After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus saw a Bahamian island on October 12, 1492, believing
he has reached East Asia.

His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to
find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold
and spice islands of Asia.

 Columbus had set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, with three
ships: the Santa María, the Niña, and the Pinta.

On July 3, 1890, Idaho entered the Union as the 43rd state.

The word Idaho is derived from the Shoshone Ee-Da-How,
referring possibly to the ubiquitous purple flowers of the
area, but also translated as “gem of the mountains” or
“behold the sun coming down the mountain.”

Idaho was originally part of the vast northwest Oregon, or
Columbia River, country claimed by Spain, Russia, Great
Britain, and the United States.

        
TIM MAGUIRE
              

On June 25, 1950, armed forces from communist North Korea
smashed into South Korea, setting off the Korean War.

The United States, acting under the auspices of the United
Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and
fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years.

May 14, 1804: One year after the United States doubled its territory
with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition left St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore  the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.


       
On November 8, 1805, the expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, pausing there for the winter, the explorers began the long journey
back to St. Louis.

Conferring with Clatsop Indians at the fort.

After passing a wet and tedious winter near the Pacific Coast,
Lewis and Clark left behind Fort Clatsop and headed east for
home.

The Corps of Discovery arrived at the Pacific the previous
November, having made a difficult crossing over the rugged
Rocky Mountains.

Their winter stay on the south side of the Columbia River—
dubbed Fort Clatsop in honor of the local Native American
tribe—had been plagued by rainy weather and a scarcity of
fresh meat. No one in the Corps of Discovery regretted
leaving Fort Clatsop behind.

In the days before their departure, Captains Lewis and Clark
prepared for the final stage of their journey. Lewis recognized
the possibility that some disaster might still prevent them from
making it back east and he prudently left a list of the names of
all the expedition’s men with Chief Coboway of the Clatsops.

Nonetheless, seven months later to the day, on September
23, 1806, the Corps of Discovery arrived at the docks of St.
Louis, where their long journey had begun nearly two and a
half years before.