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Idaho Trivia & Tidbits - Page 2

Looking for Idaho trivia? Try our list Idaho little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

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—Born in Rigby (pop. 2,998) in 1938, Larry Wilson had a stellar career as a safety with the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals. He played 169 games between 1960 and 1972, achieving a team record of 52 pass interceptions and making the Pro Bowl eight times. Wilson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978.
first appeared: 12/29/2008
—Rich in copper, the Seven Devils mining area, near Council (pop. 816) and high above the Snake River, posed major transportation challenges. Albert Kleinschmidt built a road down to the river in the late 1800s, but the river proved too rough for ore boats. The steep, rugged road, known as the Kleinschmidt Grade, still is used for sightseeing but not for transporting ore.
first appeared: 11/30/2008
—Located near Island Park (pop. 215), the aptly named “Big Springs” produces some 120 million gallons of water a day, creating the headwaters of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. The constant flow of water, a year-round temperature of 52 degrees and a clean gravel bottom at the springs create excellent habitat for trout.
first appeared: 11/16/2008
The historic Johnny Sack’s cabin stands near Big Springs. A German immigrant, Sack began building his cabin in 1932 on land leased from the U.S. Forest Service. Sack used local stone and timber to build the cabin, often leaving the bark on the wood to create a rustic look. He also built a water wheel that provided electricity and water for the bungalow-style cabin.
first appeared: 11/16/2008
—The Gooding City of Rocks, located near Gooding (pop. 3,384), is an area of eerie, wind-carved rock formations, including pillars, hoodoos and arches, many covered with bright green lichen, rising from the ground in the Bennett Hills region. The rock is known as “tuff,” which formed when volcanic eruptions created clouds of ashes that fused together as they fell to the ground.
first appeared: 11/2/2008
—At last year’s Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot (pop. 10,419), Janet Gamble won a coveted blue ribbon for her cherry pie, the recipe for which was subsequently featured in People magazine. One of her secrets is to make the pie crust a day ahead of time and freeze it. Gamble says that this makes the crust flakier.
first appeared: 10/19/2008
—Four adobe kilns that were used to produce charcoal in the late 1800s for the Nicholia Mine still stand near Leadore (pop. 90). Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the kilns are located on the Targhee National Forest off State Route 28. Leadore was established in the early 20th century as a mining and railroad town.
first appeared: 10/5/2008
Previously known as the Galena Summit Overlook, the Bethine and Frank Church Scenic Overlook, near the summit of Galena Pass, lies north of Ketchum (pop. 3,003) at just over 8,700 feet above sea level. The first road over the summit was built in 1881 to serve mines at Vienna and Sawtooth City, and featured a steep stretch known as the Sawtooth Grade.
first appeared: 10/5/2008
—The U.S. government last year established the Snake River Valley American Viticultural Area as a distinct wine-growing region. Known for its Riesling, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, Gewürztraminer and merlot wines, the area encompasses 8,263 square miles in southwestern Idaho, including Twin Falls (pop. 34,469), and eastern Oregon, and features 1,107 acres of vineyards and more than a dozen wineries.
first appeared: 9/21/2008
—Rising above the town of Arco (pop. 1,026), “Number Hill” is a rocky outcrop decorated with large white digits. In 1920, graduating students from Butte County High School painted the year on the hill to celebrate their school spirit and memories. Subsequent graduating classes have followed suit, using two-digit years—except for the class of 2000, which used all four.
first appeared: 9/7/2008
—David Ririe (1860-1919) arrived in Idaho as a homesteader in the late 1880s. In 1891, he was joined by Joseph H. Lovell and his family, including a daughter named Leah Ann, whom Ririe married in 1893. Ririe’s efforts to help the railroad acquire land in the area resulted in the town of Ririe (pop. 545) being named for him.
first appeared: 8/24/2008
Volunteers are helping restore 27 historic buildings in the ghost town of Chesterfield, near Bancroft (pop. 382). The community was settled by Mormon pioneers in the early 1880s along the Oregon Trail, and still includes homes, a school, general store and meetinghouse, which has been turned into a museum by The International Society-Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
first appeared: 8/24/2008
—Filled with formations such as stalagmites, stalactites and helictites (similar to stalactites, but shaped like fishhooks or corkscrews), Minnetonka Cave near St. Charles (pop. 156) was discovered by Ed Arnell while hunting grouse in the early 1900s. Temperatures in the cave remain a constant 40 degrees, so jackets are recommended for visitors who tour the cave, open from June through Labor Day.
first appeared: 8/10/2008
The Grace District Library in Grace (pop. 990) was founded in 1940, when local women organized the Grace Literary Club and collected 25 books in their first year. Originally housed in private residences, the library moved to a department store, the high school and then, in 1952, the Mortgage and Loan Building. In 1955, the club became the Grace District Library, the state’s first free library district.
first appeared: 8/10/2008
—Constructed in the late 1950s, an aircraft hangar at the Idaho National Environmental Engineering Laboratory near Idaho Falls (pop. 50,730) was designed to house a nuclear-powered airplane. The hangar—measuring 82,860 feet, or nearly 2 acres, in size—was built of concrete. Although laboratory researchers successfully tested two nuclear engines, the program was canceled in 1961.
first appeared: 7/27/2008
—The Lewis and Clark Expedition discovered the camas plant in 1805 when the Nez Perce Indians on Weippe Prairie, which today is home to the town of Weippe (pop. 416), gave them bread made with camas bulbs. When the party returned in 1806, Meriwether Lewis wrote extensively about the blue-flowered plant in his journal.
first appeared: 7/13/2008
Archeologist Robert Butler excavated a site near Challis (pop. 909) in 1970, concluding that the Shoshoni people had used a nearby cliff as a bison jump in the early part of the 19th century.
first appeared: 7/13/2008
NEVADA—Sylvester Stallone, who played Rocky Balboa, and the crew of Rocky IV filmed one of the 1985 movie’s major fight scenes in the Ziegfeld Room at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The fight—in which Rocky’s friend, Apollo Creed, is killed by the Russian Ivan Drago—convinces the retired boxer to return to the ring.
first appeared: 7/13/2008
—The U.S. Sheep Experiment Station, north of Dubois (pop. 647), maintains its own herd of sheep along with land in the Centennial Mountains of Idaho and Montana to support the herd. The station, operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and supported by the University of Idaho, focuses on improving both sheep production and rangeland sustainability.
first appeared: 6/29/2008
—From 1940 to the early 1950s, the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge dug into the gravel bed of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, picking up stones, washing and separating them, and finding more than $1 million in gold and silver. Resembling a barge, the 988-ton, 112-foot-long dredge was powered by two 7-cylinder diesel engines, and can be seen today near Stanley (pop. 100).
first appeared: 6/15/2008
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