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1900 Idaho population: 161,772; New York Canal completed; Democrats, Silver Republicans and Populists arrange party fusion for 1900 election; Idaho State Dairymen's Association organized; Idaho Falls incorporated; Nez Perce Indians celebrate 4th of July in conjunction with camas harvest. |
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MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: pages 132-133 |
1901 The Free Traveling Library (now known as the Idaho State Library) established; The Academy of Idaho (now Idaho State University) opens in Pocatello. |
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| . | 1902 After concluding that Diamondfield Jack Davis had been convicted by mistake, in a case growing out of the most notable incident of the Idaho sheep and cattle wars, the State Board of Pardons turned him loose; National Reclamation Act passed, provides for federal aid for irrigation; Pocatello Land Rush. |
MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: page 116 |
MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 8 & Chapter 23 |
1903 Idaho's hunting and fishing licensing system began; The Idaho Industrial Training School founded at St. Anthony as a reform school for children; First Carey Act land opening at Shoshone; Miller Dam on Snake River opens Twin Falls area to irrigated farming; President Theodore Roosevelt plants maple tree on capitol grounds. |
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| 1904 Completion of Milner Dam brings irrigation to the south side of the Snake River; City of Twin Falls platted; Chief Joseph dies September 21. |
MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 8 & Chapter 23 |
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MORE INFORMATION: * Forestry |
1905 Construction of a new capitol building in Boise authorized at a cost of $1,000,000; Insane asylum established at Orofino; The first train arrives at Twin Falls August 7; Sawtooth National Forest created; Former Governor Frank Steunenberg assassinated December 30. |
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1906 Steunenberg assassin Harry Orchard implicates three leaders of the Western Federation of Miners in the plot; The largest sawmill in the United States begins operation at Potlatch; Pioneer; Monument at capitol grounds erected; "Steward Decree" adjudicates water rights along the Boise River. |
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1907 William E. Borah elected to the U.S. Senate, where he gains an international reputation during thirty-three years of service; William D. Haywood is found not guilty of conspiracy and the assassination of Frank Steunenberg, at the end of an internationally celebrated trial, Harry Orchard sentenced to life in prison for the assassination; Idaho State Flag adopted; Idaho Historical Society founded; Bonner and Twin Falls County created; Weiser baseball player Walter "Big Train" Johnson signs with the Washington Senators. |
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| . | 1908 The Idaho revised code published; Under President Roosevelt's forest reserve policy, one-half of the state is organized into National Forest reserves; Lake Lowell completed; Idaho adopts direct primary and local option over regulation of liquor; Minidoka Dam completed; State Parks established at Heyburn, Shoshone Falls, and Payette Lake; Allotment of Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation; Provisions for rural high school districts established. |
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1910 Idaho population: 325,594; Devastating forest fire consumes 1/6 of north Idaho's forests, destroying many communities, Elk CIty is saved by its women and children; State banking and highway district laws enacted; Buckeye tree planted on the capitol grounds by President William Howard Taft October 9; Search and seizure law enacted for enforcing liquor laws; Idaho State Sanitarium (now known as the Idaho State School and Hospital) located at Nampa; Adams, Bonneville, Clearwater and Lewis counties created; Revised revenue laws enacted, providing a new system of assessment, equalization, levy and collection of taxes; Constitutional amendments adopted authorizing initiative, referendum, and recall. State Board of Education established to supervise all levels of education within the state of Idaho. |
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| . | 1913 Public Utilities Commission established; Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa founded; First motor vehicle laws enacted by the legislature; Comprehensive system of revenue for state, county, municipal and school purposes enacted; School for the Deaf and Blind opens in Gooding; Franklin, Gooding, Jefferson, Madison, Minidoka and Power counties created. |
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1914 Moses Alexander elected first Jewish governor in United States. |
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1915 Arrowrock Dam completed; Columbia and Snake River improvements for navigation to Lewiston completed; Second Idaho Regiment of Infantry Volunteers organized into service at the call of President Woodrow Wilson for the Mexican Border War; Idaho Horse and Cattle Association organized, later to become the Idaho Cattlemen's Association; Benewah, Boundary, Gem and Teton counties created. |
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| . | 1916 Constitutional amendment for statewide prohibition ratified; State highway program begins as part of the national good roads movement. |
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| . | 1917 Battleship Idaho launched; Statewide prohibition goes into effect January 1; Workmen's Compensation System and State Insurance Fund established; Annual state fair established at Boise; Ricks Academy becomes a college and is accredited by the State Board of Education; Butte, Camas, Payette and Valley counties created. |
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| . | 1918 Non-Partisan League takes over Idaho Democratic primary September 3, subsequently Idaho's primary nominating system is abandoned for twelve years. |
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| 1919 Administrative consolidation enacted by legislature; Functions of fifty-one departments, boards and bureaus placed under nine administrative departments responsible to the governor; Bureau of Highways created to inaugurate a state highway system; Bureau of Constabulary organized May 18, with Department of Law Enforcement; First Music Week held in Boise; Lava Hot Springs established by Department of Public Welfare; City of Jerome incorporated; Jerome, Clark, and Caribou counties created. |
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1920 Idaho population: 431,866; Agricultural prices begin to deteriorate, creating a crisis which continues through the 1920's; White Bird Hill grade, connecting north and south Idaho opens; State Capitol Building completed; Idaho Wheat Growers Association formed; Constitutional amendment increases State Supreme Court from three to five members; Philo Farnsworth, 15-year-old student and inventor from Rigby, develops concepts which lead to invention of television and earn him the name "Father of Television." |
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1922 State budget system established; Radio broadcasting begins in Idaho with station KFAU located at Boise High School under the direction of Harry Redeker. |
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1924 Craters of the Moon National Monument established; Black Canyon Dam completed. |
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| . | 1925 Union Pacific Railroad begins service to Boise; State Forestry Board established; William E. Borah becomes Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. |
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| . | 1926 The Idaho State Chamber of Commerce organized; Federal air service came to the Northwest with a Pasco, Washington to Elko, Nevada flight with a stop in Boise. |
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| . | 1927 Relocation of the town of American Falls and completion of the American Falls Dam; Perrine Memorial Bridge at Twin Falls completed; Palisades Reservoir created; Idaho Technical Institute in Pocatello redesignated the University of Idaho Southern Branch. |
MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 21 & Chapter 23 |
| . | 1928 Restoration of the "Old Mission" church near Cataldo begins; Commercial radio broadcasting begins in Idaho with the purchase of KFAU from Boise High School and renamed KIDO. |
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1930 Idaho population: 445,032. |
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1931 The direct primary restored for statewide offices; State income tax adopted; U.S. Forest Service, in cooperation with the state Legislature, create the Idaho Primitive Area; Legislature adopts "Here We Have Idaho" as state song, the syringa as the official flower, and the Rocky Mountain Bluebird as the state bird; Stibnite Mine opens. |
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| . | 1932 Nonpartisan election of judges to Supreme Court and District Courts enacted; The Idaho Code annotated published; Six million dollar Owyhee Dam dedicated; Association of Idaho Veterans of Foreign Wars organized; Boise Junior College opens. |
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| . | 1933 School Equalization Law adopted; North Idaho Junior College established at Coeur d'Alene. |
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| 1934 Sandpoint Bridge completed; Taylor Grazing Act passes U.S. Congress; Central and northern Idaho experience large mining developments for gold and silver; Idaho becomes first in the nation in silver production; American Falls Fish Hatchery begins operations. |
MORE INFORMATION: * About American Falls Hatchery * Mining |
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| . | 1935 Statewide prohibition repealed and State adopts Liquor Dispensary system; Indian children begin integration into public school system; State employment service established; Two percent sales tax enacted, but rejected by voters in referendum in 1936; Legislature provides for purchase of the site of Spalding Mission as a state park; Martial law declared in Teton County to put down a rebellion of pea pickers. |
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1936 World's first ski chair lift opens at Sun Valley; Sun Valley established as a ski resort by the Union Pacific Railway in September; Martial law declared in Clearwater County during WW I lumber strike; Celebration held in Lewiston to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Spalding Mission; In March, William E. Borah became Idaho's first Presidential candidate. |
MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 24 |
MORE INFORMATION: * Rocks, Rails & Trails: Chapter 10 |
1937 Open primary system does away with requirement for declaration of party affiliation; Well drillers accidentally open an underground geothermal spring and the legendary Soda Springs Geyser is born. |
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| . | 1938 Paving of the north-south highway (U.S. 95) completed; Fish and Game Commission established by initiative; Idaho Senator James P. Pope sponsors Agricultural Adjustment Act. |
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| . | 1939 State Junior College district law enacted; Idaho State Police established March 13; Joe Albertson opens his first supermarket in Boise. |
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| . | 1940 Idaho population: 524,873; Senator William E. Borah dies January 19; Legislation creating a position of Comptroller to be appointed by the Governor, and taking away many powers of the State Auditor, ruled unconstitutional by the Courts. |
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| . | 1941 Gowen Field completed south of Boise and becomes a military air base; J.R. Simplot food dehydrator begins operations in Caldwell. |
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1942 Farragut Naval Training Station established at Lake Pend Oreille; A Pocatello army air base and gun relining plant established; Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps at Hunt; Two anti-liquor initiatives rejected by the voters; Mountain Home Air Base site approved. |
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| . | 1944 Mountain Home Army Air Field officially opens. |
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| . | 1945 State Tax Commission established; Idaho's first phosphate processing plant constructed by the J.R. Simplot Company. |
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| . | 1946 Most recent Idaho Code published; A teacher's retirement system established; Election of Idaho's governor and other state officials for four-year terms begin; Two anti-liquor initiatives and an anti-gambling initiative defeated. |
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| . | 1947 A state school reorganization plan enacted; University of Idaho Southern Branch at Pocatello becomes Idaho State College; State Board of Corrections established; Idaho State Archives established. |
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MORE INFORMATION: * Mining |
1948 Bureau of Reclamation begins plans to construct a Hell's Canyon dam in the Snake River for flood control; Idaho Senator Glen Taylor runs for Vice-President on Progressive Party ticket; Spencer Opal Mine discovered by deer hunters - the only place in North America where opals were plentiful enough to mine commercially. |
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1949 National Reactor Testing Station near Arco established; Gay Mine begins phosphorus mining operations. |
MORE INFORMATION: * Mining |
