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Idaho Connections

     While this web site is intended to promote an interest in US history, it also includes a number of books with Idaho connections.  The following is a list of books that include history in and/or nearby Idaho.

Blevins, Winfred.  Give Your Heart to the Hawks.  Los Angeles:  Nash Publishing, 1973
     The true story of the mountain men who trapped in the Rocky Mountains in the early nineteenth century.  The book includes many Idaho references (though it wasn't Idaho at the time), as the mountain men frequently trapped along the Snake, Salmon and Bear rivers. 

Fisher, Vardis.  Mountain Man.  Boise:  Opal Laurel Holmes, 1965
     Written by one of Idaho's most famous authors of historical fiction, this novel is the fictional account of the mountain man, Sam Minard, and served as the inspiration for the movie "Jeremiah Johnson" starring Robert Redford.  In the book, Sam Minard travels through what is now southeastern Idaho, and much of the story takes place in nearby Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Leeuwen, Jean Van.  Bound for Oregon.  New York:  Dial Books, 1994
     The Oregon Trail cuts right through southern Idaho, and in 1852 nine year old Mary Ellen Todd, made the journey from her family's home in Arkansas to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  A portion of the story takes place during their trek across Idaho.

McCunn, Ruthanne Lum.  Thousand Pieces of Gold. 
Boston:  Beacon Press, 1988 (original copyright 1981)
     This is the story of Polly Bemis, born in China in 1865 as Lalu Nathoy.  She lived most of her life in Idaho, and ultimately settled with Charlie Bemis in a cabin across from Shepp Ranch on the Salmon River.  This novel is the mostly true account of her remarkable life story.

Stegner, Wallace.   Angle of Repose.  New York:  Penguin Books, 1971
     The book should be of particular interest to Idaho readers because it highlights many of the early efforts to irrigate the Treasure Valley.  There is even a reference to Arrow Rock dam, which at the time of its completion was the highest dam in the world.

Picture of State of Idaho Travel Guide courtesy of State of Idaho Department of Commerce:
www.visitid.org/Planner/index.html
Accessed September 20, 2002

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