Idaho Facts

The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 10-30-2005

Not just our potatoes are famous

Top jockey Gary Stevens — one of the stars of the hit 2003 movie "Seabiscuit" — is a Boise native.

Philo T. Farnsworth was a teenager tilling a spud field in Rigby when he came up with the idea that led to the first television set. Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer, Olympic gold medalists Picabo Street (skiing) and Stacy Dragila (pole vault), and baseball hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew are among Idaho athletes who stand out in the sporting world. Poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey. Writer and avid outdoorsman Ernest Hemingway helped put Sun Valley on the map.

New York art darling Matthew Barney grew up here. "Shell Collector" and "About Grace" author Anthony Doerr lives in Boise when he's not abroad on fellowships. And alt-rocker Doug Martsch of Built to Spill and jazz musician Curtis Stigers call Boise home.

Historical highlights

1805: Sacajawea, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark enter what would become Idaho in their expedition to the Pacific.

1843: The first Oregon Trail wagons pass through the area. More than 20,000 emigrants would make the journey.

1864: Voters decide to make Boise the capital of Idaho Territory (it was Lewiston for about a year). And The Idaho Statesman begins publishing.

1880s: Discovery of lead-silver ore in the Sun Valley area brings more people, the railroad and Idaho's first electric lights.

1890: Idaho becomes the 43rd state.

1908: Theodore Roosevelt's forest policy places half of Idaho into federal reserves.

1934: North Idaho silver mines make the state the country's No. 1 producer of ore.

1949: The National Reactor Testing Station established near Arco. It provided the first nuclear power and would later become the Idaho National Laboratory.

1976: The 310-foot-high Teton Dam collapses, killing 11 and forcing 300,000 people to flee their homes; also the same year, Hells Canyon is protected by Congress.

Did you know?

• Idaho had the first Jewish governor in the United States: Moses Alexander, elected in 1914 and 1916.

• Idaho's state seal is the only one designed by a woman: Emma Sarah Etine Edwards Green.

• Idaho has five Indian reservations: Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce, Kootenai, Duck Valley (Shoshone-Paiute) and Fort Hall (Shoshone-Bannock).

• The federal government owns more than 60 percent of Idaho land.

• Did you like the movie "Napoleon Dynamite"? It was conceived and shot in the southeast Idaho town of Preston.

Want to know more?

Read these books:

• "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner's portrait of late 19th century American West.

• "Big Trouble," by J. Anthony Lukas: A tale about the murder of Idaho Gov. Frank Stuenenberg, the ensuing "trial of the century" and a wide variety of tangential topics.

• "Idaho Women in History: Big and Little Biographies and Other Gender Stories," by Betty Penson-Ward.

• "An Enduring Legacy: The Story of the Basques in Idaho," by John and Mark Bieter.

• "Boise: An Illustrated History," by Merle Wells: A popular book with students, local history buffs and visitors.

• "The Boys of Boise": John Gerassi's 1966 description of a Boise "crackdown" on homosexuality, which drew national attention for its McCarthy-esque aspects.


By Idaho Statesman writers & photographers:

• "Tiger on the Road," Tim Woodward's biography of Idaho writer Vardis Fisher.

• "Saving All the Parts," Rocky Barker's look at the Endangered Species Act and its effects on Idaho and the Pacific Northwest.

• "Hiking & Angling in McCall, Idaho: A Guide to 32 Trails, 20 Lakes & Eight Rivers & Streams," by Roger Phillips.

• "Idaho Fishing Guide: Hook, Line & Sinker," by Pete Zimowsky & Patrick Davis.

• "Idaho 24/7," by Rick Smolan and David Allen Cohen. This coffee-table book features art from Statesman photographers Darin Oswald, Kim Hughes and Katherine Jones, and an introduction by Statesman writer Gregory Hahn.