1898 Map of Nampa

About this map

The confluence of the Boise River and the Snake River defines this late 19th-century landscape at the Idaho-Oregon border. Surveyed in 1891, the region is shaped by the expansion of the Oregon Short Line and an intricate network of irrigation projects essential for Western settlement. The engineering of the high desert is evident in the numerous waterways such as the Phyllis Canal, Reed Canal, and the Middleton Water Co. Canal, which redirected water to support burgeoning farming communities. Early townsites like Caldwell and Nampa appear as established rail hubs, while smaller outposts like Falks Store and Lemp dot the river valleys. The map also records the prominent Deer Flat region before it was transformed by later reclamation projects, and tracks the Boise Nampa & Owyhee R. R. heading south toward the mines.