North Idaho Journal : Just a few details, we could be our own state

First of two parts.

This being the political season, I think that its time once again to instigate a plan for North Idaho to declare its independence from Idaho and stake its claim for statehood. I have, in passing, mentioned this subject before, but nobody is doing anything about it, so I thought I’d be more direct.

Now, I’m not advocating for civil war. This should all be handled civilly. There would be no reason for strife. I think that the disinterest between Idaho and North Idaho is pretty mutual. In fact, I bet that Idaho wouldn’t even notice.

After all, the northern part of Idaho has no native representation in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives. Our senators are from Idaho Falls and Midvale, our representatives are from Blackfoot (Utah before that) and Caldwell, I’m not sure where our governor is from, but his home has been in Boise for a very long time, and our most recent former governor is from San Diego. I don’t believe that any of these men have ever lived up here.

Idaho has two congressional districts, both of which represent Boise. The 1st District includes the western and northern parts of Idaho, but also includes most of Boise, and all its suburbs to the west and south. It makes for a crazy looking map, the lengths that were gone to in putting Boise in both districts.

We do share the same area code with Southern and central Idaho, but not the same time zone. Ever try to call Boise late in the day? Don’t – they will already be gone. Or have you ever tried to drive to Boise for business? You can’t get there from here.

It may be a wonderful experience to drive U.S. Highway 95 and state Highway 55 on a leisurely and scenic vacation south, but not if you have deadlines to make, nor if it’s winter. If you have somewhere to be in Southern Idaho, you either take the western route, all freeway, through Washington and Oregon, or the eastern route, all freeway, through Montana. It may be more miles, but it’s faster and safer.

If we were to secede, certainly there would be a few details to be worked through. First of all, a name. I like the name North Idaho. While other regions go by central Idaho or eastern Idaho, we’ve always referred to ourselves as North Idaho – as in North Dakota or North Carolina. Its what we’ve gone by for a long time, so let’s stick with that. That way we wouldn’t need to rename North Idaho College.

Boundaries for the new state shouldn’t be too tough either. In the Panhandle part of Idaho we already have our old neighbors Washington, Oregon, Montana and British Columbia – all states and provinces prior to Idaho’s statehood, and all happy with where they set their fences. That’s why our odd shape. North Idaho is what was left over after the rest of the Oregon Territory was divided up. Politically, no one could agree on where to put it.

It’s only the southern boundary that needs to be drawn. I like things that are neat and obvious. For example, with most of the Oregon/Washington border you’d have a difficult time in the field missing the line – its the Columbia River. So, I think that it would be good to have something quite tangible for a border.

From an ecological and a terrain standpoint, the Salmon River forms a pretty good boundary marker. On satellite imagery the Salmon River canyon stands out distinctly, and the ecological differences between the areas north and south of the river show clearly as green vs. brown. The river would be a good physical and strategic boundary if Idaho ever decided to attack on foot. The only problem is that the Salmon River never quite makes it to Montana as it wanders north and then west.

We could do as Oregon and Washington did and begin the border with a river and end it with an arbitrary straight line in the east. Since the time zone boundary follows the Salmon River, then takes off cross-country to Montana, so could a state boundary. That way, no one would be upset about having to change time zones.

Straight lines are nice on maps, but not practical. In fact, this boundary scheme would cut through county lines, which would really upset some county politicians. A close approximation to the Salmon River and time zone lines would be to retain the existing counties and make the southern border of North Idaho the southern border of Idaho County. This boundary scenario nicely chops the Panhandle off of Idaho and gives North Idaho an even 10 counties. It also cuts the state in two in a relatively unpopulated area.

There are, though, other weighty matters to consider. There are the issues of where to place a state capital, what to replace the potato with on our license plates, and on what basis we’d issue green cards for immigrating Californians. These and other matters will be considered in next week’s North Idaho Journal.