I have been in the northern part of Idaho on one occasion. The state is only 40 miles wide at the top, where it squeezes between Montana and Washington. I have heard this area referred to as "The Chimney" on the Weather Channel a bunch of times. Usually is it called the "Panhandle" by most people. I guess a skinny part of any state is called a "panhandle."
As I mentioned is the last installment of this blog, the northern part of Idaho has very little in common with the southern part of the state. This area was once a part of Washington, which was still a territory at the time the current border was delineated. When the border was drawn, the northern part of Idaho mostly consisted of rowdy mining towns that were established by a series of gold rushes in the early 1860s. The territorial legislature in Washington wanted nothing to do with the rowdy miners and, thus, drew the border to exclude the mining towns.
Idaho was established as a territory on July 4, 1863, by Abraham Lincoln. William Wallace was appointed by Lincoln to be the first governor. In territories, governors were appointed by the President and the appointee was usually someone the President owed a political favor to and the governor was rarely, if ever, a resident of the territory that he would reside over. Wallace chose Lewiston as the capital of Idaho Territory simply because it was the closest Idaho town to his hometown in Washington. It was a booming town, however, due to the gold rush that was ongoing at the time. In the summer of 1863, Lewiston had grown to approximately 10,000 people and it was bigger than Seattle and Portland combined. Lewiston is located on the border with Washington, with the Snake River serving as the border until it makes a 90 degree curve into Washington. Beginning at that point, the border between Idaho and Washington is a land border for the remainder of the distance to the 49th parallel, which is the border with Canada.
Even though Lewiston is barely in Idaho, it was a good choice for the territorial capital at the time because it was a major transportation corridor in the 1860s. It is located at the confluence of the Snake River and the Clearwater River and this made access by boat easy in the days before roads. Also, even though Lewiston is 465 miles from the Pacific Ocean, it was a seaport! The Snake River and its "parent" stream, the Columbia River, are both extremely wide and deep rivers and large ships were able to make it as far as Lewiston.
Lewiston is still a seaport today, the only seaport Idaho has. Only now, riverboats have to negotiate a series of locks to get around all the dams between Lewiston and the Pacific Ocean.
So, even though Lewiston was chosen as the capital of Idaho Territory simply because it was the closest town in the territory to the first governor's hometown in Washington, it was a major transportation corridor, it was the supply point for all the northern Idaho gold mines and it was a booming town, so it was a logical choice to serve as the capital of the new territory.
Lewiston would only serve as the capital of Idaho for one year and seven months. I will get into more details about that in the next one or two editions of this blog. There are some very interesting details about that are still unresolved to this day.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Idaho, An Enigma, Part 2
Idaho is generally considered part of the Pacific Northwest along with Washington and Oregon, even though it does not have a coastline. However, of the three Pacific Northwest states, Idaho is regarded as the "poor cousin" by many people. That may be an apt description in some respects but I do not mean that to be derogatory. Idaho certainly receives less attention than Oregon and Washington do and is less known than the other two states. It does have less money than the other two states do, however.
Idaho became a territory on July 4, 1863, during the Civil War. It became a state on July 3, 1890 after languishing as a territory for nearly three decades. Idaho served as a territory longer than most of the current states did.
What is now Idaho is basically what was left over after all of the other states and territories were carved out. The different parts of the state really have very little in common with each other. The southeast part is heavily Mormon. In fact, it is more heavily Mormon than most of Utah is. The south-central and southwest parts of Idaho are predominantly Protestant with a high percentage of Catholics, also. The northern part is a wide mixture of religions with no single religion dominating. This part of Idaho has alot in common with Washington and Oregon, especially Washington, and is definitely part of the Pacific Northwest. The southeast identifies strongly with Utah and the northern part of the southeast identifies more with Montana. The southwest is harder to define. It has the bulk of the state's population, about 40%. The southwest part of Idaho borders Oregon on the west and Nevada on the south. I guess it most closely identifies with the eastern part of Oregon (the eastern part of Oregon has little in common with the western part of that state, which is well-populated and very rainy and lush. The western part is what people generally think of when they think of Oregon).
All of these disparate parts of Idaho are separated by a nearly uninhabited and roadless expanse of mountains and thick forests in the central part of the state. In fact, there is only one highway connecting the northern and southern parts of the state. It is U.S. Highway 95 and this stretch of road was not completed until 1975! Before then, people from, say, Lewiston in northern Idaho, had to travel through parts of Washington and Oregon to get the Boise area. Now, when highway 95 is occasionally closed by winter weather or rockslides, people still have to take that same route, which could add five hours to a trip that is 264 miles on highway 95. However, that 264 miles cannot be driven in about 4 hours because highway 95 has alot of curves and steep grades. The shortest alternate route through Oregon and Washington is only about 50 miles longer than the highway 95 route, but it will likely be closed due to winter weather if highway 95 is. The shortest drive from southeast Idaho to northern Idaho still requires a drive through western Montana.
Idaho became a territory on July 4, 1863, during the Civil War. It became a state on July 3, 1890 after languishing as a territory for nearly three decades. Idaho served as a territory longer than most of the current states did.
What is now Idaho is basically what was left over after all of the other states and territories were carved out. The different parts of the state really have very little in common with each other. The southeast part is heavily Mormon. In fact, it is more heavily Mormon than most of Utah is. The south-central and southwest parts of Idaho are predominantly Protestant with a high percentage of Catholics, also. The northern part is a wide mixture of religions with no single religion dominating. This part of Idaho has alot in common with Washington and Oregon, especially Washington, and is definitely part of the Pacific Northwest. The southeast identifies strongly with Utah and the northern part of the southeast identifies more with Montana. The southwest is harder to define. It has the bulk of the state's population, about 40%. The southwest part of Idaho borders Oregon on the west and Nevada on the south. I guess it most closely identifies with the eastern part of Oregon (the eastern part of Oregon has little in common with the western part of that state, which is well-populated and very rainy and lush. The western part is what people generally think of when they think of Oregon).
All of these disparate parts of Idaho are separated by a nearly uninhabited and roadless expanse of mountains and thick forests in the central part of the state. In fact, there is only one highway connecting the northern and southern parts of the state. It is U.S. Highway 95 and this stretch of road was not completed until 1975! Before then, people from, say, Lewiston in northern Idaho, had to travel through parts of Washington and Oregon to get the Boise area. Now, when highway 95 is occasionally closed by winter weather or rockslides, people still have to take that same route, which could add five hours to a trip that is 264 miles on highway 95. However, that 264 miles cannot be driven in about 4 hours because highway 95 has alot of curves and steep grades. The shortest alternate route through Oregon and Washington is only about 50 miles longer than the highway 95 route, but it will likely be closed due to winter weather if highway 95 is. The shortest drive from southeast Idaho to northern Idaho still requires a drive through western Montana.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Idaho, An Enigma
Idaho remains one of the most unknown states to Americans. About the only thing most people know about it is Boise, the Sun Valley Ski Resort and, of course, the world famous potatoes that are grown in profusion there. It oftens gets confused with "Ohio" or "Iowa." One time, when I worked at the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, I had a coworker from Idaho. After a guest noticed from the coworkers name tag that he was from Idaho, the guest asked him " I really love Idaho potatoes, but can you please tell me which side of the Mississippi River your state is on and what states does it border?"
Idaho is one of my four favorite states; the others being Arizona, New Mexico and Washington. Idaho has an amazing amount of wilderness. One look at a map of the state will reveal that. The "Big Empty, " as some people call it, occupies the central portion of the state. This is a heavily forested, rugged mountainous area that has no roads whatsoever for a huge area and only primitive dirt tracks or crudely maintained dirt roads in other areas. There are many places in central Idaho where people live in a cabin forty or fifty miles from the nearest road and the only way to shop for groceries is to fly a small, private plane to the nearest town with an airport or to have groceries and mail delivered to them by "bush" plane. When people think of bush planes and bush pilots, they think of Alaska or the Canadian Arctic, which are mostly roadless regions with small towns that rely on bush pilots or hovercraft plying the rivers to deliver supplies to the towns. Bush planes still do a thriving business in Idaho, although on a lesser scale than in the Arctic regions, because of the sheer remoteness and inaccessibility of huge portions of the state. Many people in these remote cabins in the wilderness have landing strips on or near their property because that is the only connection with the outside world that they have. In other cases, they have groceries and mail flown into them by a bush plane on skis so the plane can land on a nearby lake or river. Central Idaho has a number of fishing lodges or hunting lodges that are only accessible by bush plane, on foot, or by boat if it is located on a lake or river.
The southwest part of Idaho, most of Owyhee County in fact, is also extremely remote and roadless. This is a desert wilderness instead of a forested one, but it is also very remote . The remoteness of Owyhee County is borne out by the landing strip for bush planes across the highway from the county courthouse in Murphy, the county seat of Owyhee County.
These areas, along with other, smaller areas, have only been seen and mapped from airplanes. There are huge areas in Idaho that are still unexplored from ground level.
Idaho is a place where people who want to live in communion with nature go to build their log cabin in the woods. It is a state where someone can go and live off the land in a primitive setting and have little contact with the outside world.
Normally, a federally designated wilderness cannot have any "works of man" within its borders, but there are two states in which the sheer immensity and remoteness of the wilderness allows the government to make an exception to this rule--Alaska and Idaho. Wilderness areas in these two states can be accessed by bush planes, private planes and boats with motors because they are so far away from anything that without these vehicles, visititation would be impossible.
The close proximity of unspoiled wilderness to well populated areas in Idaho is staggering. It is, in fact, the defining quality of life in Idaho!
Idaho is one of my four favorite states; the others being Arizona, New Mexico and Washington. Idaho has an amazing amount of wilderness. One look at a map of the state will reveal that. The "Big Empty, " as some people call it, occupies the central portion of the state. This is a heavily forested, rugged mountainous area that has no roads whatsoever for a huge area and only primitive dirt tracks or crudely maintained dirt roads in other areas. There are many places in central Idaho where people live in a cabin forty or fifty miles from the nearest road and the only way to shop for groceries is to fly a small, private plane to the nearest town with an airport or to have groceries and mail delivered to them by "bush" plane. When people think of bush planes and bush pilots, they think of Alaska or the Canadian Arctic, which are mostly roadless regions with small towns that rely on bush pilots or hovercraft plying the rivers to deliver supplies to the towns. Bush planes still do a thriving business in Idaho, although on a lesser scale than in the Arctic regions, because of the sheer remoteness and inaccessibility of huge portions of the state. Many people in these remote cabins in the wilderness have landing strips on or near their property because that is the only connection with the outside world that they have. In other cases, they have groceries and mail flown into them by a bush plane on skis so the plane can land on a nearby lake or river. Central Idaho has a number of fishing lodges or hunting lodges that are only accessible by bush plane, on foot, or by boat if it is located on a lake or river.
The southwest part of Idaho, most of Owyhee County in fact, is also extremely remote and roadless. This is a desert wilderness instead of a forested one, but it is also very remote . The remoteness of Owyhee County is borne out by the landing strip for bush planes across the highway from the county courthouse in Murphy, the county seat of Owyhee County.
These areas, along with other, smaller areas, have only been seen and mapped from airplanes. There are huge areas in Idaho that are still unexplored from ground level.
Idaho is a place where people who want to live in communion with nature go to build their log cabin in the woods. It is a state where someone can go and live off the land in a primitive setting and have little contact with the outside world.
Normally, a federally designated wilderness cannot have any "works of man" within its borders, but there are two states in which the sheer immensity and remoteness of the wilderness allows the government to make an exception to this rule--Alaska and Idaho. Wilderness areas in these two states can be accessed by bush planes, private planes and boats with motors because they are so far away from anything that without these vehicles, visititation would be impossible.
The close proximity of unspoiled wilderness to well populated areas in Idaho is staggering. It is, in fact, the defining quality of life in Idaho!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Idaho
Idaho, along with Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Montana, are my favorite states. That is not to say I do not like other states, because I do. But these four states are my absolute favorites of all the states I have been in.
Idaho is a state with a name that was made up. The word was invented by United States Senator Henry Wilson, from Massachusetts. When Congress was debating whether or not they should carve a new territory out of what is now Idaho in the 1860s, Wilson said "Idaho" is an English derivation" of either "E-dah-hoe" or
"E-dah-how," which was supposedly a Shoshone Indian word that meant "the sun comes from the mountains " or "gem of the mountains."
Idaho Territory was created in 1863 and what named because of Wilson's suggestion because other members of Congress liked the name. For about one hundred years, the name origin was accepted and was taught in schools. Then research was done and it was discovered to be a fictitious name. Even after the research into the name was done, it was pretty much known only to Idahoans that the name was fictitious. The rest of the country did not find out for at least another decade.
Yet a member of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe of northern Idaho said once that their language has a word "Ah-d'Hoo" which means "greetings by surprise." So there may be some substance to Henry Wilson's name after all, the jury is still out. It seems that Wilson might have invented the word but he based it on an Indian word he had heard.
The state's biggest county is called Idaho County and it received its name about a year before the territory did. The county was named after a steamship, the U.S.S. Idaho, but it is unclear where that name came from.
The state of Colorado was almost named "Idaho" when Congress was debating making it in to a territory. There is a town west of Denver is called Idaho Springs because someone heard about what Henry Wilson said the name meant.
I will now blog about Idaho for quite some time. I will start in the northern part of the state, which I have visited once and then "move" to the south, which I have visited three times, although many of the places in the south I only saw once. It is a state that I would dearly love to explore again and again because it is so stunningly beautiful, but it is also one of the most pristine, untouched states.
Idaho is a state with a name that was made up. The word was invented by United States Senator Henry Wilson, from Massachusetts. When Congress was debating whether or not they should carve a new territory out of what is now Idaho in the 1860s, Wilson said "Idaho" is an English derivation" of either "E-dah-hoe" or
"E-dah-how," which was supposedly a Shoshone Indian word that meant "the sun comes from the mountains " or "gem of the mountains."
Idaho Territory was created in 1863 and what named because of Wilson's suggestion because other members of Congress liked the name. For about one hundred years, the name origin was accepted and was taught in schools. Then research was done and it was discovered to be a fictitious name. Even after the research into the name was done, it was pretty much known only to Idahoans that the name was fictitious. The rest of the country did not find out for at least another decade.
Yet a member of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe of northern Idaho said once that their language has a word "Ah-d'Hoo" which means "greetings by surprise." So there may be some substance to Henry Wilson's name after all, the jury is still out. It seems that Wilson might have invented the word but he based it on an Indian word he had heard.
The state's biggest county is called Idaho County and it received its name about a year before the territory did. The county was named after a steamship, the U.S.S. Idaho, but it is unclear where that name came from.
The state of Colorado was almost named "Idaho" when Congress was debating making it in to a territory. There is a town west of Denver is called Idaho Springs because someone heard about what Henry Wilson said the name meant.
I will now blog about Idaho for quite some time. I will start in the northern part of the state, which I have visited once and then "move" to the south, which I have visited three times, although many of the places in the south I only saw once. It is a state that I would dearly love to explore again and again because it is so stunningly beautiful, but it is also one of the most pristine, untouched states.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Rock With Wings
In the northwest corner of New Mexico, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, is a towering rock formation called Ship Rock. It was so named by early explorers because they thought the shape of it resembled a ship's mast at full sail. The Navajo name for this rock formation is "Tse Bit'A'I," which means "rock with wings." The elevation at the summit is 7,178 feet above sea level, which means it rises approximately 1,700 feet above the desert floor. The unusual shape of this rock formation, plus the fact that it is the highest promontory for miles around make this a landmark in the Four Corners region. It can be seen from Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Ship Rock is actually the throat of a long dead volcano. The throat is the inner part of a volcano that surrounds the vent. Everything else has eroded away over the eons. So, basically, just the interior of the volcano is left to cast its spell on the intrepid desert traveler. The "rock with wings" appellation came about because there are three volcanic dikes radiating out from the base of Shiprock, evenly spaced. From above, the dikes resemble airplane propellers extending out from a central base.
Ship Rock is one of four mountains that are sacred to the Navajo Tribe. They have historically marked the four corners of their homeland by Mount Taylor, near Grants, New Mexico, at the southeast corner; Ship Rock at the northeast corner; the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, Arizona at the southwest corner and Navajo Mountain, on the Arizona/Utah border, at the northwest corner. Navajo Mountain is mostly in Utah but the state border runs across the south slope, about one-third of the way up. The reservation boundaries today roughly correspond to these four mountains. The San Francisco Peaks and Mount Taylor are not on the reservation, while Ship Rock and Navajo Mountain are on the reservation but close to the northeast and northwest corners, respectively.
Ship Rock figures prominently in Navajo Mythology. The Navajos believe that they once lived on Ship Rock until one day lightning struck the peak, splitting it, and stranding some people on top. Because of the peak's religious significance, no one is allowed to climb it, although many people climbed it in the past, before the tribal government placed it off limits.
The shape of Ship Rock seems to change depending on the direction from which it is seen and also because of the juxtaposition of light and shadow around the rock formation.
Ship Rock was the setting for Tony Hillerman's book The Fallen Man.
Ship Rock is one of four mountains that are sacred to the Navajo Tribe. They have historically marked the four corners of their homeland by Mount Taylor, near Grants, New Mexico, at the southeast corner; Ship Rock at the northeast corner; the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, Arizona at the southwest corner and Navajo Mountain, on the Arizona/Utah border, at the northwest corner. Navajo Mountain is mostly in Utah but the state border runs across the south slope, about one-third of the way up. The reservation boundaries today roughly correspond to these four mountains. The San Francisco Peaks and Mount Taylor are not on the reservation, while Ship Rock and Navajo Mountain are on the reservation but close to the northeast and northwest corners, respectively.
Ship Rock figures prominently in Navajo Mythology. The Navajos believe that they once lived on Ship Rock until one day lightning struck the peak, splitting it, and stranding some people on top. Because of the peak's religious significance, no one is allowed to climb it, although many people climbed it in the past, before the tribal government placed it off limits.
The shape of Ship Rock seems to change depending on the direction from which it is seen and also because of the juxtaposition of light and shadow around the rock formation.
Ship Rock was the setting for Tony Hillerman's book The Fallen Man.
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