Of grazing-lands there are considerable tracts in the aggregate, but so scattered among mountain valleys that only a settlement of the state by the development of its mines will make the small valleys valuable. All along the n. side of the lava-belt the foot-hills and the Camus prairies furnish the thousands of cattle that pass eastward over the old emigrant road enough to live on as they travel. It is estimated that 150,000 head of cattle passed along that road in 1880. This indicates a high value for grazing during the summer; but the snow-fall at the elevation of about 6,000 feet necessitates winter feed for cattle. Along the Snake river, on both sides, there are numerous spots and valleys of grazing-lands where winters are not severe enough to prevent cattle and horses from picking up a living for themselves. Herders and packers who use mules and horses in the northern mountains through the summer season withdraw to the valley of the Snake river to winter their stock. In the n. part of the territory it is not so much the severity of the winter as the depth of the snow and shortness of the slimmer season that makes stock-raising of little account there.
Climate. —There is but little rain-fall in any part of southern Idaho. Towards the center the lofty mountains command a heavy snow-fall during 8 months of the year, and rob the plains of the precipitation of rain which their elevated ranges arrest. In the me. part the rain- and snow-fall is more equally distributed between mountain and valley. The climate of Idaho is so dependent on the elevation of its different partsiliat one must name each part to be described. Along the Snake river, and northwdrd from it to the foot-hills of the Salmon and Rocky mountains, is a dry area of almost torrid heat under the sun from Nay till Nov. ; yet the nights are always cool, and the air healthy and invigorating. The same hot sunny days are found up the lower valleys among the mountains, but there the nights are still cooler, and the warm season begins later and closes earlier. On the mountain crests the snow frequently lies all summer, and ice forms almost every night; but even at those heights in the autumn the soil is perfectly dry to within a few feet of the melting snow. The winters are quite variable both on the plains and in the mountains, the winter variations from one year to another being greater than the summer. The thermometrical and barometrical ranges in Idaho have not been recorded to an extent that warrants any deduction or furnishes any valuable tables of reference. At fort Hall, in the s.e. part of the state, 4,754 ft. above the sea, the barometric range in 1871 from June to Oct. was but M of an inch; the mean
temperature for June was 64.62° F.; of July, 70.44°; of Aug., 70.90°; of Sept., 57.29°; and of the first 18 days of Oct„ 57.28°.
The wild animals of the territory include the grizzly, the cinnamon or bald-face, and the black bear, the mountain lion (a large species of panther), wolf, cavote, wildcat, raccoon, badger, fox, beaver, sable, mink, otter, skunk, gopher, squirrels, rabbit, buffalo or bison, elk, moose, mountain sheep, wild goat, and antelope. Yet of all this variety no one species abounds except in the Boise basin. The birds are not very numerous nor of great variety; the species of grouse being the most abundant of the game birds. Snakes, numerous in the lava belt, are rarely seen above an altitude of 6,000 feet. Many of the same species of fish are found as in the streams of the eastern states; but the variety is not so great. The great fish of the territory is the salmon, which comes up from the Columbia river in immense numbers to spawn in the Salmon and other rivers, where it attains 'great size, sometimes from 40 to 60 pounds. Bears stand on the margins of streams and lakes where they abound, and by a quick motion of the paw kill tire salmon as they pass in the water below. Salmon fishing and packing is one of the considerable industries of the territory, and the name salmon-eater is a term of ridicule applied by miners to those who live by fishing. In a few of the interior lakes of the Saw-tooth range of mountains the red-fish is found. This is one of the rarest and perhaps the most beautiful fish in the world. Humboldt stated that in his time they were known to exist in but five lakes in the world. They have since been discovered in the Idaho lakes. It is a fish that reaches a weight of 4 or 6 lbs., but usually about 3 pounds It is supposed to exist only where chlorine is a constituent of the water. Its anatomy and habits differ from those of any other fish. It comes to the creeks in Aug. and Sept. to spawn, and is believed to remain near the bottoms of the mountain lakes at other seasons. When these fish first appear the meat is much prized. being fat and of fine flavor; but later they become less eatable. They are caught and salted in considerable numbers in the lakes of the Saw-tooth range w. of the Salmon river.
Some interesting fossils have been found, embracing remains of the mastodon, elephant, and tapir of bears and monkeys, of crocodiles, alligators, and other xturians, and of genera allied to the horse. The records of the Hayden expedition are rich in details of the botany, geology, and zoology of the territory.