Settlers Taking Arbon Valley: the newcomers of 1910

On September 10, 1910, the American Falls Press ran a front-page report on Arbon Valley under the heading "Settlers Taking Arbon Valley." In two years, it said, the newcomers had come to outnumber the valley's old settlers two to one. Arbon was then in Oneida County; Power County was not created until 1913.

The paper had been urging homeseekers toward the valley since November 1908. That fall it counted a settlement of about forty families and a wheat crop of 45,000 bushels, and a week later about fifty families. By December 4, 1909, it reported that the settlement near Arbon "has about doubled during the past year."

Filings at American Falls

A homestead filing was a settler's claim on government land. Title came later, after proving up: showing that the claimant had lived on the land and farmed it for the time the law required. Settlers could file before the United States commissioner at American Falls, L. E. Sigmond, instead of at the land office in Blackfoot.

On May 14, 1910, the Press reported, "Land seekers are beginning to arrive in large numbers now." Two weeks later it added up the season: 138 filings covering 22,000 acres in three months. That came to about 160 acres, a quarter section, for each filing. The paper allowed that it "has not been a rush season" at Sigmond's office, but reported that "The land taken is all directions from American Falls, but the majority being to the south in the Rockland and Arbon valleys." It added: "The 22,000 acres represents 138 filings and means that this many new homes will be established here within the six months." How many of the filings were in Arbon Valley, it did not say.

"Settlers Taking Arbon Valley"

The September report called the valley's growth over the two years surprising, and gave its reckoning:

The settlement of the valley was begun about ten years ago, and up to two years ago about fifty families had located there. During the past two years new people have come until they outnumber the old two to one.

It did not count the newcomers, but described a valley "settled for miles" with "thrifty and industrious" people. Though the new places were not yet developed enough to rate as productive, the paper estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 bushels of wheat would be hauled out that year, double the crop of two years before. Joe Bailey, whom it counted among the best-informed men of the valley, put the next year's crop at "not less than 150,000 bushels," going by the ground already prepared for seeding. The article says nothing more about him.

The valley lay some thirty miles southeast of American Falls by the usual roads, though nearer across country, and the Press granted that it had grown more slowly than places closer to market. Still, it said, only a small part of the land open two years earlier was left to be taken, and another school was needed. Then it made the case for the valley's moisture:

The Arbon country is fortunately situated between parallel ranges of mountains, and gets the benefit of many summer showers which miss the plains sections. Its snowfall is also much greater, and there is not the slightest danger of a crop failure on account of drowth where the farmer half does his work.

Timber close at hand and stock range in the mountains, the paper added, made up for the distance to market, and "Development during the coming year or two will be marked."

The same front page explained a new federal law, approved June 17, 1910, "familiarly known in the west as the 320 acre dry farm homestead act." On dry land designated by the Secretary of the Interior, it allowed homestead claims of up to 320 acres, twice the size of that spring's average filing, but such claims could not be commuted, that is, proved up early with a cash payment. The article did not say how the law would apply in Arbon Valley.

A ranch for sale at Arbon

In issues from at least March 19 to May 21, 1910, a small advertisement in the Press offered a "160 acre subirrigated ranch, well improved," meaning land watered from below by groundwater. It had "Put up about 100 tons of hay and raised about 1000 bushels oats and 300 bushels wheat." Inquiries went to Julius Abter at Arbon.

Abter was no newcomer. In November 1908 the Press had counted him among the oldest settlers in the valley, said he had gone there seven years before, and taken its wheat figures from him, since he ran the threshing machine. In June 1909 he told the paper the valley was "settling and developing very rapidly," and the same issue carried a "Farm For Sale" advertisement for land at Arbon, with inquiries to be addressed to him. The papers read for this post do not say why the land was for sale, and they report no sale. He was still in the valley afterward: in September 1911 he was running J. T. Guthrie's threshing machine at Arbon, and in April 1912 the Press called him "one of the oldest settlers of Arbon" when he came to town on business. Two weeks later it noted Marshal Johnson and Frank Fisher, "two of the new settlers of Arbon," in town on land business.

The next summer

The 1911 estimates met Joe Bailey's forecast or went beyond it. In July 1911 the Press reported estimates of that year's wheat running "as high as 200,000 bushels." The same issue told of a call on Joseph Arbon, "the pioneer of the valley" (almost certainly Joseph Nicholas Arbon), who had lived there nearly fifteen years. "He has seen greater changes during the last two years however," the paper wrote, "than in all the others that have gone before." What the 1911 crop finally came to, the papers read for this post do not say. The harvest itself, with what was probably the valley's first steam thresher, is told in the first steam engine and steam thresher.

The paper's counts for 1908 moved: forty families in one November issue, fifty in the next, fifty again when it looked back in 1910, and forty when it looked back in 1911. Its "about ten years ago" for the start of settlement is also later than the valley's own accounts, gathered in the first settlers.

The article as printed

American Falls Press, September 10, 1910, page 1. Transcribed from the page scan.

SETTLERS TAKING ARBON VALLEY
Proving to be One of Idaho's Wheat Sections.
Thousands of Acres are Being Put Under Cultivation and Wheat Crop Will Double for the Next Few Years.
During the past two years the Arbon country has undergone a development that is suprising.
The settlement of the valley was begun about ten years ago, and up to two years ago about fifty families had located there. During the past two years new people have come until they outnumber the old two to one, and the valley is settled for miles with a thrifty and industrious people who are making great strides in developing that section and making it productive. The valley is about [illegible] miles wide at the lower end, narrowing to three or four miles in width some twenty miles above and widening again at the lower end and is one of the most beautiful valleys in the entire state. While the new places have not been sufficiently developed to be rated as productive, it is estimated that between 75,000 and 100,000 bushels of wheat will be hauled out this year, which is double the amount produced two years ago.
Joe Bailey, one of the best informed men of the valley estimates next year's crop at not less than 150,000 bushels, based on the acreage that is prepared for seeding.
The valley lies to the southeast of American Falls some thirty miles by regular routes of travel, but considerablly nearer across country. It has not developed as rapidly as sections nearer to market, but the land remaining to be taken is but a small per cent of what was available two years ago.
Another school is needed [illegible] and before another year the [illegible] settlement will demand school facilities.
The Arbon country is fortunately situated between parallel ranges of mountains, and gets the benefit of many summer showers which miss the plains sections. Its snowfall is also much greater, and there is not the slightest danger of a crop failure on account of drowth where the farmer half does his work. It is also near timber sufficient to meet all wants of the settlers, has excellent stock range in the mountains and other advantages which compensate for its remoteness from market. Development during the coming year or two will be marked.

On this site: the Arbon area history and the homesteader family histories.