IDAHO , sandwiched in between Washington, Oregon and Montana, was the last of the states to
be penetrated by whites, and rivals Alaska in the sheer scale of its barely
explored wilderness areas. Though much of its scenery amply deserves
national park status, its citizens have long been suspicious
of encroachment by federal government and tourism alike, and
only now is its potential for adventurous travel being appreciated.
With a marked absence of
urban centers (the pleasant state capital Boise , in the south, being the only
real exception), Idaho is very much a destination for the outdoors
enthusiast. Natural wonders in its five-hundred-mile stretch
include Hell's Canyon , America's deepest river gorge, the dramatic
Sawtooth
National Recreation Area
and the black, barren Craters of the Moon . Beyond these, hikers
and backpackers have the choice of no fewer than 81 mountain
ranges, interspersed with virgin forest and lava plateau, while
the mighty Snake and Salmon rivers offer endless scope for fishing
and whitewater rafting .
In 1805, Lewis and Clark
declared central Idaho's bewildering labyrinth of razor-edge
peaks and wild waterways to be the most difficult leg of their
mammoth journey from St Louis to the Pacific. Only their Shoshone
guides enabled them to get through; to this day, there is no
east-west road across the heart of the state. Reports of game
animals tripping over each other in their profusion attracted
the usual legions of itinerant trappers, but the Gold Rush of
the 1860s and white pressure for land hastened the violent end
of traditional life: four hundred Shoshone men, women and children
were killed along the Bear River in 1863, the Nez Percé
were driven out, and by the end of the 1870s the "Indian
problem" had been eradicated. The name "Idaho,"
incidentally, was invented by a mining lobbyist, who felt it
sounded Indian; it was originally proposed for what is now Colorado.
The central wilderness
still divides the state into two distinct halves. The heavily
forested north , interspersed with glacial lakes now fronted
by resorts like Sandpoint and Coeur
d'Alene , has always
had strong trading links with Spokane in Washington; in the south , irrigation programs
begun in the 1880s - partly instigated by Mormons - have transformed
the scrubland to either side of the Snake River into the fertile
fields responsible for the state's license-plate tag of "Famous
Potatoes."
THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA