Idaho's Magic Valley was once a dry, sagebrush-covered desert until water from the Snake River transformed it into one of Idaho's most productive farmlands. Ira Burton Perrine, known as I.B. Perrine, was the first to propose diverting Snake River water into canals for irrigation, and his vision led to rich volcanic soil producing abundant crops where dry sagebrush had once grown. In 1894, the Carey Land Act, named for Wyoming Senator Joseph Carey, provided desert land owned by the U.S. Federal Government to western states on the condition that it be developed for irrigation. In October 1900, I.B. Perrine and other investors submitted a formal irrigation proposal and an application under the Carey Act to bring Snake River water to 248,000 acres of land. On March 1, 1905, officials met on the newly completed Milner Dam to close the outlet gates as Ira Perrine and 2,000 other people watched, and later that afternoon Shoshone Falls, thirty miles away, went nearly dry for the first time. The following day, canal gates were opened and the first irrigation water flowed, with a bottle of champagne poured into the canal to mark the beginning of hope and prosperity for the new land called the Twin Falls Tract. Early landowners under the Carey Act had to establish residence within six months and clear and cultivate part of their land within a year, but proving up the land was difficult because tall sagebrush had to be grubbed out, dust filled the air, homes were often tents or shacks, water had to be carried many miles, and large rattlesnakes were common. In July 1903, the Twin Falls Tract offered 60,000 acres, with settlers able to purchase up to 160 acres at 50 cents per acre while also buying water shares from the canal company at $25.00 per acre, bringing the final farmland cost to $3.25 an acre.