Idaho Turns 125 On Friday

On July 3, Idaho will celebrate 125 years of statehood. President Benjamin Harrison had hoped to sign the state into existence on Independence Day, but some feared that such legislation — enacted on a holiday — wouldn’t be legal. So the president signed it on the day before, said Idaho historian Keith Petersen of Moscow. “Everyone knew that statehood was going to come,” Petersen said. That day in 1890 was the culmination of a long effort by Congress and territorial legislators who spent the previous year “getting their ducks in a row.” A much larger Idaho Territory — 25 percent larger than the state of Texas and encompassing all of present-day Montana and most of Wyoming — was created 27 years earlier, surrounded by much more excitement/ Mychal Matthews , Twin Falls Times-News. More here . (Wikipedia photo: President Benjamin Harrison)

DFO: For those keeping score at home, the town of Harrison was named after President Benjamin Harrison.

Question: How much Idaho history do you know?