Idaho is one of the Rocky Mountain states in the Northwest United States. It is bordered by Montana and Wyoming to the east, Utah and Nevada in the south, Oregon and Washington to the west, and the Canadian province of British Columbia up north.
Area, 83,557 sq mi (216,413 sq km).
Pop. (2000) 1,293,953, a 28.5% increase since the 1990 census.
Capital and largest city, Boise.
Motto, Esto Perpetua [It Is Perpetual].
State bird, mountain bluebird.
State flower, syringa. 
State tree, white pine.
Much of Idaho has an unspoiled beauty, with rugged slopes and towering peaks, a vast expanse of timberland, scenic lakes, wild rivers, cascades, and spectacular gorges. From the northern Panhandle, where Idaho is about 45 mi (72 km) wide, the state broadens south of the Bitterroot Range to 310 mi (499 km) in width.
Manufacturing has recently supplanted agriculture as the most important sector of Idaho's economy. Cattle and dairy goods are among the leading agricultural products. Idaho's chief crops are potatoes (for which the state, easily the nation's largest producer, is famous), as well as hay, wheat, peas, beans, and sugar beets. Electronic and computer equipment, processed foods, lumber, and chemicals are the major manufactured products.
The unspoiled quality of much of Idaho's land has nourished one of the youngest of Idaho's businesses: the tourist trade. While the Sun Valley ski area is among the oldest in the country and the town enjoys a reputation as one of the nation's finest year-round vacation spots, the hot new Tamarack Resort in the Payette River Mountains is the first new major skiing and snowboarding playground created in the United States in 23 years. They don't call Idaho "The Gem State" for nothing. Mining, once the major source of income, and still economically important, produces garnet, opal, gold, silver, phosphates, molybdenum, antimony, lead, zinc, as well as many other minerals.
The state is especially inviting to campers, anglers, and hunters (Idaho has one of the largest elk herds in the nation). The state's climate ranges from hot summers in the arid southern basins to cold, snowy winters in the high wilderness areas of central and northern Idaho. The capital and largest city is Boise; other cities of importance are Pocatello and Idaho Falls .
*Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2003