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Idaho, ID

The State of Idaho is a state in the Pacific
Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's
largest city, and capital, is Boise. Residents are called
"Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890,
as the 43rd state.
According to the United States Census Bureau,
in 2004, Idaho had an estimated population of 1,393,262. The
state's postal abbreviation is ID. Idaho is nicknamed the Gem
State because of its abundance of natural resources. The state
motto is Esto Perpetua (Latin for "Let it be perpetual").
Geography
Idaho borders the states of Washington, Oregon,
Nevada, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and the Canadian province of
British Columbia (the Idaho-BC border is 48 miles (77 km)
long).
The landscape is rugged with some of the
largest unspoiled natural areas in the United States. It is a
Rocky Mountain state with abundant natural resources and
scenic areas.
The state has snow-capped mountain ranges,
rapids, placid lakes and steep canyons. The waters of Snake
River rush through Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in the
United States. Shoshone Falls plunges down rugged cliffs from
a height greater than that of Niagara Falls.
The major rivers in Idaho are the Snake River,
the Clearwater River and the Salmon River. Other significant
rivers include the Boise River and the Payette River.
The Port of Lewiston is the farthest inland
seaport in the Pacific Northwest. Idaho's highest point is
Borah Peak, 12,662 ft (3,859 m), in the Lost River Range north
of Mackay. Idaho's lowest point, 745 ft (227 m), is in
Lewiston, where the Clearwater River joins the Snake River and
continues into Washington.
Southern Idaho, including the Boise
metropolitan area, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Twin Falls are
in the Mountain Time Zone. Areas north of the Salmon River,
including Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, and Lewiston, are in the
Pacific Time Zone.
Origin of name
Idaho is the only state that was likely named
as the result of a hoax (the so called "Idahoax").
In the early 1860s, when the United States
Congress was considering organizing a new territory in the
Rocky Mountains, eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing
suggested the name "Idaho," which he claimed was derived from
a Shoshone language term meaning "the sun comes from the
mountains" or "gem of the mountains." Willing later claimed
that he had made up the name himself.
Congress ultimately decided to name the area
Colorado Territory when it was created in February 1861.
However, the name "Idaho" did not go away.
The same year Congress created Colorado
Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern
Washington Territory.
The county was named after a steamship named
Idaho, which was launched on the Columbia River in 1860.
t is unclear whether the steamship was named
before or after Willing's claim was revealed. Regardless, a
portion of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was
used to create Idaho Territory in 1863.
Despite this lack of evidence for the origin of
the name, many textbooks well into the 20th century repeated
as fact Willing's account that the name "Idaho" derived from
the Shoshone term "ee-da-how".
An excerpt from an Idaho History Textbook:
"Idaho" is a Shoshoni Indian exclamation. The word consists of
three parts. The first is "Ee", which in English conveys the
idea of "coming down". The second is "dah" which is the
Shoshoni stem or root for both "sun" and "mountain".
The third syllable, "how", denotes the
exclamation and stands for just the same thing in Indian that
the exclamation mark (!) does in the English language.
The Shoshoni word is "Ee-dah-how", and the
Indian thought thus conveyed when translated into English
means, "Behold! the sun coming down the mountain".
Climate
Idaho has much variation in its climate.
Although the state's western border is located 300 miles (480
km) from the Pacific Ocean, the maritime influence is still
felt in Idaho, especially in the winter when cloud cover,
humidity, and precipitation are at their highest points.
This influence has a moderating effect in the
winter where temperatures are not as low as would otherwise be
expected for a northern state with a mostly elevated altitude.
The maritime influence is lowest in the
southeastern part of the state where the precipitation
patterns are often reversed, with wetter summers and drier
winters, and seasonal temperature differences more extreme,
showing a more continental climate.
Summers in Idaho can be hot, although extended
periods over 100 °F for the maximum temperature are rare.
Hot summer days are tempered by the low
relative humidity and cooler evenings during summer months
since, for most of the state, the highest diurnal difference
in temperature is often in the summer.
Winters can be cold, although extended periods
of bitter cold weather below zero are unusual.
This article is licensed under
the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article
"Idaho".
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