Gold Camps and Silver Cities by
Idaho's gold excitement began in 1860 and for many it has never ended. Boom or bust -- adventurous miners scrambled by the hundreds to promising diggings in central and southern Idaho. Today, the names of the old camps stir memories of a great heyday in Idaho's gold and silver rushes ... Silver City ... Wood River and Ketchum ... Pierce ... Boise Basin ... Thunder Mountain. Through more than 100 rare nineteenth-century photographs and dozens of contemporary accounts, Wells brings this exciting period back to life.
The Good Times Are All Gone Now by
Julie Whitesel Weston left her hometown of Kellogg, Idaho, but eventually it pulled her back. Only when she returned to this mining community in the Idaho Panhandle did she begin to see the paradoxes of the place where she grew up. Her book combines oral history, journalistic investigation, and personal reminiscence to take a fond but hard look at life in Kellogg during "the good times."
Kellogg in the late 1940s and fifties was a typical American small town complete with high school football and basketball teams, marching band, and anti-Communist ♣ yet its bars, gambling dens, and brothels were entrenched holdovers from a rowdier frontier past. The Bunker Hill Mining Company, the largest employer, paid miners good wages for difficult, dangerous work, while the quest for lead, silver, and zinc denuded the mountainsides and laced the soil and water with contaminants.
Weston researched the late-nineteenth-century founding of Kellogg and her family's five generations in Idaho. She interviewed friends she grew up with, their parents, and her own parents' friends--miners mostly, but also businesspeople, housewives, and professionals. Much of this memoir of place set during the Cold War and post-McCarthyism is told through their voices. But Weston also considers how certain people made a difference in her life, especially her band director, her ski coach, and an attorney she worked for during a major strike. She also explores her charged relationship with her father, a hardworking doctor revered in the community for his dedication but feared at home for his drinking and rages.
The Good Times Are All Gone Now begins the day the smokestacks came down, and it reaches far back into collective and personal memory to understand a way of life now gone. The company town Weston knew is a different place, where "Uncle Bunker" is a Superfund site, and where the townspeople, as in previous hard times, have endured to reinvent Kellogg--not once, but twice.
Hanged by
Hanged explores the history behind each legal hanging in Idaho.
History of Idaho by
Written in honor of the Idaho Centennial, this study presents a contemporary view of one of the country's least populated states containing some of the country's most exceptional natural wonders.
Idaho's Historic Trails by
Helps you retrace the paths of the natives, explorers, soldiers and settlers who wrote the early chapters in the story of Idaho settlement.
Idaho 100: Stories from Idaho Century Citizens by 
Idaho 100: the people who most influenced the Gem State by
How did Idaho get this way? There's no one reason, and historical trends have swept across Idaho like everywhere else, but the details easily might have been different. This book is about 100 people who, for better or worse, made Idaho much of what it is today. In Idaho 100, Martin Peterson and Randy Stapilus, who between them have been studying Idaho history for close to a century, unearth the sometimes famous, sometimes infamous and often obscure people who most transformed Idaho, in ways large and small, to create what many people now take for granted.
Idaho: The Heroic Journey by
Throughout its history, Idaho has been a significant crossroads in the development of the American West. To pioneers on the Oregon Trail, the region was a desolate and dangerous place, to be passed through as quickly as possible. What was once a forbidding land is now cherished by outdoor sports and nature enthusiasts for its beautiful mountains and plains, deserts and forests. One of the fastest-growing states in the nation, Idaho has become a destination for entrepreneurs, a center for the new high-tech economy, and a spectacular place in which to live. Idaho: The Heroic Journey is a tale of remarkable changes and enduring values. In this concise, lively survey, three leading professors of Idaho history tell the remarkable story of the struggles and triumphs of Idaho s pioneers, past and present. Thousands of years ago, native cultures thrived here, creating a bond with the land that remains strong to this day. Settlers of the 1800s dug for gold in the mountains and planted commercial crops in the valleys and on the prairies. Large-scale federal projects of the 20th century, from irrigated farms to nuclear research, provided opportunities to thousands more newcomers. Deeply divided by landscape north to south, Idahoans struggled to maintain a unified state that could offer great promise to a diverse range of cultures and interests. Idaho, a state parceled from many, as author and native son Vardis Fisher observed, is a place of opportunity for all those who dare to dream.
Idaho wilderness considered by
"This is a different kind of field guide, providing something more than a map and pictures of Idaho's vast wilderness areas. It explores how and why those areas matter to the very character of the state. Idaho Wilderness Considered charts the conversations, political negotiations, and personal journeys that have influenced--and been influenced by--Idaho's wild places."
Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Internee Road Workers at the World War II Kooskia Internment Camp by
Exposes the US' little-known WWII rendition of Japanese Latin Americans, including men kidnapped from their homes in Peru, Panama and Mexico and interned at the Kooskia Camp.
In Mountain Shadows: A History of Idaho by
Idaho is now seen as one of the most intriguing and attractive states in the Union. Any view of the Gem State is likely to be broadened and deepened by this superbly written history of it, In Mountain Shadows . Carlos A. Schwantes illustrates the extent to which Idahoans have always been divided by geography, transportation patterns, religion, and history. Although the state motto should have been "Divided We Stand," as he says in affectionate jest, it is also true that Idahoans come together on some basics--on avoiding crowds and maintaining the good life close to scenic mountains and streams.
Schwantes reaches back to 1805, when Lewis and Clark were among the first white men to enter present-day Idaho. He describes the Indians then living in the Great Basin and Plateau, and proceeds through layers of history to show how fur traders, missionaries, and overland emigrants defined the land that became a territory in 1863 and, finally, a state in 1890. The vigilantism, Indian wars, mining booms and busts, and an-imosity toward Mormons and Chinese immigrants that marked the territorial years gave way to more troubles in the early years of statehood: an economic downturn, industrial violence, political protest. The arrival of automobiles promised to end isolation, but the formidable terrain slowed the building of north-south highways, just as it had railroads. Nevertheless, future Idaho would be a product of engineering and witness the coming of irrigation systems and hydroelectric plants. Schwantes brings his history through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, noting everyday life, colorful personalities, political and economic cycles, raging controversies, and current trends.
Mining Idaho's history : metal mining in Idaho 1860-1960 : a mining context for Idaho by
This report has been prepared in order to help cultural resource specialists and other interested people identify, evaluate, and manage Idaho's historic precious- and base-metal mining properties dating from 1860 to 1960"-
Outlaw Tales of Idaho: true stories of the Gem State's most infamous crooks, culprits and cutthroats by
Massacres, mayhem, and mischief fill the pages of Outlaw Tales of Idaho. Ride with horse thieves and cattle rustlers, stagecoach, and train robbers. Duck the bullets of murderers, plot strategies with con artists, hiss at lawmen turned outlaws. A refreshing new perspective on some of the Rocky Mountain's most infamous reprobates.
Roadside History of Idaho by
You'll feel like you've got a native guide at hand as this book transports you to Idaho's historic sites through well-researched, well-told stories and vivid historical photographs.
So Incredibly Idaho! by
Idaho, unknown to most and loved by those who have experienced it, comes alive in this innovative work. This title reveals the many aspects of Idaho's varied landscapes. It describes the hidden forces and unseen historical events that have been impacted by the landscapes of this western state.
Hailey by
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.
Idaho Falls by
McKeown describes the first serious nuclear accident in the US. He compiled this book from official records and histories, enriched with interviews of survivors or relatives of people involved. In this accident, the SL-1 test reactor, a military prototype operated by a civilian contractor for the US army in the Idaho desert, went critical and exploded on January 3, 1962. McKeown highlights the human side of the reactor operation, speculating that cutting corners in the construction phase and mismanagement of the operating staff led to the catastrophic events that left three young reactor operators dead and many participants in the rescue and salvage operation exposed to high radiation doses. Besides providing a good historical account, McKeown shows that we need to place strong emphasis on properly managing human resources in potentially dangerous facilities, since human failure has been the cause of most nuclear accidents.
Jerome by
On June 30, 1907, Robert McCollum, Jerome Kuhn, and two other men rode in a horse-drawn wagon up the Blue Lakes Grade from Ira B. Perrine's Snake River Canyon ranch. Looking for the ideal spot to form a new town, they traveled 10 miles northwest through the sagebrush desert of Southern Idaho. By nightfall, they stopped to camp. The next morning, they awoke to a beautiful mountain vista and decided they had found the perfect spot for a town. Their campsite became the crossroads of West to East Main Streets and North to South Lincoln Streets--the exact center of Jerome, Idaho. From that humble beginning, Jerome has grown to 10,000 people with many sustained businesses and enterprises begun by new pioneers.
In Nez Perce County by
Rare collection of early firsthand accounts of the Nez Perce Tribe collected from archives all over N America
Owyhee County by
The sprawling high desert wilderness of southwestern Idaho was virtually unknown to whites in 1863, when Mike Jordan and a band of placer miners dipped their pans into the creek that bears his name and found gold. The electrifying news spread, and the people came. Towns sprang up overnight on the mountaintops. Some disappeared almost as quickly as they had appeared. "Men needed to work the mines!" cried Idaho's newspapers. The word went out, and the miners came from Nevada, California, Colorado, and across the West. Soon the great mines of War Eagle Mountain rivaled Nevada's fabled Comstock Lode. With the exception of Silver City, one of America's largest intact ghost towns, the boomtowns, as well as the mines, are gone; however, descendants of the miners remain. Owyhee County is the size of Delaware and Connecticut combined--7,679 square miles--with a population of only 11,500. It is a rarely visited land of few roads and fewer people, sagebrush desert, deep basalt canyons, romantic vistas, and mysterious mountains that still hide their gold and silver.
The Railroad at Pocatello by
Pocatello was founded as a station on the narrow-gauge Utah and Northern Railway in 1878, and it has been a railroad town ever since. Passenger and freight trains arrived and departed in all four directions of the compass, 24 hours a day. The Union Pacific also built extensive shops at Pocatello, where railroad equipment was serviced, maintained, and repaired. In addition, refrigerator cars were iced from a large icehouse, and railroad ties were treated with preservative at a tie plant. The advent of the automobile, improved roads, new technologies, and the introduction of the diesel-electric locomotives all combined to change the railroad industry, affecting Pocatello in many ways. Passenger trains were discontinued, the steam-locomotive-servicing facilities were closed, and shop buildings were torn down. However, the railroad in Pocatello remains a vital part of the local scene today, with freight trains continuing to run through the city day and night.
From Jennies to Jets : A history of aviation in the Pocatello area by 
A Forest of Wormwood: Sagebrush, Water and Idaho's Twin Falls Canal Company by
In 1905 a handful of young men with big dreams and determination built the largest privately financed irrigation project in the country in southern Idaho. This is the story of the formation of the Twin Falls Canal Company.
In the Middle and on the Edge: The Twin Falls Region of Idaho by
Those who discover history have learned to recognize and appreciate the events, the trends, and the experiences that unite us, wherever and whenever we live. All history, it might be said, is local history. That’s what makes a book like "In the Middle and on the Edge: The Twin Falls Region of Idaho" a great find.
Dr. Jim Gentry, who has taught history at the College of Southern Idaho for parts of the last four decades, recognized the opportunity he had to tell the story of this fascinating part of the United States. The history of Twin Falls as a city goes back only 100 years. In fact, the Twin Falls Centennial Commission helped underwrite the publishing of the book for the city’s 100th birthday in 2004. But Jim’s story begins thousands, even millions, of years before that when geologic upheavals put the region in the middle and on the edge long before man set foot here. Later, native people and early white explorers began to make their marks on the local landscape. “In the Middle and on the Edge” creatively weaves together the stories of how these ancient and recent forces created the Twin Falls region of Idaho.
But you don’t have to live in or be from southern Idaho to savor the many stories you'll find in Dr. Gentry’s book. What you will read about our pioneers, our growing pains and political trends, and how we carved and wrested a home out of the high, rugged desert of Idaho will prove once again that we have much in common regardless of where we live. History is a shared experience.
The College of Southern Idaho and the Twin Falls Centennial Commission are proud to be a part of this great book. We are confident that it will be valuable not only for area historical reference and education but also for personal enjoyment and enrichment.
Shoshone Falls: The Magnificent Spectacle by 
Twin Falls by
Images of America: Twin Falls tells the story of the transformation of a sagebrush plain into productive farmland at the beginning of the 20th century. Engineers and investors found a way to capture the water of the Snake River for extensive irrigation and completed Milner Dam and the related canal system in 1905. The success of the Twin Falls South Side Irrigation Tract was associated with other reclamation projects in the region, resulting in the permanent settlement of south-central Idaho. New residents built modern schools, fine homes, and imposing business blocks. Prosperous farms and orchards dotted the landscape. Twin Falls became a wholesale center for storing, processing, and shipping agricultural commodities in the United States and abroad.
Complexity in a Ditch by
Water--or the lack of it--has profoundly shaped the arid American West. On Idaho's Snake River Plain, the irrigation process has been particularly complex, influenced by local and national politics as well as geography and technology. Hugh T. Lovin's insightful articles, previously published in a wide array of scholarly journals, offer a thorough examination of the transformation and controversy that surrounds delivering water to the region¿s desert. Idaho historian Adam Sowards' valuable introduction sets Lovin's work in context and concludes, "No one knows irrigation better than Hugh Lovin, and the essays included here are gems of historical research."
Ghosts of Idaho's Magic Valley by
Barking dogs, silent birds and a malodorous stench foretell encounters with the ghostly apparitions and strange creatures that stalk Magic Valley. Are these just fanciful notions and figments of the imagination? Not according to eyewitnesses who swear things really do go bump in the night in south central Idaho. Read about the Stricker Ranch caretaker awakened by the phantom of a pioneer woman, the piercing red eyes that frightened visitors at Albion's normal school campus, the couple whose property is haunted by ancient spirits and the woman and her grandson who encountered Bigfoot's foul stench in a local wilderness. Turn on the lights, get cozy and read on as author Andy Weeks investigates the phenomena and local lore of Idaho's Magic Valley.
Hidden History of the Magic Valley by
Surprising tales of turmoil and triumph in Southern Idaho. This collection of previously published Hidden History columns by reporter Mychel Matthews is sure to delight residents and history buffs alike.
Magic Valley Memories: The Early Years by
The TimesNews is proud to partner with the Cassia County Historical Museum, Twin Falls County Historical Museum, The Minidoka County Historical Society and the Magic Valley community on a new hardcover pictorial history book, "Magic Valley Memories: The Early Years."
This heirloomquality coffeetable book offers a glimpse of Magic Valley from the early years to 1939 through stunning and historic photos.
Magic Valley Memories Vol. 2: The 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s by
This heirloom-quality coffee-table book offers a glimpse of Magic Valley from 1940-1969 with a brief reprise of the early years through stunning and historic photos. In addition, we are thrilled to include photographic memories of years gone by from our readers.
Wildflower Girl by
"Born to love the richness and magic of the wilds, Dana Stewart Quinney grew up in Ketchum, Idaho during the 1950s. She rode horses and fished. She knew the names of flowers and trees, and the habits of animals that lived nearby. She knew what forces built the landscape she saw from her bedroom window. A beautiful and fascinating story..."