Editing Butte County, Idaho (section)

==History==
The first settlement in Butte County occurred about {{convert|4|mi|0|spell=in}} south of the present town site of Arco in 1878.<ref name=bottof>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g8ZeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LDIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6152%2C2276998 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |last=Bottolfsen |first=C.A. |author-link=C. A. Bottolfsen |title=Silver was king in Butte County |date=March 15, 1962 |page=1, section 2}}</ref> The settlement was then known by the names of Kennedy Crossing and Lower Crossing of the Lost River and was located in eastern Alturas County. Once the post office was established in 1879, the settlement became known as Arco.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.178083|date=1941|publisher=Deseret News|location=Salt Lake City|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.178083/page/n35 27]–28}}</ref> 
  
The ghost town of Era was settled in 1885.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Chenoweth|first1=Henry|title=Era|url=http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/id/era.html|website=Ghosttowns.com|access-date=February 3, 2017}}</ref>  Settlement of Antelope, Martin and Island (now Moore) also occurred prior to 1890. Alturas County established precincts for all five Butte County settlements existing at the 1890 census, containing a combined population of 389.<ref>{{cite book|title=Report on Population of the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890|date=1895|publisher=Government Printing Office|location=Washington|pages=99|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|access-date=February 3, 2017}}</ref>  The settlements became part of Blaine County in 1895. Blaine County created precincts for all of the settlements except Martin and added a precinct for Clyde. At the 1900 census, the five precincts totaled 714 residents, increasing to 1787 in 1910.<ref>{{cite book|title=Census Reports Volume I: Twelfth Census of the United States, Taken in the Year 1900.|date=1901|publisher=United States Census Office|location=Washington|page=111}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Thirteenth Census of the United States taken in the Year 1910: Volume II|date=1913|publisher=Government Printing Office|page=414|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|access-date=February 3, 2017}}</ref> Construction of a railroad from Blackfoot to Mackay resulted in relocation of the town of Arco to its present site in 1901.

Butte County was established on February 6, 1917, with Arco as its county seat. Butte County included parts of Blain, Jefferson, and Bingham counties,<ref name="Rees">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/idaho00chronologynreesrich/mode/2up |title=Idaho: Choronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography |date=1918 |publisher=W. B. Conkey Company |last=Rees |first= John E. }}</ref>{{rp|p=44}} and was named for the three [[Snake River Plain]] [[butte]]s that served as landmarks to trappers and pioneers traveling the area, [[Big Southern Butte]], [[Middle Butte]], and [[East Butte]].<ref name="Rees" />{{rp|p=67}}<ref name="idaho.gov">{{cite web |url=http://www.state.id.us/aboutidaho/county/butte.html |title=Butte County |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20110820020915/http://www.state.id.us/aboutidaho/county/butte.html |archivedate=20 August 2011 |url-status=dead |publisher=Idaho.gov }}</ref>

Butte County is included in the [[Idaho Falls metropolitan area]]. Much of the eastern part of the county is the vast [[Idaho National Laboratory]], which extends eastward into neighboring counties.