Shoshone Falls on the Snake River, Idaho Photo Print

"Shoshone Falls on the Snake River" by Catherine Sherman. Located at the edge of Twin Falls, Shoshone Falls is a spectacular waterfall on the Snake River. Sometimes called the "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls is 212 feet (65 m) high—45 feet (14 m) higher than Niagara Falls—and flows over a rim nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) wide. The City of Twin Falls owns and operates a park overlooking the waterfall. Formed by catastrophic outburst flooding during the Pleistocene ice age about 14,000 years ago, Shoshone Falls marks the historical upper limit of fish migration (including salmon) in the Snake River, and was an important fishing and trading place for Native Americans. The falls were documented by Europeans as early as the 1840s; despite the isolated location, it became a tourist attraction starting in the 1860s. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Snake River was controversially diverted for irrigation of the Magic Valley, with the result the falls no longer flow with force year-round. However, irrigation and hydroelectric power stations built on the falls were the primary contributors to early economic development in southern Idaho.