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Boise
Capital of Idaho, on the edge of the high desert
Boise lies along the Boise River where the Snake River Plain meets the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, a green river valley set against dry, treeless slopes. French-speaking trappers are said to have named it for the wooded river corridor — les bois, "the trees" — a ribbon of green crossing the high desert. It grew as a supply town on the Oregon Trail and near the Idaho City gold fields, becoming the territorial capital in 1865.
The "City of Trees" sits at the western edge of Idaho, anchoring by far the state's largest metro area, which has become one of the fastest-growing in the country. The foothills rise immediately north of downtown into the Boise Front, while the irrigated farmland of the Treasure Valley spreads west and south toward Oregon. Mountains, high desert, and river valley all meet here.