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UPDATED:
AUG 21, 2018
ORIGINAL:
NOV 9, 2009

Idaho
HISTORY.COM EDITORS
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CONTENTS

1. Interesting Facts
Bordered by the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north and the
U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming to the east, Utah and Nevada to the
south, and Oregon and Washington to the west, Idaho is twice as large as the
six New England states combined. With an abundance of scenic mountains,
lakes, rivers and outdoor attractions, the state draws more than 20 million
tourists eachyear. Idaho produces more potatoes and trout than any other
state in the nation, and is known as the “Gem State” for the 72 types of
precious and semi-precious stones it produces—some of which are exclusive
to the state. Its state capital, Boise, is also its largest city with more than
200,000 residents.

Date of Statehood: July 3, 1890

Capital: Boise

Population: 1,567,582 (2010)

Size: 83,568 square miles

Nickname(s): Gem State

Motto: Esto perpetua (“Let it be perpetual”)

Tree: Western White Pine

Flower: Syringa
 Bird: Mountain Bluebird

Interesting Facts
 Meriwether Lewis and members of the Corps of Discovery entered
Idaho for the first time in 1805, making it the last of the U.S. states to be
explored by European-Americans. Along with a reconnaissance team, William
Clark attempted to find a passage across the Salmon River in August, but was
deterred by the churning rapids and steep rock walls. The river is often
referred to as “The River of No Return.”
 The state seal of Idaho is the only state seal in the United States
designed by a woman. In 1891, Emma Edwards Green, who had previously
attended art school in New York, entered and won a competition sponsored
by the First Legislature for the State of Idaho with her depiction of a miner, a
woman signifying justice and various state natural resources.
 Carved by the Snake River, Hell’s Canyon is North America’s deepest
river gorge—even deeper than the Grand Canyon—with a width of ten miles
and a depth of 7,913 feet below He Devil Peak in the Seven Devils Mountains.
 Idaho’s State Capitol, constructed between 1905 and 1920, is the only
capitol building in the nation to be heated by geothermal water from a source
3,000 feet below the ground. In operation since 1982, the water system
currently heats about 1.5 million square feet within the Capitol Mall complex.
 Author Ernest Hemingway, who won a Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man in
the Sea in 1953 and who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the
following year, died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound in his home in Ketchum
on July 2, 1961. A memorial, exhibit and festival held near Sun Valley pay
tribute to the renowned author’s accomplishments and time spent in Idaho.
 Rigby, Idaho, is known as the birthplace of television. Inventor Philo
Farnsworth, who grew up in the tiny town, reportedly sketched out the
principle behind the technology for a high school science paper.
PHOTO GALLERIES
Idaho

9
GALLERY
9 IMAGES

Citation Information
Article Title
Idaho

Author
History.com Editors

Website Name
HISTORY

URL
https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/idaho
 Access Date
May 21, 2020

Publisher
A&E Television Networks

Last Updated
August 21, 2018

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009

BY
 HISTORY.COM EDITORS
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