Idaho Territory formed 150 years ago today
March 4, 2013
U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, in the President's Room in the U.S. Capitol, hold the original bill signed by President Abraham Lincoln that created the Idaho Territory in the early morning of March 4, 1863.
On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, who on January 1 had signed the Emancipation Proclamation to turn the tides of a civil war then in its third bloody year in the Union's favor, signed the bill that created the Idaho Territory.

At its inception, Idaho Territory encompassed most of what are now the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Before that, it was part of the vast Oregon Territory, parts of which had become a state, the it became what was part of Washington Territory.

The following year, the Montana and Dakota Territories were created, and with some slight adjustments on the map, the final outline of what the state would encompass was laid out in 1868 with the creation of the Wyoming Territory and the realignment of the borders of the three territories.

Idaho became the nation's 43rd State on July 3, 1890.

To commemorate the sesquicentennial, U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch visited the President's Room in the U.S. Capitol, where on the early morning of March 4, 1863, Idaho Territory was created with the signature of Lincoln, and they created a short informational video, featuring the original bill.

Kootenai Tribal Chair Jennifer Porter, Boundary County Commission chair Dan Dinning and Bonners Ferry Mayor David Anderson are proclaiming this date in commemoration of a yearlong statewide recognition of Idaho’s Territorial Sesquicentennial.

To read more of local recognition of the sesquicentennial, click here.