Oregon Man Wants Eastern Washington to Become Part of Idaho

For years some people in eastern Washington and Oregon have fantasized about forming their own state, breaking off from the urban and more liberal/progressive voters on the more populous west sides. But one Oregon farmer has a unique spin on the idea.

Instead of forming their own state, why not allow eastern Washington and northeast Oregon join the state of Idaho?

The last state boundary to be redrawn was when West Virginia was created in 1863. But Idaho's boundaries were created quite arbitrarily. Back in the 1860s the city of Olympia began worrying Walla Walla would become the capital of a new state encompassing Washington, Idaho and Montana. Miners in Boise wanted control of the Bitterroot Mountains to be in the hands of people closer to them. Together with supporters of Olympia as capital of Washington conspired to split the territories. Two plans emerged simultaneously, one passed by the House, one by the Senate. In the end, Abraham Lincoln was too busy with the Civil War to care and went with the proposal from the guy he knew. That's how the borders of Idaho got drawn.

But as some comments below the news article stated, Idaho is not an admirable Western state. Every year they have HUGE budget crisis and end up NOT PAYING lots of their bills, particularly for health services they can't agree to fund. Their economy is not admirable, either.