Idaho, Part 3

After spending the night at the Best Western in Idaho Falls, we set out with two destinations for the day: the Potato Museum in Blackfoot, and the Craters of the Moon National Park outside Arco. We missed our turn-off for Route 20 out to the national park, so we backtracked and ended up in Blackfoot first.

One of the first things people asked me when I told them I was going to Idaho was "What's in Idaho? Besides potatoes?" There's a good reason for that response; Idaho produces over 1/4 of the potatoes eaten in the United States.

The Potato Museum, at 130 North West Main Street, houses displays on the history of potatoes and potato farming, the standards for grading potatoes, and the development of new potato breeds. A room in the back holds some real life examples of farming equipment used in producing potatoes. By the way, the image above comes from the museum's website.

According to the displays, European explorers first found the natives of what is now Peru and Bolivia growing potatoes in the 1530s. It’s estimated that these people began cultivating potatoes around 2000 B.C. The picture at left is a set of miniature Peruvian farming implements. From Peru, the potato was taken to Spain, and from there it found its way to Portugal and Ireland, then to France, China and African, then to North America and Russia. Royalty grew the plant for its flowers, but soon creed that their subjects grow the potato as food.

It became especially well established in Ireland; the Potato Famine of the 1840s devastated the Irish population and caused a mass exodus to the United States. Potatoes in the US came from Ireland in the 1620s.

Most potatoes grown today are descended from the Russet Burbank potato, discovered and developed by botanist Luther Burbank in 1872.

Potatoes are usually grown in rotation with other crops, including wheat and barley. Once the other plants are harvested, the left-over parts are plowed back into the soil to provide nutrients. All farming was originally done by hand. By the turn of the 20th century, some equipment was horse-drawn, but much of the work was still done by hand. Today, most of the work is done by machines. At left is a horse-drawn planting machine. At right is a harvesting machine developed in the 1960s.

We grown certain varieties of potatoes for food, but “wild” potatoes are often used to breed new varieties with different characteristics, such as disease immunity. It takes about 15 years to breed and develop a new kind of potato.

Potatoes are graded according to shape, size, absence of damage, maturity, internal quality, cleanliness, and other qualities. #1 grade potatoes may be any size, but must be firm, mature (ripe), with firm skin, and so on. The picture here is of world’s biggest potato “crisp”, which is processed from dehydrated potatoes; a “chip” is sliced from a fresh potato and friend.

For the $3 adult admission ($2.50 for seniors and AAA members), visitors also receive a free box of dehydrated hashbrowns that can be eaten when you get home. There is also a nice little gift shop.

Our next destination was Craters of the Moon National Preserve, located outside Arco, Idaho. This park gives visitors access to miles of lava fields, either by car or on foot. Unfortunately, the day we were there they were paving the roads, so only the first 1200 yards of road was available. We made the most of it, though, by taking the .25-mile walk onto the lava beds and watching the movie at the Visitors' Center.

Park information states that there was volcanic activity in this area as late as 2,000 years ago. Unlike the usual view of volcanoes with a cone, the lava here is forced up through cracks in the ground.

Harold Sterns, a geologist, hiked across the lava beds back in 1923 with a friend. A dog named Teddy made the trip as well. Sterns' article on the area was published in National Geographic magazine in 1924, and that same year, US President Calvin Coolidge declared the area a national park.

Above, left, Mom and Dad read about the geology of the area. Above on the right is a picture of the lava texture at one point along the walkway. At left here are two tall columns of volcanic stone which are thought to be part of a volcano cone that was washed away during an eruption.


All that walking made everyone hungry, and since it was time to eat, we returned to Arco and stopped at Pickle's Place for dinner. Pickle's Place boasts its "Atomic Burger", named after the fact that Arco was the first town in the world to receive electricity from nuclear power. They also produce their own seasoning and we bought a jar to try when we got home. Out front they have a huge green rocking chair, which of course we had to try out.

We drove from Arco down to Poccatello to stay for the night.