Idaho

Idaho joined the Union as the forty-third state on July 3, 1890. Situated in the northwestern United States, Idaho is the smallest of the eight Rocky Mountain states and thirteenth in size among the fifty states. It is bordered by Canada, Montana , Wyoming , Utah , Nevada , Oregon , and Washington .

Several Native American tribes lived in the region of Idaho when fur trappers and missionaries arrived in the early 1800s. The Oregon Trail opened in 1842, and pioneers used it for twenty years to pass through Idaho on their way to other points west. In 1860, gold was discovered in northern Idaho, and a gold rush ensued, lasting several years. (See California Gold Rush .) This led directly to the organizing of the Idaho Territory on July 10, 1863.

Between 1870 and 1880, Idaho's population nearly doubled. This white settlement threatened the Native American way of life and set off a series of wars in the late 1870s. The Nez Perce War is the most famous of the battles.

Idaho enjoyed an economic boom beginning in 1906 due to the completion of the country's biggest sawmill in Potlatch. With construction of this sawmill came the birth of the modern timber industry. By World War I (1914–18), agriculture was the state's leading enterprise.

As the twenty-first century progressed, Idaho experienced population expansion and the push for economic development. Both factors were in direct conflict with a new interest in the environment, and Idaho's leaders found themselves at odds regarding land use, mineral development, and water supply.

In 2006. Idaho was home to nearly 1.5 million people, 91.8 percent of them white. Boise, the capital, was the most heavily populated by far. The Nez Perce live in the northern region of the state on reservation land. The primary religion of Idaho is Mormon, and the Mormon population is second only to that in Utah. (See Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .)

Idaho is not a wealthy state. In 2004, the average personal income was just under $27,000, far below the national average of $33,050. Many of the state's workers are employed in agriculture. Idaho's most famous crop is the russet potato, but it also grows sugar beets, barley, and hops.