Bonneville County
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The year 1911 marked the creation of four new counties in Idaho, and the act
providing for the organization of Bonneville county was approved by the governor
on the 7th of February, 1911. This county was taken from the northern and
eastern parts of Bingham county and its boundary on the east is the state of
Wyoming. Its acreage of patented lands in 1912, as shown from the county
assessment records, is given in the following statistics: Acres of irrigated and
agricultural land, 93,828; acres of dry-farm lands, 31,796; acres of natural
meadow and pasture, 10,323; area of desert, waste and swamp land, 8,733.
Bonneville county is favored in having the greater part of its surface available
for profitable agriculture, and much of its upland district is admirably adapted
to dry farming. Its irrigation facilities are excellent and are being extended
in consonance with the demands of development and progress.
Idaho Falls,
the splendid little city that is the judicial center of Bonneville county, is
the metropolis of the upper Snake river valley, which has the largest irrigated
area in the United States. The city is made the subject of detailed
consideration on other pages of this volume, as is also the upper Snake river
valley, and thus it is unnecessary to offer recapitulation in the present
connection, as ready reference may be made to the articles designated. The
subject-matter incorporated in the resumes there offered sufficiently
supplements this record concerning Bonneville county, and still further
information of incidental value is given in the record touching Bingham county,
of which Bonneville county was originally an integral part. It may be stated
that at Idaho Falls is located the largest sugar-beet factory in the world. The
country around Idaho Falls is most definitely attractive to those who are en
rapport with the gallant sports of hunting and fishing. In the mountains to the
east, north and west are to be found bear, mountain lion, elk, deer and mountain
sheep, and the lakes and streams are well supplied with fish. The lakes offer
the best of duck shooting in season, and of these beautiful bodies of water in
Bonneville county the most attractive is doubtless John Gray's lake, at the
southern border of the county.
The elevation of Bonneville county varies
from 4,400 to about 5,000 feet. In addition to diversified agricultiure and
horticulture, much attention is being given to the fruit-growing industry, to
which an extensive and constantly expanding acreage is being devoted. Idaho
Falls has maintained a reputation for being the greatest shipping point for
outbound freight on the Oregon Short Line Railroad, not excepting even Salt Lake
City.
Source: History of Idaho: A narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, by Hiram Taylor French, published in 1914, page 217, extracted 2021 Jun 17 by Norma Hass
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