Surface-water data for Idaho, 1971-75

Surface-water data collection began in Idaho in 1889 with the establishment of three gaging stations: Snake River at Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls), Big Wood River near Hailey, and Bear River at Preston. Following passage of the National Reclamation Act of 1902, a notable increase in investigations of water resources began throughout the Western United States. Although Idaho enacted laws in 1903 to activate stream-gaging programs, it was no until 1909 that the State entered into a formal agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey from this work. Since that time, except for a hiatus from 1914-18, the Federal-State cooperative program of water-resources investigations has continued uninterrupted to the present.