Idaho
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92 free Idaho trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
50 free Idaho trivia questions with answers. Welcome to the ultimate Idaho trivia quiz! Whether you're a proud Idahoan or just curious about the Gem State, this comprehensive 92-question quiz will test your knowledge of Idaho's rich history, stunning geography, famous landmarks, and unique culture. From Boise to Sun Valley, from potatoes to outdoor recreation, see how much you really know about this fascinating state.
30 of 92 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the official state flower of Idaho?
Syringa
Syringa, a shrub with fragrant white blossoms like the mock orange's, has been Idaho's state flower since 1931; Native Americans made bows, arrows and cradles from its branches.
Q 02Which bird is recognized as Idaho's official state bird?
Mountain Bluebird
The Mountain Bluebird, Idaho's state bird since 1931, hovers over open fields more than any other bluebird, then drops onto the insects it spots in the grass.
Q 03What is the official state tree of Idaho?
Western White Pine
The Western White Pine (Pinus monticola) was adopted as Idaho's state tree in 1935; the species was devastated in the 20th century by white pine blister rust, an introduced fungus.
Q 04Idaho is known by what nickname, reflecting its geological riches?
The Gem State
Idaho produces 72 varieties of precious and semi-precious stones, which earned it The Gem State; the unofficial rival nickname is, inevitably, the Potato State.
Q 05Boise is home to one of America's largest communities of which European people, known in Idaho as shepherds?
Basques
Basques arrived from the 1880s and became known as shepherds; the boarding houses they built in Boise grew into today's Basque Block, where the Jaialdi festival fills the streets every five years.
Q 06Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, born in Idaho Territory in 1867, is best known for which American landmark?
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore consumed Borglum from 1927 until his death in March 1941, months before the work stopped; his son Lincoln put the finishing touches on the four presidents.
Q 07Idaho's narrow Panhandle ends at a short international border with which neighbour?
British Columbia
British Columbia touches only Idaho's slim northern tip; the Panhandle is that narrow because Congress gave the land east of the Bitterroot Range to the new Montana Territory in 1864.
Q 08What is the highest point in Idaho?
Borah Peak
Borah Peak, 12,662 feet up in the Lost River Range, carries the name of William Borah, the senator nicknamed the 'Lion of Idaho', who represented the state for more than 30 years.
Q 09The Snake River, Idaho's most important waterway, is a major tributary of which river?
Columbia
The Columbia takes in the Snake near Washington's Tri-Cities; the Snake is its largest tributary, and dams on both rivers let barges climb from the ocean all the way into Idaho.
Q 10Which gemstone is Idaho's official state gem?
Star Garnet
Star Garnet shows a four-rayed, occasionally six-rayed, star caused by needles of the mineral rutile inside the stone; it is found almost nowhere except India and the Idaho Panhandle.
Q 11Central Idaho's vast wilderness is named for a senator and for which nickname of its main river?
River of No Return
River of No Return was the name boatmen gave the river at the wilderness's heart: its swift current and rapids carried them downstream but made the trip back up all but impossible.
Q 12Which Idaho lake straddles the state's border with Utah?
Bear Lake
Bear Lake straddles the Idaho-Utah line; suspended limestone particles give it a turquoise colour that earned the nickname 'Caribbean of the Rockies'.
Q 13Idaho Territory's 1880s 'test oath' barred members of which church from voting?
Latter-day Saints
Q 21Idaho's first state governor, George L. Shoup, resigned after a few weeks in 1890 to do what?
Take a seat in the U.S. Senate
George L. Shoup had wanted the Senate all along: weeks after he became governor the new legislature elected him, and he resigned in December 1890 to take a seat in the U.S. Senate, where he stayed until 1901.
Q 22Which U.S. President signed the act admitting Idaho into the Union?
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison signed Idaho's statehood bill on 3 July 1890, and a 43rd star joined the flag the very next day, the Fourth of July; that 43-star flag lasted just one year.
Q 23Between 2010 and 2020 Idaho was America's second-fastest-growing state, behind which neighbour?
Latter-day Saints, numerous in the territory's south, were shut out of the polls over polygamy; most had voted Democratic, so the ban handed Republicans control and helped Idaho reach statehood six years before Utah.
Q 14Idaho's fame as a potato state rests on which baking variety?
Russet Burbank
Russet Burbank, a rough-skinned mutation of a potato bred by Luther Burbank, suits Idaho's light volcanic soil so well that it became the state's signature crop and the most widely grown potato in North America.
Q 15Idaho's state seal, the only one designed by a woman, shows a woman standing beside which worker?
A miner
A miner faces a woman who stands for equality, liberty and justice; Emma Edwards Green painted the pair as equals and won the new state's 1891 design competition.
Q 16Which Idaho resort installed the world's first chairlift in 1936?
Sun Valley Resort
Sun Valley Resort was a railroad's creation: Union Pacific engineers in Omaha designed the single-seat lifts in the summer of 1936 and had them running on Proctor and Dollar mountains that autumn.
Q 17What is Idaho's official state fruit?
Huckleberry
The huckleberry became Idaho's state fruit in 2000 after fourth-graders proposed it; the plants take up to 15 years to mature and have never been farmed successfully, so the berries are still gathered wild.
Q 18What is Idaho's official state raptor?
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon became Idaho's state raptor in 2004; The Peregrine Fund, based in Boise since 1984, bred and released more than 4,000 of the birds, helping the species off the endangered list in 1999.
Q 19Which fish is designated as Idaho's official state fish?
Cutthroat Trout
The Cutthroat Trout was designated Idaho's state fish in 1990; named for the red slash under its jaw, it is native to Idaho waters such as the Snake and Clearwater drainages.
Q 20What is North America's deepest river gorge, partly along Idaho's western border?
Hells Canyon
Hells Canyon, carved by the Snake River along the Idaho-Oregon line, drops almost 8,000 feet from He Devil Peak to the water, which makes it deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Utah
Utah topped the growth table for the 2010s; Idaho, which had lost 28,000 people to out-migration in the 1980s, came second with a 17.3% jump.
Q 24The name 'Idaho' was first proposed for which other future state, where a town called Idaho Springs kept it?
Colorado
Colorado nearly got the name: lobbyist George Willing pitched 'Idaho' to Congress as a Native word and later claimed he had made it up; Congress chose Colorado in 1861, and the spare name went to a new territory two years later.
Q 25Which city overtook Pocatello and Idaho Falls in the late 1990s as Idaho's second-largest?
Nampa
Nampa's 1990s boom carried it to about 52,000 people by 2000, just past Pocatello and Idaho Falls; its neighbour Meridian grew faster still and has since pushed Nampa down to third.
Q 26Which central Idaho mountain range towers over Redfish Lake and the town of Stanley?
Sawtooth Range
The Sawtooth Range anchors a national recreation area that Congress created in 1972, two years after plans for an open-pit mine in the neighbouring White Clouds became a major issue in the race for governor.
Q 27What was the primary attraction that led to large-scale settlement in Idaho after 1860?
Gold discoveries
Gold discoveries began in 1860 around Pierce, on Nez Perce reservation land; the rush that followed drew so many miners that Congress organized Idaho Territory within three years.
Q 28Ranger Ed Pulaski, who sheltered his crew in an Idaho mine tunnel, gave his name to a tool for which job?
Fighting wildfires
Fighting wildfires: in the Great Fire of 1910 Pulaski saved most of his crew by ordering them into an old mine tunnel, then refined the combined axe and hoe that fire crews still carry.
Q 29Which 1846 agreement with Britain made the future Idaho part of the United States?
Oregon Treaty
The 1846 Oregon Treaty set the boundary with British North America at the 49th parallel, ending joint occupation of the Oregon Country; Idaho Territory was organized from that land in 1863.
Q 30Kullyspell House, the first non-indigenous settlement in what is now Idaho, was built in 1809 as what?
A fur-trading post
A fur-trading post was the plan: David Thompson's North West Company men raised a strong log store for goods and furs in September 1809, the first building outsiders put up in what is now Idaho.