Idaho

Mine the rich heritage of the Gem State. Gather provisions alongside bullwhackers at Idaho Falls and regroup in old Boise before a final push along the Oregon Trail. Cozy up to a local for tips on fly fishing Idaho’s secret waters. Plumb the scandal of the unlikely industry that flourished in the Silver Valley or weigh the excuses of Lady Bluebeard, whose husbands just kept dying. Uncover the harrowing truth of the Teton Dam disaster, when 80-billion gallons ravaged the Upper Snake River Valley. Swap stories with Calamity Jane and sift through the treasures of Idaho history with our Idaho history books.

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Kuna

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Hailey

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Priest River and Priest Lake

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Latah County

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Meridian

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Moscow:

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Nampa

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Lemhi County

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Historic Firsts of Lewiston, Idaho

$14.99 $10.49 Save 30%

Hidden History of Lewiston, Idaho

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Forgotten Tales of Idaho

$17.99 $12.59 Save 30%

Frontier History Along Idaho's Clearwater River

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Lost Lewiston, Idaho

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

The Harrison Area

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

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Kuna

9780738595405

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Kuna owes its existence to an accident of geography. People settled in it in the mid-19th century based on its location near the Snake River, populated it due to mining south of the area, and built a railroad station because it was easier to do so there than near Boise. The Snake River Canyon itself was carved by a prehistoric flood. That close relationship to the earth still continues. Even the school sports teams have a geographic connection: they are known as the Kavemen, named after the Kuna Cave, a lava tube south of town. Today, Kuna is the gateway city to the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, and in recent years, it was the fastest-growing city in Idaho.

Hailey

9780738588995

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

When Hailey was founded in 1881, it was one of many boomtowns that sprang up as a result of the lead-silver rush in the northwestern United States. The city was named for John Hailey, a successful entrepreneur who operated a freight hauling business before the railroad reached the Wood River Valley. The new town's strategic location--in proximity to surrounding, rich lead-silver deposits and at the junction of the Wood River and Croy and Quigley Canyons--allowed Hailey to become a bustling center of commerce and mining. Over the years, Hailey grew and changed with the rise and fall of the local mining and sheepherding industries. In recent years, Hailey has reinvented itself yet again, with tourism as the mainstay of the local economy. More than 130 years after its founding, Hailey remains a vibrant and energetic community in the heart of the Wood River Valley.

Priest River and Priest Lake

9780738589190

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The first permanent settlers of Kaniksu County filtered into the Priest River and Priest Lake area of northern Idaho's panhandle in the late 1880s. Some came to build homes, farms, and businesses in an area where none had existed before. Others were more interested in trapping and prospecting; they sought to lead solitary and eccentric lives away from civilization. Most settlers learned quickly that harvesting the vast timber wealth of the heavily forested mountains was the best way to earn a livelihood. For almost 50 years, millions of logs and cedar poles were sent down the tumultuous Priest River to its confluence with the larger Pend Oreille. This was believed to be the second-to-last log drive to end in the lower 48 states. Construction of the Great Northern Railroad in 1892 spurred both industry and settlement, opening the way for sawmills downstream to service their markets until modern roads and trucking came into existence.

Latah County

9780738531335

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Its name derived from the Nez Perce language, Latah County is the only county in the United States to have been created by an Act of Congress. The abundance of its natural resources--from blue fields of camas to deep veins of gold, from great stands of white pine trees to vast green grasslands--attracted a diversity of dreamers seeking only the opportunity to build their own futures. Nestled in the heart of the Palouse, an agricultural area of extraordinary production, Latah County is a land of timber and, at Potlatch, was once the site of one of the largest sawmills in the world. At Moscow, it is also the home of the state's land-grant institution, the University of Idaho. From the forests of Troy and the ridges of Juliaetta and Kendrick, from the homesteads of Genesee to Bovill's hunting lodge and Deary's town site, Latah County has had a rich and varied history.

Meridian

9780738580128

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Eight miles west of Idaho's capital city, Boise, the first settlers in what became Meridian found only arid land, sagebrush, and jackrabbits. The lone tree in the area was another 8 miles west in what became Nampa. Originally called Hunter, after a railroad superintendent, Meridian was initially a railway postal drop where workers tossed and hooked mailbags as the train passed through before the arrival of passenger service. By 1893, residents called the village Meridian, after the north-south prime meridian running through Meridian Road. In 1903, the village incorporated but still had a population of only a few hundred with grocery and harness shops and more churches than saloons. Village merchants and residents experienced orchard and dairy/creamery eras that ended in, respectively, the 1940s and 1970. Meridian became a city in the 1940s but 50 years later had a population of only 10,000. That number quadrupled over the next decade and today has nearly doubled again to around 80,000, as Meridian has evolved into the transportation and commercial hub of the Treasure Valley, especially in electronics and health care.

Moscow:

9780738524252

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Centered in the glorious Palouse, a richly fertile area, the small Idaho town of Moscow was once home to the Nez Perce, who introduced the famous spotted Appaloosa horses. The intimate Moscow feel inspired by current residents has persisted since the original homesteaders settled here, a place they called "Paradise Valley." Resisting the anonymity of many rural agricultural towns, Moscow proudly claims an educational, civic, commercial, and cultural reputation far beyond a town of its size, a monument to the people who elevated the community.

Nampa

9781467132121

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Nampa began as a railroad siding on the Idaho Central Railway in 1885. There was no town then, only a water tower and a few shacks. In 1886, however, Alexander Duffes incorporated the town of Nampa. A year later, the Boise & Idaho Railway was completed, and the town grew from 15 to 50 houses. By 1904, cultivated land reached 40,000 acres. The Deer Flat Reservoir, finished in 1909, irrigated 150,000 acres, and farms, livestock, and fruit orchards flourished across the desert. Canning and evaporating facilities were built to process local crops, and an iron foundry, lumber yards, and other industries helped the town grow to 1,500 people. Three railroads met in Nampa to transport local goods to the markets of the world. Today, Nampa is Idaho's second-largest city.

Lemhi County

9780738531267

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Situated at the base of the Continental Divide and surrounded by the Lemhi and Salmon River Ranges, Lemhi County, Idaho, provides a fascinating look at the "Old West" as it makes its precarious transition to a new order. Traditional homeland to the people of Sacajawea, Lemhi County became a destination point for Lewis and Clark as they worked their way across the continent, for trappers, for missionaries, and finally, in 1866, for prospectors and those who kept them fed, clothed, and entertained. The community that developed in the valleys of the Salmon, Lemhi, and Pahsimeroi Rivers benefited from long-term mining and the simultaneous evolution of ranching and the timber industry, and this growth was well documented by local photographers.

Historic Firsts of Lewiston, Idaho

9781609499129

$14.99 $10.49 Save 30%

When a group of intrepid gold prospectors set up camp at the fork of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers in 1861, they expected to make camp for a night and move on. Instead, they made a town. It was an important--if unintended--accomplishment. And it was only the beginning of a long line of historic firsts for Lewiston, including the first capital, police department, newspaper and post office. Lewiston also boasted the state's first brewery and first vigilante association, both founded in the same year, appropriately enough. Join local historian and lifelong educator Steven D. Branting as he offers the first-ever chronology of unprecedented events, accolades and incidents that shaped Lewiston and Idaho from the city's founding to the present day.

Hidden History of Lewiston, Idaho

9781626193543

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

There's more to Lewiston's history than first meets the eye, and local author and historian Steven D. Branting has the stories to prove it. Branting offers a revealing look into the aspects of Lewiston's past that other, more conventional, histories may have overlooked. From the humorous to the harrowing and everything in between, this collection unveils the lesser-known events that have subtly influenced Lewiston throughout the city's history. Whether it's the tale of young May Pierstorff, sent by her parents to Lewiston through the mail to visit relatives in 1914, or Ken Mansfield, the Lewiston high school graduate who helped the Beatles establish their own record label, this diverse collection of tales sheds new light on Lewiston..

Forgotten Tales of Idaho

9781626197084

$17.99 $12.59 Save 30%

Idaho was the forty-third state admitted to the Union, but it just might lead the nation in strange stories and offbeat legends. Author and Idaho resident Andy Weeks fills this collection of tales with stories ranging from compelling and heartfelt to outlandish and bizarre. Discover the boxcar that carried the alleged body of John Wilkes Booth through Idaho. Uncover the identity of Lady Bluebeard, the unassuming Twin Falls housewife who allegedly murdered four husbands. Find out how cars ended up at the bottom of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Learn the grisly story of Gobo Fango, a black Mormon sheepherder whose late 1800s bloody dispute with a cattleman on the open range proved fatal. These tales and many others bring to light Idaho's unruly past in fascinating detail.

Frontier History Along Idaho's Clearwater River

9781626197091

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

The Clearwater River runs deep through northern Idaho's history. The Nez Perce tribe made its home along the river. Lewis and Clark's journey west took them through the Clearwater. In fact, the Nez Perce made the expedition's voyage from the Clearwater River to the Pacific Ocean possible by teaching them how to make dugout canoes from ponderosa pine logs. Fur traders like John Jacob Astor and William Ashley financed the first American commercial activity on the river, bringing trappers to the area and paving the way for the Oregon Trail. Later came the first gold rush, the Nez Perce war, statehood, homesteaders and the beginning of the logging industry. Join author John Bradbury as he recounts a time when native tribes, explorers, trappers, preachers, miners and lumberjacks made a life along the Clearwater, establishing the area for future generations.

Lost Lewiston, Idaho

9781626196179

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Lewiston has a proud heritage of historic preservation. Yet, as with other communities, it has neglected and thrown away once-treasured landmarks and precious memories with the passage of time. Some legacies were crafted with brick and mortar, others with flesh and blood. Nothing is permanent unless we make it so. Join award-winning historian Steven D. Branting as he takes a focused look at some of Lewiston's bygone edifices and the ambitious civic leaders and craftsmen who fashioned them. Reconnect with the city's scholars, its pious, its dreamers and one desperate teenager. They all made Lewiston what it once was, bequeathed their present to be our past and have sadly faded from our view.

The Harrison Area

9780738574486

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Harrison dates to 1891, during the exciting days of the Northwest's expansion. The area's forests were full of old growth pine, fir, and cedar. Lakes and rivers provided transportation. Logging camps, sawmills, homesteads, and towns were springing up. Harrison was such a town, growing from a squatter homestead to a bustling city of 2,000 with stores, hotels, saloons, and churches in 12 short years. Mills lined the waterfront vying for space with the railroad and steamship docks. The boom did not last, but its legacy is a small, proud, picturesque city on the shore of beautiful Lake Coeur d'Alene.