Idaho

Towering, snow-capped mountain ranges, steep canyons, peaceful lakes, swirling whitewater rapids, this is Idaho. Shoshone Falls on the Snake River is bigger and higher than Niagara Falls. And when the Snake drops into Hell's Canyon, it drops into a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona.

While mining and timber products are big industries in Idaho, they are not as big, important or famous as Idaho's potatoes. Idaho's biggest money-maker and most important manufactured product is computer microchips for AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).

Idaho has two metropolitan centers: one around Boise (which includes Nampa and Meridian, Idaho's second and third largest cities) in south-western Idaho and the other around Pocatello (Idaho's fourth largest city) in south-eastern Idaho. 2/3 of Idaho's human population lives on the Snake River Plain. The federal government owns about 2/3 of the state.

Borah Peak is the highest mountain in Idaho, rising to 12,662' northwest of McKay. The state line between Idaho and Montana runs down the crest of the Bitterroots, following the Continental Divide for part of the way. The Snake River flows into Idaho from Wyoming, just south of Yellowstone National Park. It travels across the state from east to west, then turns north and forms about 1/3 of Idaho's western boundary. In the early 1900's, engineers built a canal along the Columbia that made Lewiston an "ocean port" (almost 500 miles from the Pacific).