Adams County Makes the News - Council Leader #30

The Adams County Leader
Published Every Friday by the Council Publishing Company. 
Eighty-nine per cent of the stock of the above company
is owned by F.H. Michaelson.
F. H. Michaelson Editor and Manager

March 10, 1922
THOUGHTS ON THINGS

In the last issue of the Payette Lakes Star, our brother publisher Mark Bates says that the publisher of this paper is the only person in Council whom he does not like, and gives as a reason that we have never placed him on our exchange list.  Brother Bates charitably admits that he has no acquaintance with us.  Cheer up, man.  Things might be worse.  Chances are that if you did know us you would like us a darned sight less.  He complains that we have never sent The Leader to his desk.  Again, brother, your lack of knowledge provoketh wrongful wrath.  Our neglect was due to a spirit of mercy rather than discourtesy.  The altitude is high at McCall and somebody once told us you are fat.  We were reluctant to place undue strain either upon your intelligence or heart. In order to get even with you we this day place your name on our exchange list.

May 23, 1924
A WRONG HUNCH

The Adams County Leader seems peeved because a Boise paper wants a road from that place to McCall.  The Leader shouldn’t get that way.  McCall boosted the north and south highway, and is still doing so.  Geometry teaches us that the straight line is the shortest line between two points, and the Payette highway, which is as much a part of the system as the north and south highway, is the shorter distance by half than the other.  Why shouldn’t we cooperate and make a loop line?  And why should the Leader get sore because McCall is coming into its own?  We are all up here together, and McCall is sitting on the top.     Payette Lake Star

The Star has gathered the wrong hunch on this thing.  The Leader is neither sore nor peeved, least of all against McCall, nor because McCall wants a road.  It has distinctly said that when the present road is completed and there are any funds available for such an enterprise, McCall should have our support here in building its road to Boise.  But just now the Leader is considering the people of southwestern Idaho and of northern Idaho, who by far outnumber the people of McCall and environs, and are in much more dire need of a road.  People of northern Idaho have even gone so far as to threaten to withdraw from the state and form an independent government if some means of furnishing them connection with the seat of government and the other half of the state is not provided.  Ever since the state was formed, one-half of it has been obliged to travel 500 miles or more through three states to reach the state capital or visit friends in other parts of Idaho.  Some may think this has gone on so long that people have grown to like it, but the Leader is not one of these.  In fact, if there were now money to build a road to a pleasure resort made available, and none to finish the road connecting the two segments of Idaho, the Leader is inclined to believe the people up there would be justified in breaking away from a state which showed such a complete disregard for their interests.  It is not, brother, that we think less of McCall, but that we think of the entire state more. The north and south highway still has a link missing—like a chain, it is very largely useless till that link is supplied.  The people generally know these facts and all reasonable men are demanding the same as this paper is demanding.

August 24, 1925
STAR DEAD

After eight years of effort in trying to give McCall a good local newspaper, Mark Bates, who some say is one of the best newspapermen in Idaho, has quit cold and has stopped publication of the Payette Lake Star, because of lack of local support.  McCall is now without a newspaper of any kind.  Considering the mounting prices of printing supplies which enter into the cost of publishing a newspaper, it is one of the miracles of the age how so many country papers are managing to hang on.  The Leader is very sorry to see old Mark drop by the wayside, because he has put in many of the best years of his life trying to boost the Payette lakes section and deserves a better fate.  But he has done the only thing possible under the circumstances in closing up.  Some of us may be forced to follow his example before local business men in the different sections wake up to their responsibilities. 

LOCAL ITEMS, 1922
For Sale  - One full-blooded silver-laced Wyandotte rooster.  Mrs. Lester McMahan, Fruitvale.

You do things that are worth while, don’t you?  Why don’t you advertise your business, then?  Isn’t your business worthwhile?  If not, advertise it for sale.

Albert McDowell has received word that his bid was accepted for the four-year contract of carrying mail from here to Cambridge.

Pure Seed Pays – Alfalfa, red clover, timothy, blue grass and white clover seed at Cool-Donnelly Co.

The Leader has no desire to be finicky about this election thing, but this paper will support no man for public office who owes more than eleven years back subscription on his county bugle.  We have arranged for extra clerk hire and everything, so are not afraid of any rush on the bank.

August 18, 1922
WHEN –

When dry farming has stopped and every man has a silo and a bunch of livestock—
When the Council valley is criss-crossed by irrigation ditches flowing each one full of
mountain water—
When Idaho fields grow Idaho corn, fed to Idaho hogs, as Iowa corn is being fed to Iowa hogs—
When $20 farmland is converted into $500 orchard tracts—
When the population of Adams County is counted in thousands instead of hundreds—
When the P. & I. N. railroad discovers that Council is more than a just a way station to be sucked dry and the shell thrown away—
When a thousand beautiful orchards replace the half dozen now existing—
When these things have all been brought to pass, as they can very easily be, then Adams County will become the garden spot of Idaho, and Idaho the garden spot of the earth.

There is nothing here set down which is impossible or even difficult of accomplishment.  Their consummation means comfort and prosperity and better living and more wealth for many who are now struggling and in some cases unhappy.  And in the meantime, the great need is water—water and industry.  Give us these and all the others will follow easily and naturally.  Think it over. 

compiled by Eberle Umbach