Idaho has created a statewide system of nearly two dozen parks. In addition, there are several national parks and national forests, and part of Yellowstone National Park is in Idaho. Craters of the Moon National Monument contains some of the rarest geologic formations in the United States. The U.S. Forest Service maintains many campgrounds throughout the state.

Hunting, fishing, golf, and skiing all enjoy great popularity in Idaho. In terms of spectator sports, the state’s principal universities draw most of the attention: Idaho State University is a member of the Big Sky Conference, and Boise State University and the University of Idaho (alma mater of Green Bay Packers lineman Jerry Kramer) participate in the Western Athletic Conference. Boise State’s football team, with its signature blue turf, is frequently a powerhouse. Since the 1970s Idaho Falls and Boise have had minor league baseball franchises. Among the best-known athletes produced by Idaho are Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and Picabo Street, Olympic silver medalist (1994) in downhill skiing.

Media and publishing

Daily newspapers include the Idaho Statesman (Boise), Coeur d’Alene Press, Post Register (Idaho Falls), Lewiston Morning Tribune, Twin Falls Times-News, and Idaho State Journal (Pocatello). Several literary publishing houses also operate within the state. There are a variety of network television and radio stations across the state.

Early history and settlement

Before the 1840s, when the buffalo herds disappeared and the wagon trains of settlers who were bound for California began to arrive, Native Americans had lived in the Idaho region for at least 10,000 years. In the north were the Kutenai, the Kalispel (a Salish-speaking group), the Coeur d’Alene, and the Nez Percé. Northern Paiute lived in the west-central region, while the western Shoshone and the northern Shoshone occupied most of the southern lands. These peoples generally organized themselves into groups of extended families and friends. Because they relied upon hunting, gathering, and fishing for their subsistence, some groups traveled extensively. Others, particularly those living on major rivers, built substantial settlements that took advantage of annual runs of salmon and other fish. Many tribal members still live in the state.

When the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached Idaho in 1805, about 8,000 Native Americans lived in the region. A trading post was erected at Lake Pend Oreille in the north in 1809, and fur traders were followed by missionaries. Gold seekers by the thousands poured through the area on their way to California in 1848, but many returned eastward after gold was discovered in northern Idaho in 1860. The settlers who followed wanted land and political stability, which had hitherto been uncertain, and slowly agriculture acquired economic dominance.

Territorial period

Idaho originally was in Oregon country, which was claimed first by Spain and then by Russia, Great Britain, and the United States; after the latter two had settled on the 49th parallel as the northern U.S. border, the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. It included the present state of Idaho, as well as what are now Oregon, Washington, and part of Montana. From 1853 to 1859 Idaho was divided between the Oregon and Washington territories. It then was part of Washington until it was organized separately as the Idaho Territory in 1863.

From a population of fewer than 17,000 in 1863, the territory expanded to nearly 90,000 at the time of statehood in 1890. Many new arrivals were Confederate refugees who, in the years following the American Civil War, often dominated the legislature and opposed the Republican governors who were appointed by the federal government. Political strife and vigilante committees were elements of frontier life during the territorial decades. Many events and trends coloured the state’s early political and social life: religious conflicts between the polygamous Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and other sects; a strong sectionalism that divided various regions of the territory; a pioneer democracy that emphasized the rights and achievements of the individual; the completion of railroads, which fostered economic and population growth; the beginning of lead and silver mining in the mountains; and the creation of the University of Idaho in 1889 by the last territorial legislature that was convened prior to statehood.

Statehood and beyond

Labour protests that often erupted into violence were features of the 1890s era in Idaho. Through his unsuccessful prosecution in 1907 of William D. Haywood, an organizer of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Sen. William E. Borah became Idaho’s major national figure until his death in 1940.

During the 20th century Idaho was engaged in developing its agriculture, forestry, and industry, while maintaining the more satisfying aspects of modern life at the doorstep of a natural wilderness. That wilderness attracted many adherents of the countercultural back-to-the-land movement in the 1960s and ’70s. In the following decade, that movement was succeeded by an influx of survivalists and members of extreme right-wing groups and other organizations attracted by the state’s remoteness and its libertarian attitude. Idaho is now broadly perceived as strongly conservative but inhospitable to extremist elements.

Idaho’s population grew markedly in the last decades of the 20th century with the arrival of more than 100,000 newcomers, mostly from California and the Pacific Northwest. The population continued to grow in the early 21st century, particularly in the areas of Boise and Coeur d’Alene.