Idaho's Potato Pioneers
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Early Pioneers made the potato one of Idaho's most significant cash crops.
Photo Courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission and the Church Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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The first substantial
potato fields planted in Idaho belonged to Mormon colonists. Historical
accounts indicate that their presence in Idaho was partially an accident.
As the numbers of Mormon colonists in the Salt Lake Valley increased, they
pushed outward seeking new lands. The Mormon farmers had been directed to
establish a new colony north of the Salt Lake Valley area in the Cache
Valley. Believing they were still in Utah, the new families of settlers
began immediately to establish their farms. Potatoes were one of the first
items the farmers planted.
This is the first recorded planting of potatoes in Idaho in an area where
the settlers remained and the crop is till grown to some extent today. The
planting was accomplished three years before the Idaho Territory was
organized.
These first Idaho settlers were pioneers mentally as well as geographically
because they had the initiative and willingness to better their conditions
regardless of physical hardships and uncertain futures.
In the river valleys, where water was easily diverted, and with the rich
volcanic-ash soil, these hearty people raised a few more potatoes than they
needed and found that the extra potatoes resulted in a good cash crop. From
this small beginning, Idaho's farmers set out on the conquest of the potato
markets of the United States.
