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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KIDO

$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%

Idaho State Parks

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Meridian

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Pocatello in Print

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Minidoka National Historic Site

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Old Idaho Penitentiary

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Nampa

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Lemhi County

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The Harrison Area

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

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KIDO

9780738595115

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The origins of KIDO date back to 1920 and the experimental radio station 7YA at Boise High School. In 1922, chemistry teacher Harry Redeker was granted a limited-commercial license and the call letters KFAU. Redeker left the school in 1927, and in 1928, the Boise Independent School District sold KFAU to Frank L. Hill and C.G. Phillips, who changed the station's call letters to KIDO. Over the next 30 years, "Kiddo" Phillips and his wife, Georgia, achieved many "firsts" in Idaho broadcasting, including securing NBC as the state's first network affiliation. In 1942, Curt G. Phillips suddenly passed away. Georgia remarried and became Georgia Davidson, going on to build KIDO-FM and KIDO-TV, which were both among the first in the state. In 1959, she sold KIDO Radio to William E. Boeing Jr. of Seattle, who owned KIDO for the next 17 years. It is this period of KIDO's rich history, from 1920 to 1976, that this book will cover.

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

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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.

Idaho State Parks

9781467126168

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Idaho's state parks have been called the "jewels" of the Gem State. The story of how those jewels came to be involves political intrigue, much resistance, some philanthropy, and a touch of irony. Sen. Weldon B. Heyburn famously said that state parks were "always a political embarrassment." Idaho's first state park was named after him. Today, Idaho's 30 state parks host five million people a year. Visitors come to boat, camp, bike, climb, hike, fish, and make memories in the great outdoors. This book tells the story of Idaho's diverse state parks--from Priest Lake in Idaho's panhandle to Bear Lake in the southeast corner of the state--through a wealth of historical photographs. A variety of parks are featured, including ones that were lost, found, or never came to fruition.

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.

Pocatello in Print

9781467128926

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Nestled in the Portneuf Gap where the Snake River Plain meets the Rocky Mountains, Pocatello is a regional economic, transportation, and education hub in Southeast Idaho. The Idaho State Journal and its predecessor, the Pocatello Tribune, have been covering events and capturing the spirit of the people in and around Pocatello since 1890. Pocatello in Print: From the Archives of the Idaho State Journal displays photographs that illustrate and celebrate over a century of Pocatello history.

Minidoka National Historic Site

9781467129404

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

In the vast sagebrush desert of Southern Idaho, Minidoka War Relocation Center had a short-lived and painful existence. The wartime operation incarcerated over 13,000 American citizens and legal resident aliens of Japanese ancestry from August 1942 to October 1945. They were forcibly removed from their homes along the West Coast--primarily from Washington, Oregon, and Alaska--as a result of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Their only crime was looking like the enemy. For three years, the men, women, and children endured uncertainty, created community, and demonstrated resilience, creativity, and patriotism. Today, Minidoka National Historic Site protects the legacy of the incarceration history and its important lessons in civil liberties.

Old Idaho Penitentiary

9781467131674

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Between 1872 and 1973, the Idaho State Penitentiary housed over 13,000 inmates. Some of Idaho's most corrupt and cunning criminals resided behind these Boise sandstone walls. Constructed in large part by inmate labor, the "Old Idaho Penitentiary" stands as a reminder of Idaho's Wild West past. Horse thieves, moonshiners, bank robbers, and assassins alike all called this penitentiary home. Owned and operated by the Idaho State Historical Society, the Old Idaho Penitentiary is one of only four territorial prisons open to the public in the United States.

Nampa

9781467132121

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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.

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.