Idaho Trivia & Tidbits

On Dec. 31, 1863, Owyhee County (pop. 10,664) became the first county created by the newly formed Idaho territorial legislature. At 7,639 square miles, Owyhee is the second largest among Idaho's 44 counties. The largest is Idaho County (pop. 15,511), with an area of 8,485 square miles. The state's smallest county is Payette (pop. 20,578), which encompasses 408 square miles.

The Raft River geothermal project near the town of Malta (pop. 177), about 200 miles southeast of Boise, produces thousands of watts of electricity by tapping heat below the earth's surface. The project, which began in the 1970s as an experimental site, started commercially producing electricity for U.S. Geothermal Inc. in January 2008.

Targhee Pass in southern Idaho's Fremont County (pop. 11,819) sits on the Continental Divide that separates Idaho from Montana. In 1877, the excellent defensive nature of the 7,080-foot-high pass allowed a group of Nez Perce Indians led by Chief Joseph to escape into Yellowstone country and elude a pursuing column of U.S. soldiers.

The Basque culture is alive and well in Boise, which has an active, close-knit Basque community. In addition to the Basque Museum & Cultural Center, the descendents of the Basques-who immigrated to the United States from northern Spain and southern France-have concentrated along the so-called "Basque Block" on Boise's Grove Street. There, they maintain the Basque Center and several important historical buildings, as well as host Basque-oriented festivals.

Once a booming silver mining town with hundreds of men to every woman, Wallace (pop. 960) hosted five brothels for a time on its main street. Tours of the 1895 Bi Metallic Building, one of the few structures that survived the fire of 1910, include a look at upstairs Oasis Rooms as well as murals of mining history painted by Robert Thomas.

At 6,200 feet of elevation, the Spud Drive-In in Driggs (pop. 1,100) might be the world's highest outdoor movie venue. It's certain to be the only one with a red 1946 Chevy truck carrying a 2-ton potato sitting near the movie screen. Opened in 1953, the drive-in is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and features family-friendly films and the "Gladys Burger."

When gold was discovered in the mountains near the present-day town of Salmon (pop. 3,122) in 1866, a settlement sprang up to accommodate miners. Since many of the miners were ex-Confederate soldiers, they named the town Leesburg after Gen. Robert E. Lee. Not to be outdone, a smaller group of Northerners named a nearby settlement Grantsville. Both settlements since have been abandoned and Leesburg can be visited as an example of a ghost town.

In a state known for mountainous terrain, perhaps the most rugged area is the Lost River Range. Stretching for 70 miles between the towns of Challis (pop. 909) and Arco (pop. 1,026), the mountain range is a vast, roadless wilderness of snow-capped peaks. It's also home to Borah Peak, at 12,662 feet the state's highest mountain, and several other peaks topping 12,000 feet.

—A roadside marker along State Route 33, south of Teton County's town of Driggs (pop. 1,100), marks the Battle of Pierre's Hole, a fight between fur trappers attending a rendezvous there in 1832 and a group of Gros Ventre Indians. In mountain man parlance, a "hole" designated a valley surrounded by mountains, and various "holes" in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah were sites for trapper gatherings held in the summer.

—Television journalist Lou Dobbs, CNN anchor, managing editor of Lou Dobbs Tonight and recipient of numerous journalism awards, grew up in southern Idaho in the town of Rupert (pop. 5,645) and in 1963 was elected president of his senior class at Minico High School.

—Residents of Pocatello (pop. 51,466) are proud of their town's uniqueness. No other town bears the same name. The town was founded in 1882 and named for a chief of the Shoshone-Bannock tribe. Pocatello, which owes its foundation to the railroads that formed a junction there in 1882, got the nickname "The Gate City" when the town became important as part of a rail route through the mountains.

—The Anniversary Inn in Boise offers tours of its 41 uniquely themed suites. Themes range from romantic to adventurous, with names like Red Rock Canyon, Hollywood Romance, Sultan's Palace and Biker Road House. The bed in the Swiss Family Suite is in a tree; in the South Pacific room it's in a grass hut. One must cross a moat to enter Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

—The Seven Devils mountain range forms the eastern wall of Hells Canyon on the Idaho side of the Snake River. The peaks, many rising above 9,000 feet, bear such devilish names as The Ogre, Devils Throne, The Goblin, He Devil and She Devil. Curiously, one of the best views of the range is from a lookout called Heaven's Gate, near the town of Riggins (pop. 410). Several theories have existed about the naming of Idaho, first called the Idaho Territory in 1863. One cites the Comanche word Idahi, meaning "the Snake People who dwelt along the Snake River." Others credit the Shoshone words for "good morning" or two words from a Salmon River tribe: ida, meaning "salmon," and ho, meaning "tribe." Some say Idaho was named after a steamship on the Columbia River that brought gold miners. Idaho also has been known as the "gem of the mountains."

–With the discovery of gold on the Feather River in 1863, the town of Rocky Bar sprang to life with stores, bars, hotels and mills. Today, the Elmore County town has just a few part–time residents and is visited by tourists looking for a glimpse of the Old West. In 2007 half the town was for sale under the ad "Always wanted a ghost town?" for a spooky $250,000.

—A memorial commemorating the May 2, 1972, tragedy at the Sunshine Mine, where 91 miners died, is located near Kellogg (pop. 2,395), in Shoshone County. The location was incorrect in an earlier edition of American Profile.

—Mountain Home (pop. 11,143) was named Rattlesnake Station for a short time in the 1800s, and was situated eight miles east of the present city. When the railroad reached the area in 1883, Jule Hager, postmaster and stage agent at "The Mountain Home," without government authorization packed up the post office in a 50-pound soap box and moved it to the present site to be near the tracks.

—A memorial near Kellogg (pop. 2,395), in Shoshone County, commemorates the May 2, 1972, tragedy at Sunshine Mine, where a fire broke out, spreading heat, smoke and poisonous carbon monoxide gas through the mine’s tunnels. Of the more than 170 miners working in the mine that day, 91 died, making it one of the nation’s worst mining disasters.

—Sacajawea, the Shoshone woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805, was born in what is today Lemhi County. The Lemhi County town of Salmon (pop. 3,122) is home to The Sacajawea Center, an institution devoted to education and interpretation about Sacajawea and her role in the discovery of the West.

—Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., headquartered in Coeur d’Alene (pop. 34,514), is one of the world’s largest silver producers, with mines or active exploration sites in Alaska, Nevada, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and Tanzania. The company employs more than 900 people.

—The stadium known as the Kibbie Dome on the University of Idaho campus in Moscow (pop. 21,291) is named for William H. Kibbie, a donor and former student. The dome, completed in 1975, is made of beams of laminated wood on a framework of tubular steel, the arches of which span a distance of 400 feet and reach a height of 144 feet.