I recently read a blog on whether it was spring yet in our area by Glenda and Steven McDaniel. I work in Utah and live in Idaho. I was home last weekend and thought I would take a picture of the falls in spring. If you can call it spring because it was cold, windy, and there was a chance of snow. I also thought it would be a good time to add a few pictures, from 2002, of what the falls look like in the winter when, at times, they freeze. Very pretty. Later, in a future blog, I will have to show you pictures of how beautiful Idaho Falls looks in the summer.
I will give you a short history of the falls. Idaho Falls has been called a few other names before settling on Idaho Falls. When the many people were headed to the gold mines around 1863, Matt Taylor went through the area and thought about how it would be a good idea to build a bridge over the Snake River so that people could get to the mining fields and to get supplies to that area. He went on to Montana and came back in the winter of 1865. While the river was frozen he built the first bridge and named it Taylor's bridge. The area became Taylor's crossing and a supply store was built.
While Matt Taylor was in Montana, Harry Ricketts started a ferry services up the river from where Taylor's bridge would be built. It was named the Eagle Rock Ferry because it was near a rock that the Eagles nested in. In 1972, Taylor's crossing was renamed Eagle Rock. By 1880 there were 249 residents of Eagle Rock. The first canals were dug in 1884. With irrigation came agriculture. Idaho agricultural products include wheat, barley, sugar beets, oats, and the ever famous Idaho Potato! In 1891, the town residents renamed the town Idaho Falls after the rapids near the bridge.
In 1901, the first generating plant was built. A dam was created up river and retaining walls were built near the bridge. This was the beginning of the falls.They generate hydro-electric power for the area and for as far away as California.The falls were modified in 1982.
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