Now I shall tell the tale as best as I can remember of how the irrigation canals came to be built in Gem County.
My Grandfather Berglund dug some of the canals in the Emmett valley. This was in the 20's. The Black Canyon dam was created not too long before that and initially was intended to generate electricity. Eventually it was determined that canals would be a good thing for irrigation. If there were orchards then they were of the dry land variety. Idaho is a semi-arid state so water was a good thing.
Grandpa Berglund was born in Charlottenburg, Sweden and came to America with his father in the late 1890's. His name then was Ander Pierson and it got changed on Ellis Island. They traveled to Minnesota and farmed there. My father was born there and he was the oldest.
My Grandfather Horn farmed in the Emmett Valley. He never had an orchard. He grew corn and other small acreage crops and he had a small dairy. He and Grandma Horn were both born in Missouri and moved to Colorado. My mother was born in Colorado. She was the youngest.
The canals were plotted to go North and South. The North canal ran along the bench and provided for the many orchards. The South branch ran along the slope. One of the canals diverted and ran through the middle of town. We weren't supposed to swim in the canals because the water was to swift, but if you didn't get caught it was mighty fine. Dad told me that he used to steal watermelons and throw them in the canal and run ahead and pull them out.
By the time the drainage ditches got out to my Grandfather Berglunds farm, they were very deep. My cousins used to catch gigantic frogs. The nearby slough produced lots of crawdads but I never got to eat any of them as they were considered a trash fish.
The canal that fed into the irrigation system near my Grandfather Horn's farm was reduced to a smallish drain ditch which might have a cement sluice gate. He would go out irrigating with a shovel and change irrigation patterns throughout the season.
Because there were so many orchards the growers depended heavily upon migrant laborers, usually Mexican. They financed a joint housing effort and built up a long building of cinderblock with individual rooms. I am not sure if there was water and there probably outhouses. Those were torn down long ago.
The orchards themselves were subject to frost in the Spring time. The growers watched the temperature gauge. They would have set out smudge pots in late Fall. This pots were a largish pot that contained oil and had about a three foot smoke stack. These were lit as the temp dropped near freezing. The growers new exactly where the temperature would fall first and exactly how far up the slope of their orchard this went. It was a fairly exact science. The morning that the smudge pots were burning was very smoggy. Smudge pots were banned a few decades ago. Growers switched to sprinklers and large fans.
As land values raised, County Assessors would go out to re-evaluate the land. Many growers had to sell off their orchards because they could not afford the taxes. Some began to develop their orchards into houses for the increasing number of commuters who drove to Boise for work and the orchards have sadly dwindled.
They still hold an annual Cherry Festival in Emmett and it is always second or third week in June as this is the month to pick cherries. I picked cherries as a youngster. It was easy work except for the 20 foot tall ladders. Those were terrifying. The fashion of pruning branches to 10 feet or so did not come into fashion until decades later.
I remember one very cold winter there. Temperatures had dropped to minus 35 degrees. The school buses had to be kept running all night long. There was no such thing as weather closures for school. The girls were given special permission to wear pant under their dresses. That's all I can recall at the moment. Have a safe Labor Day.
My Grandfather Berglund dug some of the canals in the Emmett valley. This was in the 20's. The Black Canyon dam was created not too long before that and initially was intended to generate electricity. Eventually it was determined that canals would be a good thing for irrigation. If there were orchards then they were of the dry land variety. Idaho is a semi-arid state so water was a good thing.
Grandpa Berglund was born in Charlottenburg, Sweden and came to America with his father in the late 1890's. His name then was Ander Pierson and it got changed on Ellis Island. They traveled to Minnesota and farmed there. My father was born there and he was the oldest.
My Grandfather Horn farmed in the Emmett Valley. He never had an orchard. He grew corn and other small acreage crops and he had a small dairy. He and Grandma Horn were both born in Missouri and moved to Colorado. My mother was born in Colorado. She was the youngest.
The canals were plotted to go North and South. The North canal ran along the bench and provided for the many orchards. The South branch ran along the slope. One of the canals diverted and ran through the middle of town. We weren't supposed to swim in the canals because the water was to swift, but if you didn't get caught it was mighty fine. Dad told me that he used to steal watermelons and throw them in the canal and run ahead and pull them out.
By the time the drainage ditches got out to my Grandfather Berglunds farm, they were very deep. My cousins used to catch gigantic frogs. The nearby slough produced lots of crawdads but I never got to eat any of them as they were considered a trash fish.
The canal that fed into the irrigation system near my Grandfather Horn's farm was reduced to a smallish drain ditch which might have a cement sluice gate. He would go out irrigating with a shovel and change irrigation patterns throughout the season.
Because there were so many orchards the growers depended heavily upon migrant laborers, usually Mexican. They financed a joint housing effort and built up a long building of cinderblock with individual rooms. I am not sure if there was water and there probably outhouses. Those were torn down long ago.
The orchards themselves were subject to frost in the Spring time. The growers watched the temperature gauge. They would have set out smudge pots in late Fall. This pots were a largish pot that contained oil and had about a three foot smoke stack. These were lit as the temp dropped near freezing. The growers new exactly where the temperature would fall first and exactly how far up the slope of their orchard this went. It was a fairly exact science. The morning that the smudge pots were burning was very smoggy. Smudge pots were banned a few decades ago. Growers switched to sprinklers and large fans.
As land values raised, County Assessors would go out to re-evaluate the land. Many growers had to sell off their orchards because they could not afford the taxes. Some began to develop their orchards into houses for the increasing number of commuters who drove to Boise for work and the orchards have sadly dwindled.
They still hold an annual Cherry Festival in Emmett and it is always second or third week in June as this is the month to pick cherries. I picked cherries as a youngster. It was easy work except for the 20 foot tall ladders. Those were terrifying. The fashion of pruning branches to 10 feet or so did not come into fashion until decades later.
I remember one very cold winter there. Temperatures had dropped to minus 35 degrees. The school buses had to be kept running all night long. There was no such thing as weather closures for school. The girls were given special permission to wear pant under their dresses. That's all I can recall at the moment. Have a safe Labor Day.
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