Haggerman and Minidoka

Artist's idea of what a Haggerman horse looked like

Among the sites we traveled to see from our Heyburn "base camp" were the Haggerman Fossil Beds and the Minidoka Historical Site. Unfortunately, both places were disappointing.


The visitors center for the Fossil Beds was closed due to Covid-19 so we were not able to see the artifacts and learn from an interpretive presentation and the actual fossil beds themselves are not open to the public.

Haggerman horse fossil

Hagerman horse (Equus simplicidens), also called the Hagerman zebra or the American zebra, was one of the oldest horses of the genus Equus, found only in North America, and was discovered in 1928 in Hagerman, Idaho.

The fossil beds are over there across the Snake River somewhere

 The Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument contains the largest concentration of Hagerman horse fossils in North America. The fossil horses for which the monument is famous have been found in only one locale in the northern portion of the monument called the Hagerman Horse Quarry.













The Minidoka site was in the process of being expanded, which will make it a most interesting place to visit. But for the time being all we could do was wander around a few "ruins" and read signs.




 Minidoka National Historic Site commemorates the more than 9,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center during the Second World War.

Ruins of the camp buildings

When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese in 1941 the United States entered World War II, declaring war on Japan. Americans were fearful that people of Japanese descent living in the United States might side with the Japanese, which prompted President Roosevelt to issue an Executive Order authorizing the removal of Japanese Americans and people of Japanese descent from their homes and jobs in Arizona and on the Pacific coast.

A beautiful stream running by the camp

These people were them imprisoned in 10 isolated relocation camps. 

Among these was the Minidoka Relocation Center, whose ruins at the Minidoka National Historic Site today continue to tell the painful, yet resilient story of America’s Japanese American community during World War II.

   Not all the sites we visited were closed or being expanded. Come back to visit more great Idaho sites with us in the next posts.