Mountain Home Irrigation District

Mountain Home was chosen as a town site by the Union Pacific Railroad because of its readily available water supply, which the railroad drew with steam-operated pumps in trench wells to fill storage tanks for steam locomotives. Early residents tried unsuccessfully to build canals from nearby Canyon Creek to irrigate local lands, leading to the formation of the Mountain Reservoir and Canal Co. in 1888. In 1891, an earthen dam on Rattlesnake Creek created the first storage facility, Mountain Home Reservoir. Growing demand for water brought further expansion with Long Tom Reservoir in 1906 and Little Camas Reservoir in 1908. Increases in reservoir heights between 1902 and 1915 enabled the district to supply 32,740 acre-feet of water to 4,400 acres of farmland around Mountain Home, and in 1926 the company became the Mountain Home Irrigation District.

Mountain Home, Idaho · United States