In this the great writer proved to be a false prophet. Irrigation and the principles of dry farming are fast converting the desert into productive farm land, and land that a few years ago could be had for a song is today held at high prices. The United States Census report for 1910 gave the average value of land in Bannock county as $7.76 per acre. In 1910, the same bureau gave the average value as being $21.57. This increase in value, however, is not due to development alone, but also to the increased rainfall during recent years, which has made it possible to profitably till soil that was before considered arid. The total precipitation in Pocatello in 1901 was 7.56 inches. In 1906, it was 18.17 inches, and in 1907, 17.43 inches, while in 1914 it was over 18.60 inches. Some scientists explain this by saying that the increased areas of irrigation give off a sufficient evaporation to form clouds, which precipitate the evaporated water in the form of rain and snow, while others maintain that the surface of irrigation waters is not large enough to effect the annual precipitation. But whatever the explanation, the fact remains that many hitherto unproductive tracts have now sufficient natural moisture to make them productive. The only weather bureau in Bannock county is situated at Pocatello, at an altitude of 4,483 feet, and the following statistics were registered at that place: The average number of days per year with more than .01 inch of precipitation is 92. The mean temperature is about 47.5; nearly the same as that of eastern Massachusetts, but more equably distributed. The earliest killing frost of the winter usually comes about the middle of October, and the last in the spring toward the end of April. The population of the county in 1910 was 19,242; in 1900 it was 11,702. Some idea of the cosmopolitan character of the population may be gathered from the fact that there were in this county in 1910, 52 Chinese, 360 Japanese, 129 negroes, 641 Greeks, 483 English, 288 Danes, 280 Italians, and 232 Swedes, beside smaller numbers from fifteen other nationalities. Only 51 per cent of the population were native born children of native parents. The county contained 11,405 males, and 7,837 females. These were divided into 3,668 families, housed in 3,560 dwellings.