Idaho Council
On Industry and the Environment
Water for the West Foundation
The Source
Idaho’s water and the vital role it’s played
in the state’s culture and development
Idaho’s waters
363,000 acres of lakes and reservoir
7,310 miles of rivers and streams
9,000,053 acres of irrigated land
(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 1895. 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 1915.
Diversion also provided water for
miles of canals in the Boise Valley
Other major projects...
Palisades Project, near the
Wyoming border, was authorized in
1941. World War II delayed start of
construction until 1945. 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 1932. It served as a
proving ground for the design of
Hoover Dam.
From desert to garden
The soil was volcanic and
fertile...if water could be
brought to it...
•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
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