The map below depicts areas of Idaho under irrigation well moratoriums which the Idaho Department of Water Resources has issued since...

The recently instituted water curtailment in southeast Idaho may seem like a surprise to most of us, but concern about diminishing...

For the "Gathering of the Tribes" chapter in "The Great Pasture", I had to go through two thousand government documents (mostly letters)...

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress Though some view government data gathering as an intrusion, it certainly serves those seeking an...

At the end of the nineteenth century, irrigation transformed the West from an area dependent on mining and grazing to an agricultural...

Many short accounts of the Peoples Canal construction exist, including that in Miracle of the Desert by Thomas Williams. While all deal...

Bingham County covered 165 miles north to west and 88 east to west in 1889, when it included Soda Springs, which the Governor's Report...

There were many avenues toward land ownership in Bingham County in 1890. The Land Register from Blackfoot listed the year's claimants in...

Miners, trappers, and those on the Oregon Trail didn't take much time out of their work schedules to taxonomize the local flora and fauna...

Had the southeast Idaho settlers who dreamed about the "Great Pasture" had an aerial view of what would eventually be called the Craters...

The Snake River Plain appeared as a blank slate of promise to only those not paying attention, for every cattleman or settler aim met...

Though all Western states endured long disputes regarding their boundaries before being admitted to the Union, Idaho suffered the most...

Carp, somewhat despised by Bingham County fishermen, arrived in area streams when introduced by settlers who, like the carp, weren't...

Everyone knows (or is) someone who fancies themself an innovator/entrepreneur/inventor, a few actually succeeding and most of the rest...

The title of "dentist" in Blackfoot's early days could be conferred to about anyone with a pair of pliers. In 1896, though, the local...

The worst train wreck in Oregon Short Line's existence occurred in 1897 at American Falls, when the air brakes (a relatively new...

It is sometimes said that the best lawmen were themselves at one time criminals, and therefore knew the mindset of bad actors. No doubt a...

A Bingham County resident in the 1870s may have been acquainted with a freighter named Joe Skelton. If so, their meeting was likely...

In the back of every secret entrepreneur's mind is the thought of building a successful resort, whether it be establishing a golf course...

Beekeeping came with the settlers to Bingham County, the skill already ingrained in the community enough for the Insane Asylum to harvest...