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History of Jefferson County Idaho The new county is formed from the western lower part of Fremont County, and the eastern part was simultaneously organized as the new county of Madison. For record touching the industrial and civic conditions in Jefferson county reference may be made to the description of Fremont County, in preceding paragraphs of this chapter. The new county of Jefferson comprises nearly one million acres of southwestern Fremont County. The district is practically entirely agricultural and there is approximately three hundred and fifty thousand acres of developed farm land within the county. The chief products are grain, stock, hay and field crops. Dairying is an extensive and profitable industry. The western portion of the new county is desert, but is rapidly settling up as a dry farm grain district. The central and eastern section is irrigated and the southeastern portion is a well developed dry farm grain district. There are no mountains of importance in Jefferson county—most of the county being in the Snake River valley—and there is no timber resource of importance. The county is about ninety miles long from east to west and has an average width from north to south of about eighteen miles. The population of the country is estimated at eight thousand and it has an assessed valuation of $9,000,000. Jefferson County will start its existence with about $35,000 of bonded indebtedness, which is the pro rata of Fremont County’s outstanding debt that will accrue to Jefferson. The county is well supplied with transportation, being crossed from south to north in the western portion by the Oregon Short Line main line, Butte division, and in the eastern part by the St. Anthony branch. There is also a stub line to Menan from Ukon. Rigby, the county seat of Jefferson County, is one of the most important towns in the upper Snake River basin and has a population of about one thousand. The town is modern and has electric lights, water works, cement sidewalks and splendid schools. A $30,000 brick, three-story, 27-room high school building has been completed and was formally opened to the public Monday, November 3, 1913. The grammar schools of Rigby are in a consolidated school district and ten school wagons are run by the district to carry the pupils to and from the school. Practically every line of business is represented in the town of Rigby and some of the largest banking and mercantile institutions of eastern Idaho are located there. The annual shipments of farm products from Rigby will total close to $2,000,000 in value and the Oregon Short Line is now enlarging its local freight handing facilities by building an 80-foot addition to the freight depot. There is a large flouring mill and elevator at the town. Rigby citizens present Jefferson County with about two and a half acres of valuable land in almost the center of the city as a courthouse site and place a building ample for the needs of the county for offices and court purposes for many years without cost to the county. Jefferson County begins its existence most auspiciously, and the progressive type of people who are its citizens, the inherent natural richness of the county's resources, the large assessed valuation—all suggest that the new county will be one of the most prosperous in the state of Idaho. [HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME I; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
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