[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15285-15286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SPRINGFIELD CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the centennial 
of the town of Springfield in my home State of Idaho.
  On September 13, 1910, the County Commission of Bingham County 
approved a plat plan for the town-site of Springfield. It was an 
ambitious vision of a city on the shores of Springfield Lake--a body of 
water created years earlier to supply irrigation water from Danilsen 
creek. The area was a popular stopping place on Goodale's cutoff along 
the Oregon Trail.
  In Springfield, 1910 was a busy and exciting time. Water from the 
Aberdeen-Springfield Canal reached Springfield. The Oregon Short-Line 
railroad came through and provided service to the community. And in 
June, a group of women organized the Springfield Domestic Science Club 
with a focus on community service.
  The club quickly became a force in the community, establishing a hot 
lunch program at the local school and creating and managing the 
Springfield Cemetery, something members did until 1946. The club also 
sponsored many educational, cultural and entertainment events.
  The Aberdeen-Springfield Canal was a major asset to the area. Not 
only did it provide much-needed water to the surrounding agricultural 
land, it provided jobs for many of the early settlers. The canal, begun 
in 1895, was dug using horse-drawn equipment and manual labor.
  Today, the canal is a tribute to private enterprise. No government 
money was used during its construction. It is owned by its shareholders 
under a Carey Act corporation and is a ``not for profit'' organization, 
which financed it by the sale of shares in the company. The canal was 
completed at a cost of about $886,000, irrigates about 63,000 acres of 
field and helps produce crops valued at roughly $140 million each year.
  On August 28, 2010, the Springfield community will honor its early 
pioneers with a centennial celebration. During the festivities, a 
monument in honor of the early settlers will be unveiled. The monument 
identifies those settlers who formed the backbone of the community by 
building the canal, operating the markets and shops and organizing the 
schools and churches. The names of these early pioneer families with 
the vision of seeing the desert bloom are:
  Anderson, Baird, Bedwell, Berg, Blackburn, Bradley, H. Chandler, W.

[[Page 15286]]

Chandler, Criddle, Cushman, Edwards, Evans, Gravatt, Grover, Hawker, 
Holland, Houghland, Judge, Line, Leach, Lloyd, Lofgreen, Loomis, 
Parmalee, Reid, Rupe, Sainz, Sellers, Shelman, Stoddard, Stufflebean, 
Snyder, Sommercorn, Thurston, Wells, Whyte, Willis.
  Although the present day Springfield town-site did not quite live up 
to the vision laid out in the original plat, those living in the 
community strive to honor their heritage. Out of that sturdy pioneer 
stock have come doctors, lawyers, politicians, farmers, ranchers, 
chemists, accountants, educators, firemen, homemakers, artists, 
laborers, mechanics, business owners, civil servants, religious leaders 
and military servicemembers.
  I congratulate the people of Springfield on this occasion and pay 
tribute to those pioneers and others like them across our land, who, 
with vision, determination and hard work, created what we now enjoy.

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