1. People outside of Idaho eat more Idaho potatoes than the people in Idaho.
2. Idaho grows one third of America’s potatoes, which totals to about 27 billion starchy vegetables annually.
3. The capital city of Boise was named when French-Canadian trappers arrived in the early 1800s and were so relieved to see the forest and river that they exclaimed “Les bois! Les bois!” (“The trees”)
4. In 2004, the mayor of Wallace, Idaho—a town with a population under 800 people—declared the town as the Center Of The Universe, complete with a manhole cover painted to mark the site.
5. Idaho shares a border with Canada, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, and Washington.
6. Idaho is also called The Gem State and produces 72 types of precious and semi-precious stones. It’s believed that the largest diamond found on U.S. soil was discovered in Idaho.
7. The Boise State University Broncos play on the world’s only blue football field, known as The Smurf Turf.
8. Along with potatoes, Idaho is also the top producer of lentils. Moscow (Idaho, not Russia) is part of the Palouse region known as The Lentil Capital Of The World.
9. Idaho is home to the largest hops farm in the world, Elk Mountain Farms, which grows hops for parent company Anheuser-Busch on 1,800 acres of land.
10. At around 7,900 feet, Idaho’s Hell’s Canyon is the deepest gorge in the United States, even deeper than the Grand Canyon.
11. Aaron Paul might be known for “Breaking Bad” in New Mexico, but he was born and raised in Emmett, Idaho.
12. Silver City, the Burke, and Custer are just a few of Idaho’s many ghost towns.
13. The Fosbury Flop, a high jumping technique, was invented by Dick Fosbury in Ketchum in high school. The clip speaks for itself.
14. The first alpine chairlift was used in Sun Valley in 1936, for 25 cents per ride.
15. Idaho has 3,100 miles of rivers, more than any other state in the country.
16. Idaho’s Shoshone Falls is known as the Niagara Of The West. It drops 212 feet, actually beating out the Niagara Falls Of The East by 45 feet.
17. In Idaho it’s illegal to fish while sitting on the back of a camel or a giraffe.
18. Ernest Hemingway came to Idaho in 1939 in hopes that the open air and mountain life would help inspire him to write his famous novel, “For Whom The Bell Tolls.”
19. A picture of Ernest Hemingway kicking a beer can on a street in Idaho was said to have been his favorite picture of himself.
20. Apparently Idaho agreed with Hemingway, because he returned in 1959 and bought a house in Ketchum, where he lived until his death in 1961.
21. It is against the law in Idaho for a man to give his sweetheart a box of candy weighing more than 50 pounds.
22. Napoleon Dynamite lives in the flippin’ sweet town of Preston, Idaho. Gosh.
23. The Idaho State Penitentiary is rumored to be haunted, and was featured on the show “Ghost Adventures.” No ghosts were found.
24. Idaho State Penitentiary was built by prisoners in 1870. It had two major prisoner riots in 1971 and 1973.
25. Soda Springs is home to the largest man-made geyser.
26. In Pocatello, it’s against the law to be seen in person without a smile on your face. Luckily for emo kids everywhere, the law’s not enforced.
27. The state seal of Idaho is the only one in the country that was designed by a woman.
28. The statehouse in Boise (along with a dozen other of the city’s buildings) are geothermally heated by Idaho’s many underground hot springs.
29. You have to go to Seven Devils Campground to reach Heaven’s Gate Lookout. Irony.
30. When you get to Heaven’s Gate Lookout, you can see four states at one time: Idaho, Washington, Montana and Oregon.
31. The grocery store chain Albertsons was founded by Idaho native and supermarket pioneer, Joseph Albertson.
32. Evel Knievel’s Snake Jump Monument commemorates the daredevil’s failed attempt to jump the Snake Canyon on a rocket cycle in 1974.
33. Hailey, Idaho is where Bruce Willis and Demi Moore moved to in order to raise their children out of the Hollywood eye, back when they were still married.
34. Hailey is also the birthplace of famed poet Ezra Pound.
35. Atomic City had a regular population in 1975 when it neighbored the National Reactor Testing Station and was home to the Experimental Breeder Reactor. Today, about 29 people live in the desolate town with one store and one bar.
36. The Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot features the world’s largest potato chip. Resembling a Pringle, the chip is a reported 25 inches by 14 inches.
37. Rigby, Idaho is the childhood home of the inventor of the TV, Philo T. Farnsworth, and is self-proclaimed as the birthplace of television.
38. The entire town of American Falls, Idaho was relocated in 1925 to make way for the American Falls dam.
39. Idaho has a bra tree. It’s become a tradition for women to throw their bras from the chair lift at a ski resort in McCall, Idaho, giving the Brundage Bra Tree its name.
40. C’ouer D’Alene Resort Golf Course is home to the first retractable floating golf course.
41. New Plymouth is the world’s largest horseshoe-shaped town.
42. The Church River Of No Return Wilderness has the most wilderness in the lower 48 states with 2.3 million acres of backcountry (and probably the coolest name).
43. An excavation of Wilson Butte Cave in 1959 unearthed artifacts that date back to approximately 14,500 years old, making them among some of the oldest man-made artifacts in the country.
44. Five historic pioneer trails cross Idaho, including the Oregon Trail and the California Trail. Wagon ruts are still visible along the rugged dirt paths.
45. In the 1800’s, several sightings of a creature in Bear Lake led to tales of the Bear Lake Monster. To this day, some locals still refuse to go in the water or even go fishing at night.
46. Nearly 70 percent of all the commercial trout sold in the United States is found in the Hagerman Valley near Twin Falls.
47. Sarah Palin will forever be irrevocably tied to Alaska, but she was born in Sandpoint, Idaho.
48. Legend has it that X marks the spot in Beaver Canyon with a treasure hidden and buried by Montana sheriff-turned outlaw, Henry Plummer.
49. There are about 40 wineries in Idaho.
50. The potato first appeared on an Idaho license plate in 1928. Today, you can identify where most people are from in Idaho based on their Idaho license plate.
Feature Image Source: Boise State Broncos Facebook
