1942: Idaho

Area and Population.

Admitted to statehood July 3, 1890, Idaho ranks 12th in size among the states, with an area of 83,557 sq. mi., including 749 sq. mi. of inland water surface, according to remeasurements of the United States undertaken for the 16th census in 1940. In population it ranks 42nd, numbering 524,873 according to the same census. The largest cities are Boise, the capital, 26,130; Pocatello, 18,133; Idaho Falls, 15,024; Nampa, 12,149; Twin Falls, 11,851; Lewiston, 10,548; and Coeur d'Alene 10,049.

Education.

Outstanding in Idaho educational affairs during the year was the emphasis placed on vocational education for adults, as a contribution to the war effort. More than three-quarters of a million dollars was spent during the year for expansion of this activity.

Equally important as a part of the war effort, since it contributed largely to the food-for-victory campaign, was the splendid response of school children and teachers throughout the state, when labor shortages threatened to leave crops unharvested.

Agriculture and Lumbering.

About 20 per cent of Idaho land is in farms. The 1941 crop value was close to $90,000,000, and in addition livestock had a value of approximately $65,000,000.

Lumbering, another important industrial activity of Idaho, continues to show a healthy gain in volume because of heavy demands for the war effort.

Withdrawal of farm workers to industrial centers in Pacific Coast states, as well as heavy enlistments in armed forces, cut down the usually available supply of farm labor.

The establishment of a Japanese resettlement project with a population of 10,000 persons near Eden, Idaho in 1942, provided columnists with an opportunity to play upon the phrase 'Garden of Eden.' More practical however, was the vital help furnished by some 1,300 temporary agricultural workers from the camp, who with another 1,000 from similar camps in other western states, were important factors in saving Idaho's heavy yield of sugar beets and other fall crops.

Industry and Mining.

Idaho mines, timber, hydro-electric power, and agricultural products from the state's 2,500,000 acres of irrigated land, have played an important part in the nation's war efforts.

Just as the famed placer mines of old Boise Basin helped turn the tide in Civil War days, so have the mines of today yielded for present war needs thousands of precious tons of zinc, lead, tungsten, antimony, mercury, manganese, silver and gold, with lesser quantities of other ores. The story of how vast new deposits of critical and strategic metals have been revealed in Idaho's mineral areas will prove highly interesting when the veil of war-time censorship may be lifted.

Defense Activities.

In a year filled with spectacular events on the national and international stage, Idaho attained high rank in an enterprise far beyond the most exalted ambitions of its citizens. This mountainous inland state, lying on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains nearly 300 mi. from salt water, became in 1942 an important naval training-center and the site of our most modern naval-gun relining and testing establishment.

Although military censorship precludes release of detailed information on these establishments, it can be stated that Farragut Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho, is training a body of men equal in numbers to one and a half times the population of the state's largest city. Announced expenditures for this naval station, together with the gun relining plant at Pocatello, and the proving ground near Arco, Idaho, total more than $75,000,000.

Strangely enough Idaho's very lack of industrial progress is reported to have been an important factor in the locating of the relining plant in the eastern part of the state. One of the basic requirements for the proving ground, which must be close to the relining plant, was an uninhabited area about thirty mi. long and five or six mi. wide. The lava beds near Craters of the Moon National Monument proved ideal, and Idaho jackrabbits and coyotes now hear the roar of Navy guns, 500 miles from the nearest ocean.

Large air bases at Boise and Pocatello, with still another under construction near Mountain Home, complete the state's major wartime activities.

Legislation.

Politically, Idaho's most important event of the year was probably the passage of an initiated measure intended to provide $40 per month to all men and women 65 years of age, who meet the liberal definitions of need embodied in the bill. In addition medical, dental, optical and nursing care will be provided, as well as artificial limbs when needed.

State Officers.

Governor, C. A. Bottolfsen; Lieutenant Governor, Edward Nelson; Secretary of State, George Curtis; Auditor, Calvin E. Wright; Treasurer, Myrtle Enking; Attorney General, Bert E. Miller; Superintendent of Public Instruction, C. E. Roberts.

United States Senators:

D. Worth Clark, John Thomas.