Idaho: Putting Water and the Atom to Work

Expanding Idaho farming led to private irrigation projects. Some of these aroused public opposition, which led to establishment of state irrigation districts under the Carey Land Act of 1894. The Reclamation Act of 1902 brought direct federal aid. Notable among public reclamation works are the Boise and Minidoka projects. Both public and private, these have also helped to increase the development of Idaho's enormous hydroelectric potential. Further private hydroelectric projects along the Snake River were put into operation between 1959 and 1968.

In 1949 the Atomic Energy Commission built the National Reactor Testing Station in SE Idaho. Now known as the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, the facility in 1955 provided energy for nearby Arco, the first American town to be lighted by electricity from a nuclear power plant.

Idaho suffered during the recession of the early 1980s but rebounded later in the decade by attracting new business, including high-technology firms. The growth of the winter sports industry has helped make Idaho a leading tourist state. These improvements in its economy made Idaho one of the nation's fastest-growing states in population between 1990 and 2000.

Cecil D. Andrus, elected governor in 1970 and reelected in 1974, served as secretary of the interior during the Carter administration; he was elected governor again in 1986 and 1990. Republican Phil Batt, elected governor in 1994, was succeeded by Republican Dirk Kempthorne, (1999-2005); Kempthorne was appointed secretary of the interior in 2006. Brad Little, who had previously served as the state's lieutenant governor (2009-19), was elected in 2018, continued the string of Republicans in the post. He pursued a conservative agenda, passing laws limiting transgender people's rights and allowing for 90% of the state's population of wolves to be killed, which was opposed by environmentalists and animal rights' advocates.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Putting Water and the Atom to Work
• Development and Disputes
• Gold, Settlement, and Resistance
• Early Explorers and Fur Traders
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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