In the early 1860s, when the U.S. Congress was considering organizing a new territory around Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains, the name ‘Idaho‘ was popular among the Congressional committee, as they believed it to be derived from a Shoshone term meaning ‘gem of the mountains.’
Realizing in January 1861 the name was quite possibly a fabrication and not Native American at all, the U.S. Congress ultimately decided to name the area Colorado Territory when it was created. But, by the time this decision was made in February 1861, the town of Idaho Springs, Colorado had already been named after their early frontrunner for a name, Idaho. In 1863, the Territory of Idaho was formed, though ‘Montana’ was nearly its name.
The same year Congress created Colorado Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern Washington Territory. The county was named after a steamship named Idaho, which was launched on the Columbia River in 1860. It is unclear whether the steamship was named before or after the legitimacy of the Native American origins of ‘Idaho’ came into question. Regardless, part of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was used to create Idaho Territory in 1863. Idaho Territory would later change its boundaries to the area that became the U.S. state.
More than a decade after the name Idaho was first discussed for the eventual Colorado Territory, George M. Willing, a politician, claimed that he had been inspired by a little girl named Ida and that he coined the name in Washington at the time of the Congressional committee when he had been posing as an elected delegate to Congress.
Leave a comment