Former Staff
12/3/14 – Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Here in Idaho, the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act in September 2014 has a special significance. Idaho is home to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, the second largest wilderness area in the United States, containing 2.4 million acres of rugged mountains, forests, and rivers. It was named after Frank Church, who… Read the Rest »
11/19/14 – Solar Power in the 18th and 19th Centuries
While combing the archives, SHRA researchers found a history of solar power that included a reference to a solar-powered printing press exhibited in Paris in 1878. This was a bit of a shock – – did we really know how to harness energy from the sun as early as 136 years ago? It turns out… Read the Rest »
11/17/14 – The Desert Land Patent of Cascinda Sanders
25-year old Cascinda Sanders hailed from Kansas but was living in Boise, Idaho as a housekeeper by 1890. She filed on arid land in the area pursuant to Congress’ passage of the Desert Land Act on March 3, 1877. Designed to further encourage settlement in the arid West, the act permitted settlers to file on… Read the Rest »
11/10/14 – ABCs vs PCBs
“Toxic substances hardly would seem a likely field of feminine expertise,” began an article from the Seattle Times in June 1980. Yet Margo Partridge, a woman who worked for the EPA, “finds more of a challenge in PCBs than the A, B, C’s of the kitchen.” Despite the fact that Partridge was an expert on… Read the Rest »
11/5/14 – State Lands for Schools
Part of the allure of the archives is that you never know what you might uncover. Not too long ago, SHRA researchers stumbled across a January 1941 letter from Idaho State Forester Franklin Girard. While the letter was of little consequence, Girard’s evocative letterhead pitted contrasting images of lush forests against fire riddled stumps. Even… Read the Rest »
11/3/14 – What’s in a Name? A Brief History of the “Colorado River”
The mighty Colorado River has not always been known as such. SHRA researchers were recently examining plats made by General Land Office surveyors along the Colorado River and discovered that the river has only been known by that name since 1921. The 1884 map shown below is a section of the original survey plat for Township… Read the Rest »
10/29/14 – Hey, Mr. Postman…Draw Me a Map
It’s rare today that the U.S. Postal Service requires much of American citizens wanting to send a letter aside from including the appropriate postage and legible sender/recipient information. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Post Office Department (predecessor to the Postal Service) demanded a bit more. The National Archives and Records… Read the Rest »
10/24/14 – The Passenger Pigeon
September 2014 marked 100 years since the last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati zoo. These birds, which at one point made up 20% to 40% of the entire avian population of the United States, lived east of the Rocky Mountains, from central Canada in the north to the southern United States. It is estimated… Read the Rest »
10/22/14 -The Snake River Basin Adjudication—Organization & The Finish Line
As twilight descends upon the Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA), it seems fitting to place it into the larger context of water rights settlements in the American West. In Through the Waters: An Oral History of the Snake River Basin Adjudication, editors Randy Stapilus and the Idaho State Bar Water Law Section compiled an impressive… Read the Rest »
10/20/14 – The Snake River Basin Adjudication – Where Did It All Begin?
This past summer, hundreds of people from various backgrounds, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia converged in Boise, Idaho to celebrate the completion of the Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA), the largest and arguably the most successful water adjudication in U.S. history. Such esteem begs the question, how did this long and arduous process begin?… Read the Rest »