'Idaho 100' recently released
COEUR d'ALENE - Ever wondered why "Famous Potatoes" is trademarked? Or who brought irrigation to the Magic Valley? You assume the road to Yellowstone has always been there - but who was responsible for getting it built? And, just HOW did a Michigan lumber company end up with substantial holdings in North Idaho?
The names of Cecil Andrus, Frank Church, J.R. Simplot and Joe Albertson are familiar to Idahoans today; but who were Frank Fenn, Joe Marshall or Lafayette Cartee? And why should you care who they were?
In the just-released "Idaho100: The people who most influenced the Gem State," Martin Peterson and Randy Stapilus, who between them have been studying Idaho history for close to a century, unearth the sometimes famous, sometimes infamous and often obscure people who most transformed Idaho, in ways large and small, to create what many people now take for granted. To a large extent, Idaho as we know it today is the result of what these 100 people did.
The book is the first to be endorsed as an official Idaho Territorial Sesquicentennial publication. Idaho celebrates its territorial 150th birthday in 2013.
The top-finishing North Idahoans are Elias Davison Pierce at No. 2 and businessman Duane Hagadone at 30.
The authors used a basic standard when considering names to include on the list: "A person had to be in some way transformational - changing, even if in subtle ways, the world around - to qualify for inclusion..."
They noted that not everyone included would be a popular, or well-liked choice, but that wasn't their intent. The purpose of the Idaho 100 was to identify individuals whose actions in some way transformed the character of the state and left their mark for years to come. They did not include people still actively involved in Idaho affairs as their influence has yet to be fully determined.
Idaho might have been a very different place without those individuals, and the projects they brought. What are now the Pacific Northwest states could have been part of British Columbia but for a few little-known early settlers (and at least one determined Native American).
Idaho probably wouldn't have become so well known for its potatoes but for the imagination of one energetic potato farmer, or developed its unfortunate link to neo-Nazis but for a former aircraft engineer. Eastern Idaho's population is strongly Mormon, and they vote strongly Republican - How did that happen?
You won't see Idaho the same way after you've finished reading Idaho 100.
"Idaho 100: The people who most influenced the Gem State" can be ordered through Ridenbaugh Press: www.ridenbaugh.com or through Amazon.com, and from local Idaho book sellers. $15.95 plus shipping. Info: Randy Stapilus (stapilus@ridenbaugh.com) or Linda Watkins (watkins@ridenbaugh.com)