Under the direction of the 1902 Reclamation Act—congressional legislation intended to irrigate western states and provide greater access to water—the Bureau of Reclamation approved and developed Lake Lowell, starting in 1902 and finishing in 1909.…

Following decades of struggle for independence from the Russian government and its anti-Finnish policies, numerous Finns left their homeland to migrate to the United States in search of religious and political freedom. Between 1900 and 1930, about…

In the summer of 1910, every step through the forests in the Bitterroot Mountains between Idaho and Montana could meet with a resounding crunch from the arid twigs and leaves. The season had been extremely dry, with no rain at all from May through…

From the early-1970s arrival of Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, to the March 2020 Idaho House’s failed vote for a “Too Great for Hate” specialty license plate, the state of Idaho has in recent years struggled over both the presence and meaning…

With the introduction and improvement of dry farming in the late nineteenth century, land previously considered worthless could suddenly be used. Land fever took hold of many prospective homesteaders, including Cecelia Weiss. Following the lead of…

As one of Fort Collins’ oldest breweries, Coopersmith’s Pub & Brewing is a cultural mainstay of the college town. It opened in 1989 along with several other breweries that followed the opening of the Anheuser-Busch brewery in 1988, after a law…

The repeal of prohibition in Fort Collins was not easily completed. In 1969 a petition was circulated for the third time to end prohibition. First in 1961 and again in 1965, the petition had been defeated due to strong moral opposition from…

After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Fort Collins remained somewhat dry. On March 22, 1933, the town passed the Cullen-Harrison Act, which allowed lawful distribution and consumption of beer that was 3.2% alcohol by weight - a fairly light…

Pres. Roosevelt aimed to employ more than 300,000 men in the CCC. Just two months after the program’s implementation, 1,200 worked in Payette National Forest camps such as Gallagher and Silver Creek. Roosevelt hoped their rural camps and labor would…

The Psychiana movement began in 1929 with a simple advertisement in Psychology magazine. Promising to teach anyone to “literally and actually” speak to God, the ad was answered by an overwhelming barrage of letters requesting subscription to the new…

Prominently located a mere 30 miles north of Salt Lake City, Hill Air Force Base has become a remarkable feature of Utah’s landscape. Even before its gates opened in 1940, its construction as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project provided…

Created before the U.S. entry in World War II, Wendover Air Force Base [AFB] originally began as a small field in Wendover, Utah. Located on the Utah-Nevada border, the town had a population of only 103 people at the time. In 1941, newly acquired…