Constituent state of the United States of America. With 83,564 square miles (216,432 square kilometres), including 1,153 square miles of inland water, it has twice the combined area of the six New England states. Its boundaries are both historical and geographic in derivation. The boundary with the Canadian province of British Columbia on the north follows the 49th parallel of latitude, while the southern border with Utah and Nevada follows the 42nd parallel; both lines were established by treaty—the northern between the United States and Britain in 1846 and the southern between the United States and Spain in 1819. The state's northeastern border with Montana—in the Idaho panhandle—follows the Continental Divide, while the eastern border with Wyoming incorporates a small slice of Yellowstone National Park. On the west, Idaho's border with Oregon and Washington is a 480-mile (770-kilometre) straight stretch except between Weiser and Lewiston, where Hells Canyon of the Snake River serves as a natural boundary. Boise is the capital.
Idaho, admitted as the 43rd state of the Union on July 3, 1890, is one of the Mountain states, but it is often also classified as part of the Pacific Northwest region, a region unified by the Continental Divide as an eastern boundary and by the Columbia River drainage basin, which covers virtually the entire area. The name is an invented one, formerly thought to be an Indian name (Ee-dah-hoe) meaning “gem of the mountains.”
Idaho is shaped much like a logger's boot, thereby accidentally reflecting the state's rugged forest and mountain terrain in which logging and mining play major roles. The residents of Idaho enjoy some of the largest unspoiled natural areas in the United States, including about 2,500,000 acres (1,012,000 hectares) of wilderness and primitive land in which roads and vehicles are seldom to be found. Since its development in 1936 Sun Valley has become an internationally known area for winter sports. Idaho also has large supplies of groundwater. Hot springs are found in many parts of the state and are used to heat some homes and buildings in Boise, whose name (French boisé, “wooded”) reflects its settlement as an oasis for explorers who once crossed the desolate Snake River Plains. A frontier character is still evident in the individualism of voting that makes the crossing of party lines, especially to support liberal issues and candidates, a frequent occurrence in an otherwise fairly conservative climate.
Physical and human geography
The land
The northern Mountain region. [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
Diversity of the natural environment is characteristic of Idaho's landscape, creating a sectionalism that is reflected in its community life, politics, economy, and cultural development, as well as in the varieties of its soils and animal and plant life. Altitude is often a more important factor in controlling Idaho's climate than is latitude. The northern areas of the state are lower in elevation on the average than are much of the central and southern areas. Prevailing westerly winds from the Pacific Ocean blanket most of the state, especially the northern and southwestern regions. A drier, colder, continental climate is more noticeable in the southeastern counties, but Idaho has a milder climate than most of the states located in the same latitudes east of the Continental Divide.
Relief and drainage
Parts of four major physiographic provinces are included within Idaho: the Northern Rocky Mountains, the Middle Rocky Mountains, the Columbia Basin, and the Basin and Range. The Northern Rockies extend from the Canadian border to south central Idaho and occupy nearly half the state's area. Peaks of between 10,000 and 12,000 feet (3,000 and 3,700 metres) are common in central Idaho, and in the Lost River Range, Mount Borah at 12,662 feet (3,859 metres) is the state's highest peak. Other notable ranges in this part of the state include the Sawtooth, Pioneer, Continental Divide, Beaverhead, and Bitterroot. Peak elevations generally decrease northward to about 6,000 feet at the Canadian border.
The Middle Rocky Mountains occupy a narrow strip along the Idaho–Wyoming border. The area comprises several ranges that trend north–south and northwest–southeast and rise to between 7,000 and 10,000 feet. Grass- and sagebrush-covered plateaus and valleys and a few small lakes are found between the ranges.
The Basin and Range Province extends into southeastern Idaho as a roughly triangular-shaped desert with its base along the Idaho–Utah border. A series of low north–south-trending block-faulted ranges separate small gravel-floored basins.
The remaining part of the state is included within the Columbia Basin, which in Idaho is occupied entirely by the Snake River plateau. The Snake River follows the plateau in a broad crescent across southern and western Idaho; next to the Northern Rocky Mountains, it is the major natural feature of the state. It rises in the southeastern part of the state, with tributaries in Yellowstone National Park, and flows from east to west through “sagebrush Idaho.” With huge reclamation projects, the river valley contains most of Idaho's irrigated farmland. The course of the Snake includes Hells Canyon—at 7,900 feet (2,400 metres) North America's deepest gorge—and 212-foot-high Shoshone Falls. Its valley is a geologically complex sequence of lakes, lava beds, mesas, buttes, canyons, and desertscape, symbolized by the barren craters and cones of the Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Idaho has some 2,000 lakes, and water is the state's greatest single resource. A major portion of its industry, agriculture, and population lies along the Snake, which furnishes water in abundance for one of the nation's largest irrigated areas and developed hydroelectric power sources.
Climate
Idaho's mountainous topography produces an extremely diverse climate pattern. In general, as altitude increases precipitation increases and mean temperatures drop. On a different scale, the high mountains in eastern Idaho tend to hold back the cold winter air that predominates in Montana and Wyoming, giving the state higher mean temperatures than are found at the same latitude and altitude in those states and in more midcontinental locations. Mean January temperatures range from 17° F (-8° C) at Deadwood Dam in the central mountains to 31° F (-1° C) at Orofino in the central panhandle. July temperatures range from 60° F (16° C) at Deadwood Dam to 77° F (25° C) at Grand View in the southwest.
Idaho is situated in the rain shadow of mountains to the west in Washington and Oregon, and only higher elevations receive adequate amounts of rainfall. Most of the Snake River plateau receives less than 10 inches (250 millimetres) of precipitation annually, making it the driest part of the state. At the other extreme, large sections of the Northern Rockies record annual totals of more than 50 inches of precipitation, much of it in the form of snow.
Animal and plant life
Idaho is home to numerous bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, and reptile species. They occupy the state's six ecoregions, which vary from the sagebrush plains of the Snake River plateau to the alpine grasslands found in the higher mountain elevations. Vast evergreen forests cover about two-fifths of the state, largely the mountainous terrain. Western white pine, white fir and other true firs, and Douglas fir predominate in northern forests, while Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, and ponderosa pine dominate the southern forests. Aspen, maple, willow, birch, and mountain ash often carpet the lower slopes of higher mountains, especially in the north.
Idaho is one of the few states in which grizzly bears and timber wolves roam free, although in very small numbers. Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge, in the southeastern corner of the state, is the site of a long-term attempt to introduce the whooping crane, one of North America's endangered birds, and to use sandhill cranes as surrogate parents to further increase the birds' population size and range. Several other endangered plant and animal species occur in Idaho, including Macfarlands four o'clock (Mirabilis macfarlanei) and the woodland caribou.
Idaho is known for its wilderness areas and for its cold-water fish populations. Fishing for trout, including the Kamloops (Kootenai) and steelhead varieties, is found on many of the thousands of miles of rivers and streams in the state. Some of the most remote mountainous country in the nation—the Frank Church–River of No Return, Selway–Bitterroot, and Gospel Hump wilderness areas—constitutes the heart of Idaho and the largest contiguous wilderness area in the coterminous 48 states. These wilderness areas and adjacent forested lands provide hunting for elk, Rocky Mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and mule deer. Idaho is also one of the few states in which there are large numbers of sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse.
Settlement patterns
Many factors—religion, agriculture, transportation, topography, industry, cultural ties, and sectional pride—have contributed to Idaho's diverse regional characteristics. For many years writers and politicians consistently referred to the division of Idaho as northern Idaho—the 10 northern counties—and southern Idaho—the rest of the state. Studies of voting behaviour, however, indicate that four sections with distinct voting patterns have emerged: the 10 northern counties and three separate areas in the south, roughly the southwestern, the south central, and the southeastern sections. A more realistic regionalism has developed around trading and marketing centres, sometimes crossing the state boundaries. It consists of the following areas: Lewiston and Spokane, Wash., in the north; Boise, Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls in the south; and the Logan–Ogden–Salt Lake City axis in northern Utah.
With the exceptions of mining and lumbering settlements, most of the settlements in southern Idaho tend to follow the course of the Snake River. A narrow agricultural strip runs northeastward from Pocatello. Agriculture continues its dominance to the west as far as the Boise Valley, where the state's largest concentration of population is located. The Palouse and Camas prairies are primarily agricultural, while the Lewiston area is industrial and service-oriented. Mining, lumbering, and agriculture are important throughout the north, while rural villages centre around a community life that includes churches, schools, commercial trading, banking, and service businesses to support the region's population.
The people
The rural counties of Idaho continue to lose people to the cities, while farms and ranches continue to get larger. Most of the immigration comes from the Western, North Central, and Southern states, whereas the bulk of emigration goes to the West. The population is more than 95 percent white, most of whom trace their ancestry to the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, or Poland. American Indians constitute the second largest group, and there are also significant numbers of Asians, blacks, and Hispanics.
Nearly half of Idaho's population are church members, and about half of them are Mormons. The next largest denominational groups are Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian. The proximity to Mormon headquarters in Salt Lake City has resulted in strong religious ties to Utah, and the populations of some of the cities in the southeastern part of the state are more than 90 percent Mormon.
The economy
Economically, Idaho occupies a position between the highly developed and the underdeveloped states. Industrial expansion has replaced dependence on agriculture, lumbering, and mining in the 20th century, and Idaho has also emerged as one of the top states in tourist income. Government furnishes the second largest portion of Idaho's income. Labour, except in agriculture and small business, is heavily organized.
Agriculture and forestry
Huge herds of beef cattle and sheep graze not only in the prairie regions but also among the plateaus of the mountain regions. Idaho has some of the richest agricultural land in the United States, especially the irrigated region of the Snake River plain. Of the farm crops, potatoes have become almost synonymous with Idaho (see the video), though wheat, lentils, barley, oats, sugar beets, peas, beans, and alfalfa seed are important sources of farm income. Some two-fifths of the state's total area is in forests, and a huge quantity of lumber is cut from commercial timberlands each year. The primary commercial trees are Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, and western white pine.
Mining
Although the discovery of gold and the subsequent gold rush created Idaho's mining industry, gold is no longer important to the state's economy. Idaho, however, ranks among the three leading states in silver, lead, antimony, and molybdenum production. Phosphate mining and processing is important in the southeast.
Hydroelectric power, much of it provided by power stations on the Snake River, is the main source of energy for both business and private users in Idaho. Natural gas and oil have been used increasingly, while waste wood products have declined in importance. The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory near Arco, operated primarily as a research and testing site for nuclear reactors by the federal government, also is used for energy production.
Industry
Value added by manufacturing exceeds the contributions of agriculture to the economy. Much of it is related to the processing of foods and forest and mining products, however, indicating how dependent the economy remains on primary products.
Transportation
The wilderness and the mountains have made transportation difficult. Idaho has only one major highway connecting the southern and northern parts of the state. Almost all interstate highways that pass through the state run from east to west. Three transcontinental railroads cross the panhandle, and one railroad serves the southern portion. Geographic conditions influence air travel as well, with many small airfields providing service to remote areas. These airfields are used largely by private and contract fliers. Idaho has a water route to the Pacific Ocean from Lewiston by way of the Snake and Columbia rivers. Due to slack water that permits oceangoing barges to dock at Lewiston, the city is an important industrial and shipping centre.
Administration and social conditions
Government
Idaho operates under its original constitution of 1889, and, typical of states admitted to the Union after the Civil War, it has a constitution that establishes the usual separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers but limits the governor's strength. The constitution is detailed and includes many provisions that rightly belong in the statutes; it has been amended more than 90 times.
The only change in the government between 1890 and 1914 was the creation of numerous service and regulatory commissions and boards largely independent of the governor. Administrative reorganization after World War I consolidated these agencies in an effort to make them democratically responsive. The Great Depression of the 1930s brought on dozens of new commissions and boards, however, and the growth has continued. In 1974 the state government was again reorganized. The executive branch consists of six elected officers, independent of the governor, and 19 departments, under which more than 100 boards, commissions, councils, and committees are placed. The governor and other executive officials are elected to unlimited four-year terms. The legislature, which meets annually, comprises 42 senators and 84 representatives, and both senators and representatives serve two-year terms. Justice is administered by the Supreme Court, a court of appeals, and seven district courts and by county magistrate's courts. The district courts may originate cases and hear appeals.
Few voters in the nation are as independent as those of Idaho, and party cohesiveness is difficult to maintain; officials elected at one time often show a diversity of party and ideological stances. This independence usually is issue-oriented in state and national elections and personality-oriented in local elections. The two major political parties generally have dominated Idaho's political life. The voters have chosen Republican candidates slightly more than half the time, but the crossover vote, usually liberal and issue-oriented, can swing the outcome of any statewide election. The Republicans have long controlled the state legislature, but the governorship often is won by the Democratic Party. The preprimary party convention has been replaced by open primaries.
Idaho has more than 1,000 units of local government, including counties, municipalities, school districts, and special-purpose districts, the latter having limited taxing power. Most activities of local government are carried on by counties and cities. County commissioners, with a combination of legislative and executive functions, are very powerful. The state legislature has for many years refused to pass home rule legislation.
State debt is limited constitutionally to $2,000,000. The difficulty of achieving an equitable base for a sound system of public finance is increased by federal and state ownership of about 70 percent of Idaho's land area. The state's major revenue comes from personal and corporate income taxes and a sales tax, most of which is returned to public school districts. The state controls virtually no businesses or utilities except liquor sales, and among conditions made favourable to business development is the state's stance as a service rather than as a regulatory agency.
Education
Indian mission schools were supplemented by classes for white students when settlement began during the 1860s, and by the time of statehood the land-grant university had been chartered. The state Board of Education, dating from 1912, supervises appropriated funds, teacher certification, and related functions. The junior college system began on a district basis in 1939 and became a state function in 1965. The publicly supported University of Idaho (created in 1889 at Moscow), Idaho State University (1901, in Pocatello), and Boise State University (1932), as well as the private College of Idaho (1891, in Caldwell) and Northwest Nazarene College (1913, in Nampa), all offer advanced degrees. The University of Idaho is both a college of agriculture and the state's major educational institution. The university offers bachelor's and advanced degrees in areas that are related to the state's economy—engineering, mining, forestry, and wildlife and range science—and in other areas of business, education, and arts and letters.
Health and welfare
The electorate of Idaho is generally conservative on economic matters, but allocations for social and educational programs are liberal and are endorsed by both political parties. Nearly one-fifth of the state tax revenues goes into public health and public assistance programs. In addition, notable achievements have been based on a sense of social ethics, including a superior civil rights law. Living standards are relatively high because labour contracts follow national patterns, and living costs are below those of many states.
Idaho has several health districts that provide public health care throughout the state. Although Idaho has a low ratio of physicians to population and many rural hospitals find it difficult to remain open, the range of health services is comparable to that found in most U.S. states. All of the major cities have high-quality hospitals and excellent private medical services.
Cultural life
The opera houses in the mining camps, with various types of musical shows and serious drama, were Idaho's first “culture.” The missionaries and the churches set the patterns of cultural development for a long period. The University of Idaho has taken a leading role in developing programs in music, art, architecture, creative writing, and theatre. Students who return to small towns are, in many instances, the only college-educated people in the community, with the exception of the local attorney and physician. Other institutions of higher learning have also developed strong fine arts programs.
Culturally young, Idaho has contributed artists with wide reputations, including Vardis Fisher, a novelist whose writing decried dogma and tyranny; and Carol Ryrie Brink, who wrote books for adults and children. Ernest Hemingway wrote many of his books while living in Idaho, which he enjoyed for its wilderness aspects.
All of the colleges and universities have symphony orchestras, choral groups, and theatre programs, and a number of cities—including Boise, Pocatello, and Moscow—have orchestras. The University of Idaho and the cities of Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston have summer theatres. The Idaho Commission on the Arts has sponsored and promoted the development of art exhibits, lectures, literature, films, theatres, and music throughout the state.
Idaho has created a statewide system of parks. In addition, there are several national parks, and part of Yellowstone National Park is in Idaho. Craters of the Moon National Monument is one of the rarest geologic creations in the United States. The U.S. Forest Service maintains many campgrounds throughout the state.
History
Early history and settlement
Before the 1840s, when the buffalo herds disappeared and the wagon trains of settlers who were bound for California began to arrive, Indians had lived in the Idaho region for at least 10,000 years. In the north were the Kutenai, the linguistically identical Salish (Kalispel), the Coeur d'Alene, and the Nez Percé. Northern Paiute lived in the west central region, while the western Shoshone and the northern Shoshone occupied most of the southern lands. Most of these groups lived in small villages, consisting largely of family groups that moved according to the fishing, hunting, and gathering seasons, and the ties between them were weak. The tribes still live in approximately the same areas, some on the several reservations that are located within the state.
When the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached Idaho in 1805, about 8,000 Indians lived in the region. A trading post was erected on Pend Oreille Lake in the north in 1809, and fur traders were followed by missionaries. Gold seekers by the thousands poured through the area on their way to California in 1848, but many returned eastward after gold was discovered in northern Idaho in 1860. The settlers who followed wanted land and political stability, which had hitherto been uncertain; and slowly agriculture acquired economic dominance.
Territorial period
Idaho originally was in Oregon country, which was claimed first by Spain and then by Russia, Great Britain, and the United States; after the latter two had settled on the 49th parallel as the northern U.S. border, the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. It included the present state of Idaho, as well as what is now Oregon, Washington, and part of Montana. From 1853 to 1859 Idaho was divided between the Oregon and Washington territories. It then was part of Washington until it was organized separately as the Idaho Territory in 1863.
From a population of fewer than 17,000 in 1863, the territory expanded to nearly 90,000 at the time of statehood in 1890. Many new arrivals were Confederate refugees who, in the years following the Civil War, often dominated the legislature and opposed the Republican governors who were appointed by the federal government. Political strife and vigilante committees were elements of frontier life during the territorial decades. Among the events and trends that coloured the state's political and social life were the religious conflicts between the polygamous Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and other sects; a strong sectionalism that divided various regions of the territory; a pioneer democracy that emphasized the rights and achievements of the individual; the completion of railroads, which fostered economic and population growth; the beginning of lead and silver mining in the mountains; and the creation of the University of Idaho in 1889 by the last territorial legislature that was convened prior to statehood.
Statehood
Labour protests that often erupted into violence were features of the 1890s era in Idaho. Through his unsuccessful prosecution in 1907 of William D. Haywood, an organizer of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Senator William Borah became Idaho's major national figure until his death in 1940. During the 20th century Idaho has been engaged in developing its agriculture, forestry, and industry, while maintaining the more satisfying aspects of modern life at the doorstep of a natural wilderness.
Boyd A. Martin
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![The northern Mountain region. [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/4841.gif)
