyal principles and habits of thought (referring to the Manifesto) they will make better neighbors and better citizens."
Ralph Thurston is the author of the recent local history The Great Pasture: Bingham County's Shifting Dreams. Grab your copy inside the door at Kesler's Market or online at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZXYD7JS/ref=sr_1_8?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.EBJ9VSZBMvmn2VF2qkLCSeFUmMrreos6vRQ9rOfiqNTPq9ZRRjxRwlxrpN7xcAjZuRRtPD7SWgVyYz9mwtmppKVcyueJ9T94_f62eCO6tw5FEhfFFupXjSMFQlPDUE5dPswTGnCSZoQnLAZAynjgcviG7OP72Cyz8Nhs4U-40tPYAbgx0evkNl8SXmpEhGTJcGjvEZo5h5f_-nS1dbGUizvEQvUfr2D3-OpbjZO2cSs.B30xVoq9xZLx_-nIMZvA_LUSQv8yU6AHtPf_z1YdHhg&dib_tag=se&qid=1712352724&refinements=p_27%3ARalph+Thurston&s=books&sr=1-8
You can still get a copy of The Shanghi Plain at Kesler's, too, and soon to come is We, The People: Two Canals' Battle for Territory, the story of the Peoples Canal and its multi-year court battle with the opposing interest, The American Falls Canal.
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