Idaho

5 million years ago, Pliocene mammals such as the woolly mammoth and saber-toothed tiger lived along Lake Idaho, their remains now found as fossils.

The first permanent non-Native settlement in Idaho wasn't established until the 1850s, when Mormons moved north from Utah.

Idaho is only 45 miles wide at the Canadian border.

In 1846, England and the US agreed to divide the American Northwest, with England getting what is now Canada and the US getting lands called the Oregon Territory.  In the 1850s, Oregon became a state and the remaining lands became the Washington Territory.  In 1863, the territorial government in Olympia asked Congress to rid them of responsibility for the eastern lands, and the Idaho Territory was created.  In the late 1880s Congress considered dividing Idaho between the new states of Washington and Nevada, but southern Idahoans were horrified at what they considered to be crooked politics in Nevada.  In 1890, a unified Idaho became a state.

Submarine in Lake Pend Oreille

The Rocky Mountains, which cover much of Idaho, were created only 64 million years ago - young compared with the Appalachians from 300 million years ago.

Lake Pend Oreille is Idaho's largest natural lake; it's so deep, the US Navy operates a submarine testing facility there.

The capitol in Boise is heated by underground hot springs.

Idaho's state capitol

The Legislature begins a new session each January with no set number of days in each session.  

Although Idaho executive officials are elected to a maximum of 2 consecutive terms in office, they can serve any number non-consecutively, as Cecil Andrus did, serving as governor 4 times over a 30-year span.

In the 1970s, the Kootenai tribe declared war on the US, angry that they'd never received reservation land as other tribes had.  They set up roadblocks on roads leading into their area and charged 10 cents/car to pass.  As a result, Pres. Gerald Ford granted them a small reservation, which has since been expanded.

Although 5 Native tribes have been granted reservations, they are continually fighting encroachment.  For instance, it took a ruling by the US Supreme Court in 2001 to uphold an 1873 executive order by Pres. Grant granting the tribe ownership of part of the lake that bears its name.

Idaho black opal

Idaho garnets

Idaho has mines for garnet, jade, opals, jasper, agate and topaz.

Boise has the largest Basque population outside Europe.

Idaho used to be a very rural state but, in recent years, many of the new residents have moved to urban areas.  City attitudes about what to do with natural resources are often different than those in rural areas, making the changing demographics hard for long-time residents to accept (a difficulty encountered everywhere, it seems).

The largest concentration of raptors in the US is in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, where there are more than 800 nesting pairs of raptors (e.g. eagles, hawks, falcons, owls).

Idaho is home to the Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness Area, the largest federally-protected wilderness area in the lower 48 states.

Hemingway wrote For Whom The Bell Tolls at the Sun Valley Lodge.

Sun Valley Lodge

Harmon Killebrew, Ezra Pound and Lana Turner were all born in Idaho.