Boise

State capital of Idaho, USA, and administrative headquarters of Ada County, southwest Idaho, situated on the Boise River in the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains; population (2000 est) 185,800. It serves as a processing centre for the farm and livestock products of the region. Other industries include lumber milling, food processing, meatpacking, and the manufacture of electronic equipment, mobile homes, wood and steel products, and farm machinery. It was incorporated in 1864.

History Boise was founded during the Idaho gold rush of 1863 and served as territorial capital from 1864 to 1890, when Idaho became a state.

Features Boise was named by French Canadian trappers, and is nicknamed ‘The City of Trees’. It is home to Boise State University (1932), and has a zoo and ten museums, including the Boise Art Museum, the Discovery Center of Idaho, the Idaho History Museum, and the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, which includes a former boarding house (1864) used by Basque immigrants. There are 132 entries on the national register of historic places.

Boise

River flowing through southwest Idaho, USA, joining the Snake River at the Oregon border; length 153 km/95 mi. It is formed by the confluence of the Middle Fork and North Fork, flowing from the Sawtooth Range, southeast of Idaho City. Irrigation projects serve southwest Idaho and neighbouring east Oregon; grain, fruit, and vegetables (especially sugar beet) farming are important.

Farmed since the 1860s, the Boise Valley was also the scene of an 1862 gold rush.

Course The Boise flows west through the Arrowrock and Lucky Peak reservoirs, past Boise, and across the Columbia Plateau's Payette section before joining the Snake River. The South Fork, length 160 km/100 mi, flows west-northwest into the Arrowrock Reservoir.