The climate of Idaho is somewhat varied, though generally delightful during the summer and autumn. The winters in the high mountains are extremely cold, with deep snows; but in the lower valleys and plains cattle sometimes winter without shelter. In the w. part of the territory the temperature is not very different from that of central Illinois; ill the e. portion it is more like that of the n. part of New England, while in the high valleys of the mountains snows rest till June. Idaho was organized as a territory by congress in 1863, but with an area more than three times as large as that embraced within its present boundaries, having included the whole of Montana and nearly all of Wyoming. It was a part of the Louisiana purchase of 1803, and formed successively a part of Oregon and Washington territories. It was first explored by Lewis and Clarke, at the beginning of the present c., previous to which time it is supposed that no white man ever set foot thereon. After that it was traversed only by hunters and trappers until 1852, when gold was discovered near the northern boundary. The total population of the territory in 1870 was 20,583, of whom 5,631 were Indians, 4,274 were Chinese, and 60 were negroes. There is no record of the population at an earlier date. Of the population forming the basis of representation (14,999), 12,184 were males, 2,815 females-7,114 native, and 7,885 foreign born. The number of families was 4,104, of dwellings 4,622. The principal tribes of Indians were the Nez Perces, 2,807 in number, living on a reservation of 1,344,000 acres in the northern portion of the territory; the Shoshones, numbering 516, and the Bannocks, 521, living on a reservation of 1,568,000 acres in the s.e. part of the territory, and about 2,000 of other tribes, on a reservation of 266,000 acres n. of that of the Nez Perces.
Nines and Mining.—Gold, silver and lead are found near the sources of nearly every river in Idaho. Gold was first discovered in 1852 on the Pend d' ()Peaks river, but not in paying quantities till 1860, when it was washed with profit on the s. fork of Clear water river. In 1862 valuable gold-bearing deposits were found in the streams that form the Boise river; the following year, in the tributaries of the Owyhee river; and subsequently exceedingly rich " finds " were worked in the valleys of the Weiser and Payette. This region, better known as the Boise basin, proved one of the richest placer gold-fields ever found. These and other valleys in the territory are estimated by J. Ross Brown in a report to the government to have produced prior to 1868 $45,000,000 of the precious metals, nearly all gold. Rossiter W. Raymond. who brings the estimate down to 1873 inclusive, gives the product of 1868. $7,000.000; 1869, $7,000, 000; 1870, $6,000,000; 1871, $5,000,000; 1872, $2,695,870; 1873, $2,500,000: making up wards of $75,000,000 as the total product of the precious metals in Idaho down to 1874. A U. S. assay office was established at Boise city, the capital, in 1872. From the time of the exhaustion of the gold-washings of western Idaho, the mountains of every part of the territory have been searched for silver- and gold-quartz mines. In the Owy hee valley and Boise basin many silver-mines have been worked with profit since 1872, but the difficulty of getting provisions and machinery into the mountains on the n. side
of the lava-belt has seriously impeded their profitable development. In 1875-76 very valuable silver- and gold-quartz ledges were discovered on the tributaries of the Salmon river s. w. of Salmon city, the most famous of which are on Yankee fork, where Bonanza city has sprung up. The Custer mine there is remarkable for exhibiting the greatest mass of ore on the surface ever discovered. On that mine alone $200,000 were expended in 1880 to complete and stock one stamp-mill. In 1878 rich surface-ores were found on the s. sources of the Salmon river in the Saw-tooth mountains, and mines are now being developed there. The excitement caused by that discovery led, the following year, to the exploration of all the mountains about the sources of the Salmon and Wood rivers, in which previous to that year the Indians had been feared. These explorations led to the discovery of a great number of valuable mines of silver and galena ores, especially in the tributaries of Wood river; to which wagon-roads are now (1880) being made, and which promise to secure the construction of a railway across the lava desert to the valley of the river. Four villages sprang up in those high valleys in 1880 where two years before no sound of white settler had ever been heard.
Vegetation.—The forests of Idaho are confined to the n.w. part, and to the sheltered valleys of the mountains. Noble pines, spruces, and cedars abound in the 0. and in the upper valleys of the Salmon-river mountains. Trees of these species, large enough for any thnoer that i4 needed, are found and all the jiigh .mountain valleys. The red cedar of Kootenay and ShoShone counties is of largCr size and in greater abundance than is found elsewhere in the world. In the Boise basins, on the w. slope of the Saw tooth range, groves of the lofty Oregon long-leaved pine abound, which attains a height of 120 to 170 ft., a diameter of 4 to 7 ft., and serves for saw-logs almost to the summit. On the e. side of the same mountain the Norway spruce and the red pine attain a diameter of 3 to 5 feet. Other pines and firs furnish an abundance of small timber there. The country e. of the Salmon and Wood rivers ismeagerly timbered, and below an altitude of 6,000 ft., except the deciduous growth that fringes the streams, trees are rarely seen. Willows, poplars, and the ash-leaved maple are the principal trees at the streams. Compared with the eastern states, the vegetable growth of Idaho is extremely meager. Wild fruits are very rare in most parts of the territory. Cultivated fruits and vegetables are grown with profit in many places, but more in consequence of the high prices they command than the ease or certainty of production; though in the s.w. part there are valleys where the climate admits of a profitable culture at low prices. The Boise basin is exceptionally noted for its fruits and vegetables. For grains only a small portion of the territory is adapted, yet there are broad stretches of land on both sides of the Snake river and in the valleys of its tributaries where irrigation would produce the same results in making crops of wheat, oats, and rye as it has done in Utah; arid there are small tracts here and there throughout the territory where these crops can be grown without irrigation.