While it was from the interior of her mountains that the chief source of wealth of Alturas County was derived in the early days, it is those same mountains that furnish the nutritious grasses that sustain hundreds of thousands of sheep and lambs during the summer. For many years the lambs from Blaine County have commanded the highest price on the Chicago and other leading markets. They have also taken many first prizes at various stock shows. The greatest importers in this county of pure bred sheep are Laidlaw & Brockie of Muldoon. They have several breeds on their thousands of acres of good grazing land. They paid $2,000 for one Suffolk ram. It is the valleys that furnish the soil of her productive farms and ranches of today.
The valleys produce good crops of wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, turnips and corn, and are especially adapted to the raising of alfalfa. Great and lucrative as mining has proved and is proving, farming and stock raising that Blaine County, although making great improvements in the matter of roads and bridges, is at the same time gradually reducing her indebtedness. It would seem that the building of bridges and cost of maintaining roads would gradually decrease in the near future, and as a consequence, that there will be lower taxes. We look hopefully to the future.
A brief resume of the indebtedness of Blaine County on January 11, 1930, is herewith given. The bonded debt of Blaine County on January 11, 1930, was $235,400.00, of which Butte and Camas Counties’ share was $14,155.28, leaving the net bonded debt of Blaine county $221,244.72. During the year 1930, there will fall due bonds amounting to the sum of $29,800.00, the greater part of which has already been paid, and the remainder will be paid as it falls due. There is no county warrant indebtedness.
Back to: Blaine County, Idaho Genealogy and History
Source: Based on McLeod, George A. History of Alturas and Blaine Counties, Idaho. The Hailey Times, Publisher. Hailey, Idaho. 1930.