The Territory of Idaho was an
organized incorporated territory of the United States
The territory of the United States and its overseas possessions has evolved over time, from the colonial era to the present day. It includes formally organized territories, proposed and failed states, unrecognized breakaway states, internationa ...
that existed from March 3, 1863,
until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the
Union as
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
.
History
1860s
The territory was officially organized on March 3, 1863, by Act of
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
,
and signed into law by President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
. It is a successor region that was created by areas from existing territories undergoing parallel political transitions beginning with disputes over which country owned the region (See
Oregon Country). By 1863 the area west of the
Continental Divide that was formerly part of the huge
Oregon Territory (by now some was a state) had been sundered from the coastal
Washington Territory north of the young
State of Oregon to the far west and the remnant of the Oregon Territory was officially "unorganized". Most of the area east of the Continental Divide had been part of the loosely defined
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...
ending along the 49th parallel—now the border with Canada, then a
colonial possession of Great Britain.
The original newly organized territory covered all of the present-day states of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
and
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
, and almost all of the present-day state of
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
, omitting only a corner in the state's extreme southwest portion. It was wholly spanned east-to-west by the bustling
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
and partly by the other
emigrant trails, the
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...
and
Mormon Trail which since hitting stride in 1847, had been conveying settler wagon trains to the west, and incidentally, across the continental divide into the
Snake River Basin, a key gateway into the Idaho and
Oregon Country interiors.
The first territorial capital was at
Lewiston from the inception in 1863 to 1866.
Boise was made the territorial capital from 1866 by a one-vote margin of the Territorial Supreme Court. Congress failed to provide official criminal or civic codes for the Idaho territory upon its inception. It wasn't until January 4th, 1864 that the territory's original laws were adopted
The upheaval caused by the Civil War and
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
* Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
was a distant concern to those in the comparatively stable Idaho Territory, a situation which in turn encouraged settlement.
In 1864, the
Montana Territory was organized from the northeastern section of the territory east of the
Bitterroot Range
The Bitterroot Range is a mountain range and a subrange of the Rocky Mountains that runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of and is named after the bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva' ...
. Most of the southeastern area of the territory was made part of the
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...
.
In the late 1860s, Idaho Territory became a destination for displaced Southern
Democrats who fought for the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
during the Civil War. These people were well represented in the early territorial legislatures, which often clashed with the appointed
Republican territorial governors. The political infighting became particularly vicious in 1867 when Governor
David W. Ballard asked for protection from federal troops stationed at Fort Boise against the territorial legislature. By 1870, however, the political infighting had decreased considerably.
In 1868, the areas east of the
111th meridian west were made part of the newly created
Wyoming Territory. Idaho Territory assumed the boundaries of the modern state at that time.
The discovery of gold, silver and other valuable natural resources throughout Idaho beginning in the 1860s, as well as the completion of the
Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, brought many new people to the territory, including Chinese laborers who came to work the mines. As Idaho approached statehood, mining and other extractive industries became increasingly important to its economy. By the 1890s, for example, Idaho exported more lead than any other state.
1870s
Construction began on the Idaho Territorial Prison in 1870 and was completed by 1872. The prison was in use by the territory, then the state until 1973. The
Old Idaho State Penitentiary
The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site was a functional prison from 1872 to 1973 in the western United States, east of Boise, Idaho. The first building, also known as the Territorial Prison, was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in ...
was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1974 for its significance as a Territorial Prison. The site currently contains museums and an
arboretum.
Almost immediately after Idaho Territory was created, a public school system was created and
stage coach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dr ...
lines were established. Regular newspapers were active in Lewiston,
Boise and
Silver City by 1865. The first telegraph line reached Franklin in 1866, with Lewiston being the first town linked in northern Idaho in 1874. The first telephone call in the Pacific Northwest was made on May 10, 1878, in Lewiston.
Although forming a sizable minority, Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Idaho were held in suspicion by others in Idaho. By 1882 notable and powerful Idahoans successfully disenfranchised Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints voters in Idaho Territory, citing their illegal
practice of polygamy. Idaho was able to achieve statehood some six years before Utah, a territory which had a larger population and had been settled longer, but was majority Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with voting polygamists.
There were four thousand Chinese living in the Idaho Territory from 1869 to 1875. Like many
Chinese immigrants
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, ...
, they came to "Gold Mountain" to work as miners, or found work as laundrymen and cooks. The 1870 census reported there were 1,751 Chinese in
Idaho City who were nearly half of city residents.
The
Nez Perce War began in the north central portion of the territory at
White Bird Canyon in June 1877, and concluded four months later in eastern
Montana Territory at
Bear Paw.
1880s
After the capital relocation controversy, proposals to split the two regions became widespread. For the rest of the decade, Idaho Territory was nearly legislated out of existence. In 1885, the Idaho legislature published a bipartisan memorial to Congress asking for northern Idaho to be returned to Washington Territory. There were two attempts during the
49th Congress to accomplish this. On March 1, 1887 Congress sent a bill to President
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
which would have returned northern Idaho to Washington Territory. Cleveland, likely as a favor to Governor
Edward A. Stevenson, refused to sign the bill and it was
pocket vetoed when the session of Congress ended two days later. Nevada and Utah showed interest in acquiring the remainders of southern Idaho.
In 1889, the
University of Idaho was awarded to the northern town of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
instead of its original planned location at Eagle Rock (now
Idaho Falls) in the south. This served to alleviate some of the hard feelings felt by
North Idaho residents over losing the capital.
The territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Idaho on July 3, 1890.
Territorial change
File:Wpdms washington territory 1863 legend 3.png, Old Washington Territoryand the portions ceded to Nebraska Territory on March 2, 1861, and to Idaho Territory in 1863.
File:Wpdms idaho territory 1863 idx.png, The Idaho Territory in 1863
File:Wpdms idaho territory 1864 legend idx.png, Areas ceded to the Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
and Dakota Territories in 1864
File:Wpdms idaho territory 1868.png, The Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming Territories in 1868
See also
*
Idaho in the American Civil War
The history of Idaho in the American Civil War is atypical, as the territory was far from the battlefields.
At the start of the Civil War, modern-day Idaho was part of the Washington Territory. On March 3, 1863, the Idaho Territory was formed, ...
*
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...
*
Historic regions of the United States
*
History of Idaho
The history of Idaho is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Idaho, one of the United States of America located in the Pacific Northwest area near the west coast of the United States and Canada. Other as ...
*
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
*
Oregon Treaty, 1846
*
Territorial evolution of the United States
*
State of Deseret, 1849–1850 (extralegal)
*
Territory of Jefferson, 1859–1861 (extralegal)
References
External links
Idaho State Univ. document(PDF) on origin of name "Idaho" and how Idaho became territory
*
ttp://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=012/llsl012.db&recNum=839 Idaho Organic Act 1863 – An Act to provide a temporary Government for the Territory of IdahoLaws of the Territory of Idaho (1864)Constitution of the state of Idaho, and the act providing for the admission of the state (1891)
{{coord, 44.06, -114.74, type:adm1st_globe:earth_region:US-ID, display=title
*
Former organized territories of the United States
History of Idaho
Pre-statehood history of Montana
Pre-statehood history of Wyoming
History of the American West
History of the Northwestern United States
1863 establishments in Idaho Territory
1890 disestablishments in the United States