76 Interesting Facts About Idaho: Gem State

Idaho is a Rocky Mountain state of deep canyons, lava fields, and wide farmland, with a story stretching from ancient human settlement to statehood and beyond. This article gathers 76 facts about Idaho, organized by geography, landscapes, people, symbols, economy, culture, and a timeline of its past.

Idaho Facts At-a-Glance

Region: Pacific Northwest of the US
Land area: 83,569 mi² (216,443 km²), 14th largest state
Population: 1.8 million
Capital: Boise
Motto: Esto Perpetua
Highest point: Borah Peak, 12,662 ft (3859 m)
Statehood: July 3, 1890, the 43rd state
Potato output: One-third of the nation's potatoes

Location, Borders, and Size

1. Idaho is located in the Pacific Northwest region of the US. The Rocky Mountains cover the northern half of the state.
2. Idaho borders the states of Montana and Wyoming to the east, Utah and Nevada to the south, and Oregon and Washington to the west. It also has a tiny (45 mi / 72 km) border with British Columbia in Canada.
3. Depending on who you ask, people say that Idaho is shaped like a boot or a gun, with its skinny northern tip (the Idaho Panhandle).
4. Idaho has a land area of 83,569 mi² (216,443 km²), making it the 14^th largest state in the nation, putting it between Utah and Kansas in size.
5. In terms of size, Idaho is twice as large as Guatemala or three times as large as Ireland.

Recommended Read: 35 Interesting Facts About The Rocky Mountains

Population, Cities, and Communities

6. With a population of 1.8 million, Idaho is the 13^th least populous (between Nebraska and West Virginia) and 7^th least densely populated state in the country. For the last decade, it has been one of the fastest growing states.
7. Boise is the most populous city and as the state capital of Idaho. The Boise Metropolitan Area, which includes the state’s 2^nd and 3^rd largest cities (Nampa and Meridian), has a population of 800,000, making it the 75^th largest city in the US.
8. Native American tribes traditionally inhabiting the area include the Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce, Coeur d’Alene, Shoshone-Paiute and Kootenai. Today they make up only 1.3% of the state’s population.
9. Boise has one of the largest Basque communities (a people from Basque Country in Spain and Southwest France) in the country.
10. Idaho is the state with the most Mormons, after Utah of course. The Idaho Falls Temple was the first Mormon church in Idaho, and the church’s first one with a modern spiral design.
11. People from Idaho are called Idahoans or Idahoers.

Name, Motto, and State Symbols

12. The motto of Idaho is Esto Perpetua, which is Latin for “let it be perpetual” or “it is forever”.
13. The name “Idaho” was almost used for Colorado. The person who originally chose the name falsely claimed it was a Native American word, so the Senate rejected it. The name stuck around though, and was eventually used for Idaho.
14. “The Gem State” is another one of Idaho’s nicknames- as nearly every known type of gemstone has been found there, with over 70 of them being actively mined.
15. The official state gem is the Star Garnet, which can only be found in two places in the world: Idaho and India. The gems got their name because their stone causes a reflection that gives them the appearance of a 4- or 6-pointed star.
16. Another state nickname is “The Potato State”. One-third of the nation’s potatoes are grown there, more than any other state, adding up to approximately 27 billion potatoes each year.
17. The state bird of Idaho is the mountain bluebird, which can be spotted on many of the famous hiking trails in the state.
18. The appaloosa horse is the state animal of Idaho. The appaloosa was a breed of horse that was originally brought over by the Spanish. The horse was embraced by the Nez Perce tribe and as a result, became heavily entwined in the area’s culture.
19. Idaho’s flag features the state seal on a blue background. The seal has a woman and a miner, and several of the state’s natural resources, including the Shoshone River.
20. The state seal of Idaho is the only one in the country to be designed by a woman, Emma Edwards Green.
21. The Idaho State Capitol Building is the only one in the US to be heated by geothermal energy, which comes from underground hot springs.

Mountains, Canyons, and Extreme Weather

22. Idaho’s highest point is located in the eastern Custer County, at the Lost River Range. Borah Peak has an elevation of 12,662 ft (3859 m), while the lowest point is where the Snake River joins the Clearwater River, near Lewiston. This point has an elevation of 710 ft (216 m).
23. Hells Canyon, formed by the Snake River on the border between Idaho and Oregon, is North America’s deepest canyon, at 7993 ft (2436 m), deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
24. 118°F (47.8°C) is the state’s all-time highest temperature, recorded in Orofino in 1934. -60°F (-51.1°C) was the lowest, recorded in Island Park in 1943.
25. Idaho’s Shoshone Falls has been called the “Niagara Falls of the West”. It is 14 m (45 ft) taller than the actual Niagara Falls in New York State and Ontario.

Recommended Read: 35 Fun Facts About Niagara Falls: North America’s Tallest Waterfall

Volcanoes and Lava Landscapes

26. From 15,000 to 2000 years ago, multiple volcanic eruptions on the Columbia Plateau in the southern region of Idaho explain why the area is so flat today.
27. The state is home to several volcanoes, lava fields, and other volcanic features, including Cerro Grande, Craters of the Moon, North and South Robbers, Hell’s Half Acre, Kings Bowl, Shoshone Lava Fields, and Wapi Lava Field.
28. The youngest volcano and the only one that’s still lying dormant is the Crater of the Moon, which means it could erupt at any point.

Parks, Monuments, and Historic Sites

29. Around 1% of Yellowstone National Park is located in Idaho. Another 3% is in Montana and 96% is in Wyoming. There are no other national parks in Idaho, but there are 27 state parks.
30. Idaho does have one National Reserve (City of Rocks, famous for its granite rock formations), two National Monuments (Craters of the Moon, with its lava formations, and Hagerman Fossil Beds, known for its ancient horse fossils).
31. Idaho is also home to the Minidoka National Historic Site, where 9000+ Japanese were interred in WWII, and Nez Perce National Historic Park, preserving various lands of the Nez Perce tribe.
32. Idaho is home to over a hundred ghost towns, the most popular ones being Burke and Silver City.
33. Legend has it that a monster inhabits Bear Lake, Idaho, called the Bear Lake Monster.

Recommended Read: 20 Fun Facts About Yellowstone National Park: A Wild Paradise

Potatoes, Farming, and Food Businesses

34. Besides potatoes, Idaho is also the country’s top lentil producer, making 90% of the country’s lentils, and sometimes called the “Lentil Capital of the World. The majority of the country’s trout is also supplied by Idaho.
35. J. R. Simplot became one of richest people in the US after his Idaho-based company invented ways to dry potatoes and other vegetables and sell them to the US Army.
36. There’s a whole museum dedicated to potatoes in Blackfoot, Idaho.
37. Albertsons, the second-largest supermarket chain in the US after Kroger, was established in Boise, Idaho in 1939.
38. Some interesting foods associated with Idaho include finger steaks, Idaho ice cream potatoes, and Idahoan, a brand of mashed potatoes.
39. The Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-1) in the desert of Idaho was the world’s first nuclear power plant. A sign in nearby Arco marks the first time a city was powered by atomic energy. There is also an Atomic City in the area, current population: 41.

Sun Valley, Writers, and Famous Idahoans

40. Sun Valley, known for its ski hills and equestrian trails, is a celebrity hotspot, with famous people such as Mark Zuckerberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger owning homes there.
41. Ernest Hemingway wrote part of his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls in Sun Valley, Idaho. He was hoping that the mountain life and open air would help inspire him; apparently it did! He wrote other parts in Havana, Cuba and Key West, Florida.
42. Hemingway once said the following about Idaho-born poet Ezra Pound: “for poets born in the late 19^th or early 20^th century, not to be influenced by Pound would be like passing through a great blizzard and not feeling its cold.” One of Pound’s most famous epic poems is 800 pages long.
43. Harmon Killebrew of Payette, Idaho was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He played for the Minnesota Twins.
44. At Brundage Mountain Ski Resort in Idaho, an interesting tradition began of women throwing their bras onto a certain tree while riding the chairlift up the mountain. It came to be known as the Brundage Bra Tree.

Movies and Local Oddities

45. The 2004 comedy classic Napoleon Dynamite was filmed in Preston, Idaho.
46. Other movies that were filmed in Idaho include Dante’s Peak, Breakfast of Champions, Town & Country, Magic Valley, and Dark Horse.
47. At the Dog Bark Park Inn in Idaho, guests can stay in a beagle-shaped house. It is the largest beagle in the world.
48. Wallace, a town in Idaho, was declared the “Center of the Universe” by mayor Wallace. A manhole cover stating this declaration was created in 2004.
49. Idaho has several militia groups operating in the Idaho Panhandle, including the 600-member nationalist Idaho Light Foot Militia, who describe themselves as the “teeth of the constitution.”

Ancient Settlement and Early Exploration

50. Tools dating to 14,500 years ago were recently found at Wilson Butte Cave, some of the oldest evidence of human settlement in the country.
51. Before the arrival of the Europeans, around 8,000 Native Americans lived in the region of Idaho.
52. Early French fur trappers in the area left their mark with many place names, like Cœur d’Alène, Boisé, Payette, and the tribe Nez Percé, which means “pierced nose”.
53. In 1805, Lewis and Clarke passed through the state as the explored the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. The Idaho town Lewiston is named after the former, and the adjacent Washington town is named Clarkston after the latter.
54. In 1809, the British opened the first trading post in Idaho. At the time, the area of Idaho was part of Oregon Country, which was shared by the US and England.
55. The Hudson’s Bay Company founded Fort Boise in 1811, which was later moved to a different location and developed into modern-day Boise.

Territory, Statehood, and Frontier Development

56. The US took full control of the area in 1846. Idaho then became part of the Washington Territory after Oregon was admitted as a state in 1859.
57. In 1860, Mormons founded Franklin, the first permanent European settlement in Idaho, though it was probably in Utah at that time.
58. Four years later, Boise was incorporated as a city.
59. In 1863, Idaho became its own territory, and Boise was designated the state capital in 1865.
60. In 1866, there was a discovery of gold at Leesburg in Lemhi County, and the Caribou Gold Rush in the southeastern region of the state started a few years later.
61. Idaho’s first railroad was completed in 1874, from Utah Northern to Franklin.
62. The Owyhee Daily Avalanche was the first daily newspaper to be published in the state on October 17, 1874 in Silver City.
63. Idaho’s first telephone service commenced on October 1, 1883 in Hailey.
64. In 1887, a law was passed for compulsory education in Idaho.
65. On July 3, 1890, Idaho became the 43^rd state of the US.

Immigration and Twentieth-Century Milestones

66. Between 1900 and 1920, a large number of Basque immigrants came to Idaho from the Pyrenees to find work as sheepherders.
67. The first Jewish governor to be elected in the US was Moses Alexander in Idaho in 1914.
68. In 1939, both the Idaho State Police and Albertson’s supermarket were established.
69. In 1964, Bible reading was ended in Boise public schools by the Federal Court.
70. In 1982, Idaho became the first state in the nation to outlaw the insanity plea for defendants in its legislature.
71. Permanent sales tax was implemented in 1987, at 5%.

Recent Events: Standoffs, Fires, and Laws

72. In the 1992 Ruby Ridge Standoff near Naples, Idaho, there was an 11-day standoff between police and white separatist Randy Weaver. His wife and son were killed by the police, but he survived the incident, and his family received over 3 million dollars in compensation.
73. In 2003, a legislative session in Idaho lasted 118 days, the longest legislative session to be held in history at the time. In 2021, it passed its own record, with a 311-day session.
74. In 2009, over 1.5 million acres of land in Idaho were damaged by wildfires. In fact, Idaho had more wildfires burning than any of the other 49 states. [Learn more: 10 Interesting Facts About Wildfires]
75. In 2009, Idaho hosted the Special Olympics of the World Winter Games.
76. In 2010, a law was passed to reject the federal mandatory health insurance requirement. Idaho became the first state in the country to pass this law.

Recommended Read: 10 Interesting Facts About Wildfires: Ecosystem Role

Suggested Read: 35 Fun Facts About Boise Idaho