Nicknames: Gem State

Capitol: Boise

Motto: Esto perpetua (Let it be perpetual) It is Forever

Song: Here We Have Idaho words: McKinley Helm & Albert J. Tompkins music: Sallie Hume-Douglas

Flower: Syringa Philadelphus lewisii

Tree: Western WhitePine Pinus monticola

Bird: Mountain Bluebird

Gained Statehood: July 3, 1890

Name Origin: Idaho is a coined or invented word, and is not a derivation of an Indian phrase

Idaho offers beautiful waterfalls, clear blue streams, rugged ranches, forests and mountains. Idaho is home to the deepest river gorge in all of North America, Hells Canyon. Plunging a record 7,900 feet to the river banks, Hells Canyon is a sight to behold.

Native Americans were the first inhabitants of Idaho. There were two distinct groups: the Great Basin Shoshone and Bannock tribes of the Shoshone-Bannock and the Shoshone and the Paiute and the Plateau tribes of the Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce and Kootenai. Many of the names in Idaho reflect their rich native American heiritage names such as: Nez Perce, Benewah Shoshone, Bannock and Kootenai counties and other areas such as: Lapwai, Weippe, Kooskia, Picabo Shoshone, Pocatello, Blackfoot, Nezperce, White Bird, Kamiah, and Tendoy. In 1592 Spanish explorers made trips to the Northwest and Lewis and Clark were the also explored the region. There is also evidence of the Hawaiian workers who came to help with the Fur Trade as well as staff for Fort Boise. IN the 1860's many Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) and spaniards lived off the land as trappers. They also established the Mining at camp called "Spanishtown". By 1870 during the gold rush, a large number of Idaho miners were Chinese. In 1896, Idaho became the fourth state in the nation to give women the right to vote. Between 1900 and 1920, a large number of Basque immigrants came to Idaho from the Pyrenees to work as sheepherders. Idaho still has a large Basque community. Idaho was the first state in the nation to elect a Jewish governor. Moses Alexander was elected in 1914 and re-elected in 1916In 1972, Idaho became the first state in the Nation to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Idaho elected the nations first Jewish governor, Moses Alexander and also was the first state to elect a Native American as attorney general, Larry Echohawk.
Today mining a lumbering are still important industries for Idaho which leads the states in silver, antimony, lead, cobalt, garnet, phosphate rock, vanadium, zinc, and mercury production.

Joe Albertson , Cecil Andrus , T. H. Bell , Ezra Taft Benson, William E. Borah , Gutzon Borglum , Carol R. Brink , Frank F. Church , Fred Dubois , Vardis Fisher , Lawrence H. Gipson , Ernest Hemingway , Mariel Hemingway , Chief Joseph Nez Percé chief; Harmon Killebrew , Jerry Kramer , Ezra Pound , Sacagawea Shoshonean guide; J. R. Simplot , Robert E. Smylie , Henry Spalding , Frank Steunenberg , Picabo Street ,David Tompson , Lana Turner