The Wood River Valley is a region in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in south-central

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. Located in Blaine County, it is named after the Big Wood and

Little Wood River Little Wood River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 4, 2011 river in south-central Idaho in the United States. It is a tributary of the Malad River, which in turn ...

s, which flow through the area. The valley has four incorporated cities:

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

, Hailey,

Ketchum Ketchum may refer to: Towns, cities, and, geographic features * Ketchum, Idaho, United States * Ketchum, Oklahoma, United States * Lake Ketchum, Washington, United States * Ketchum Glacier, a glacier in Antarctica * Ketchum Ridge, a large ridge i ...

, and Sun Valley. It is considered part of the larger

Magic Valley The Magic Valley is a region in south-central Idaho constituting Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Twin Falls counties. It is particularly associated with the agricultural region in the Snake River Plain located ...

region, but differs economically due to its ties to the

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

industry, with less of a dependence on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

than in the southern Magic Valley proper. The Sun Valley Resort is at the north end of the valley; the region also includes large portions of the

Sawtooth National Forest Sawtooth National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest that covers 2,110,408 acres (854,052 ha) in the U.S. states of Idaho (~96 percent) and Utah (~4 percent). Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the United States Depart ...

and

Sawtooth National Recreation Area The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) is a national recreation area in central Idaho, United States that is managed as part of Sawtooth National Forest. The recreation area, established on August 22, 1972, is managed by the U.S. Forest Ser ...

. The primary roadway is State Highway 75, the ''Sawtooth Scenic Byway''.

Friedman Memorial Airport Friedman Memorial Airport is a city-owned public-use airport in the northwest United States, located one nautical mile (2 km) southeast of the central business district of Hailey, the county seat of Blaine County, Idaho. The airport is ope ...

and Wood River High School serve the valley and are both located in Hailey, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Notable people

John Baldwin Neil John Baldwin Neil (July 28, 1842 – October 6, 1902) was an American military officer and politician who served as Governor of Idaho Territory from 1880 to 1883. Earlier life Neil was born in Columbus, Ohio on July 28, 1842. The son of R ...

(1842–1902), residing in the valley while involved in mining operations after serving as governor of

Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory w ...

from 1880 to 1883 *

Bowe Bergdahl Beaudry Robert "Bowe" Bergdahl (born March 28, 1986) is a United States Army soldier who was held captive from 2009 to 2014 by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bergdahl was captured after deserting his post on Ju ...

(born 1986), the last U.S. soldier captured during the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

after deserting his post.

Notable people

References

Further reading