IDAHO 



2910 



IDAHO 



RELIGIONS IN IDAHO 



come the Roman Catholics, with about twenty- 

 five per cent, while of the Protestant churches 

 the Methodists and the Presbyterians have 

 about an equal number of adherents. 



Education. From an educational point of 

 view Idaho occupies a leading position among 

 the states of the Union, as shown by the sta- 

 tistics of illiter- 

 acy. Thus in 1910 

 only a small pro- 

 portion of the 

 population, 2.2 per 

 cent, was unable 



to read and write. 1 ^^/KCat HO 1 1C 



Idaho possesses a 

 well-developed 

 system of public 

 elementary 

 schools, which has 

 been greatly im- 

 proved by a law passed in 1912. According to 

 this law the general supervision, government 

 and control of all educational institutions is 

 intrusted to a state board enjoying wide powers, 

 whose members are appointed by the governor 

 for six years. At the head of the school system 

 is the state commissioner of education, and each 

 county has its own superintendent, elected by 

 the people for two years. 



At the head of the educational institutions 

 stand the University of Idaho, situated at 

 Moscow and founded in 1889, and the state 

 academy for industrial and technical training, 

 at Pocatello. The state maintains normal 

 schools for the training of teachers at Lewiston 

 and Albion; an agricultural and technical 

 school at Idaho Falls; and high schools in the 

 towns, which were attended by 6,000 pupils in 

 1914. Various religious denominations also 

 maintain several high schools and colleges ; the 

 most important of them is the College of 

 Idaho, situated at Caldwell and maintained 

 by the Presbyterians, but open to pupils of all 

 denominations. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. The state 

 maintains a sanitarium for feeble-minded and 

 epileptics near Nampa, where an asylum for 

 the insane is also located. Other hospitals 

 for the insane are at Blackfoot and Orofino. 

 The state penitentiary is located at Boise, the 

 capital; a soldiers' home is also maintained 

 in the same city. Juvenile offenders of both 

 sexes are sent to the industrial and reformatory 

 school located at Saint Anthony. 



Physical Features. Idaho is a mountainous 

 state, its mean elevation being about 4,500 



feet above sea level. Lewiston, on the western 

 border, is the lowest point in the state, at an 

 altitude of only 738 feet above sea level, while 

 Hyndman Peak, in the Sawtooth Range, is 

 the highest, reaching an altitude of 12,078 

 feet. Idaho is divided naturally by the Salmon 

 River Mountains, which traverse the state 

 from northwest to southeast, into sections, 

 known as Northern and Southern Idaho. 

 Ranges of the Rocky Mountains system trav- 

 erse Northern Idaho. Southern Idaho, and 

 especially the southwestern part, is traversed 

 by the Salmon River Mountains and their 

 offshoots. This region, characterized by its 

 rugged ridges, lofty summits, wild Alpine scen- 

 ery, numerous glaciers and picturesque lakes, is 

 one of great natural beauty. Throughout the 

 state mountains and highlands are interspersed 

 with deep, fertile valleys and level plains. 



The most important feature of the south- 

 eastern section of Idaho is the vast arid plain 

 of the Snake River basin, extending for a dis- 

 tance of 350 miles in length, fifty to seventy 

 miles in breadth, and having an area of 30,000 

 square miles. The characteristic vegetation of 

 these plains is a thick growth of sagebrush, 

 and that, coupled with the great scarcity of 

 water, have given them the appearance of a 

 desert (see AGRICULTURE, below). Well-known 

 landmarks of this region are the three isolated 

 hills, commonly known as buttes, which rise 

 suddenly above the plain, namely, the Big 

 Butte, 2,350 feet high; East Butte, 700 feet 

 high; and Middle Butte, 300 feet high. 



Scenery. Many of the rivers flow through 

 deep canyons which are remarkable for the 

 beauty and grandeur of their scenery. The 

 Snake River, the chief river of the state, flows 

 for a distance of nearly 600 miles through a 

 deep canyon, whose walls vary from a few 

 hundred to thousands of feet in height. In 

 fact, some of the most magnificent sights in 

 the west are to be found here. Such are the 

 Shoshone Falls, where the river, 950 feet in 

 width, makes a sudden plunge of nearly 200 

 feet. These falls exceed those of the Niagara 

 in height and certainly rival them in grandeur, 

 though not in width. Above these falls, ex< 

 tending a few miles back, are several smaller 

 falls and cataracts. Other falls of the Snake 

 River worthy of mention are the American 

 Falls, the Twin Falls and the Idaho Falls. On 

 the Salmon River, the other principal river 

 in the state, occur the Salmon Falls. In its 

 rivers and falls, which can be utilized for the 

 production of power, Idaho possesses one of 



