The Source Idaho’s water and the vital role it’s played in the state’s culture and development Idaho Council On Industry and the Environment Water for the West Foundation

Idaho’s waters 363,000 acres of lakes and reservoir 9,000,053 acres of irrigated land 7,310 miles of rivers and streams (64.9% of Idaho’s farmland)

Idaho’s working waters   Irrigation water delivery systems are the engine that single handedly transformed our state - especially the lower two thirds.   Many believe that development of Idaho’s irrigation capacity is the single most significant activity in the history of our state during the 20th century..

A century and a half of development  Irrigation has fueled Idaho agriculture since 1837   Idaho water was first put to irrigation in 1837 at the Whitman Missionary farm near Spalding, near present-day Lewiston  Mormon missionaries established Fort Lemhi in 1855  First land reclaimed by irrigation in Idaho

The projects...  The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed projects for irrigation, flood control, power production and other purposes  Plentiful irrigation water and relatively inexpensive electricity drove Idaho’s economic growth The first Carey Act project was the American Falls irrigation system which came before the State Land Board towards the end of That project would eventually cost $800,000 and would bring some 50,000 acres into production early in the 1900s.

Other major projects... The Bureau of Reclamation began construction of Minidoka Dam in 1904 after Congress authorized it to provide irrigation water and generate electricity. The power plant began generating in 1909 and the reservoir started supplying irrigation water that same year. Diversion Dam’s power plant began supplying power for construction of Arrowrock Dam, which was finished in Diversion also provided water for miles of canals in the Boise Valley

Other major projects... Palisades Project, near the Wyoming border, was authorized in World War II delayed start of construction until Progress stopped when harsh winters hit each year. The project was completed in 1957 Owyhee Dam in southwest Idaho, begun in 1928, stood 417 feet above the riverbed. It was ranked as the world’s highest dam when it was completed in It served as a proving ground for the design of Hoover Dam.

From desert to garden More than a century of water development made much of Southern Idaho’s desert bloom The end came with the failure of the Teton Dam in 1976 The soil was volcanic and fertile...if water could be brought to it...

And in the north... North Idaho generally has more rainfall than the arid regions in the southern half of the state, so irrigation never became a priority there. But other needs – flood control and power production, for example – arose and dams such as Dworshak were constructed to address them.

The numbers...  Idaho has: –363,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs –7,310 miles of rivers and streams –9,053,000 acres of irrigated land  (64.9 percent of Idaho’s farmland) –Most Idaho farms are less than 180 acres

More numbers... Idaho has some 24,000 farmers and ranchers.... producing more than 140 different commodities... worth more than four billion dollars each year to Idaho’s economy.

The Snake River Idaho’s economic engine  “The river depicted in the [state] shield is our mighty Snake...a stream of great majesty.” –Emma Edwards Green, State Seal designer