| | Hailey is known as "Idaho's hometown in the mountains." Founded in 1881 by John Hailey, Hailey was a pioneer mining boomtown, complete with its own newspaper, mercantile establishments, Chinatown, and Red Light District. Hailey quickly became one of Idaho's most dynamic and progressive communities. Hailey lies in the center of the Wood River Valley, in the heart of the central Idaho Rockies and is at the edge of the Sawtooth and Salmon-Challis National Forests.Hailey has the unique distinction of being the first town in Idaho to have telephone service (1883), first in Idaho to have electric lights (1887) as well as being the birthplace of internationally renowned poet Ezra Pound (b. 1885). With the decline of mining fortunes around the turn of the century, Hailey shifted economic gears and became one of the largest sheep raising centers in the United States. The importance of the sheep industry to the area's history is now celebrated each fall with the Annual Trailing of the Sheep.The Sawtooth National Forest offers a combination of environmental settings for recreation opportunities. The forest rises from the slat flats of the historic Great Salt Lake in the south to the 12,076-foot, glacially-formed Hyndman Peak in the north. The Sawtooth National Forest's 1,100 lakes and more than 3,000 miles of rivers and streams provide native trout and annual runs of salmon and steelhead.The Salmon-Challis National Forest covers over 4.3 million acres and included within the boundaries of the Forest is 1.3 million acres of the Frank Church-- River of No Return Wilderness Area, the largest wilderness area in the Continental United States. Rugged and remote, this country offers adventure, solitude and breathtaking scenery.Hailey, "Idaho's hometown in the mountains," has something for everyone to enjoy. |  | | | |
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