Snake River Canyon is a large canyon

Canyon

A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...

 formed by the Snake River

Snake River

The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...

 in the Magic Valley

Magic Valley

The Magic Valley is a region in south-central Idaho consisting of Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka and Twin Falls Counties. It is particularly associated with the agricultural region in the Snake River Plain located in the area...

 region of southern Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

. It is well known as the site of an unsuccessful 1974 attempt by Evel Knievel

Evel Knievel

Evel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...

 to jump it in the Skycycle X-2

Skycycle X-2

Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket. An earlier prototype, the Skycycle X-1 designed by Doug Malewicki, and former USN engineer Robert Truax superficially resembled a motorcycle. The Skycycle X-2 was designed by Bob Truax, and ridden by Evel Knievel in his attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon...

.

Perrine Bridge

Perrine Bridge

The I. B. Perrine Bridge at Twin Falls, Idaho, United States is a truss arch four-lane bridge carrying U.S. Highway 93 over the Snake River Canyon. Perrine Bridge is approximately long and above the Snake River...

 crosses the canyon immediately north of Twin Falls

Twin Falls, Idaho

Twin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The population was 44,125 at the 2010 censusTwin Falls is the largest city of Idaho's Magic Valley region...

. In places the canyon is 500 feet (166 meters) deep and 0.25 miles (0.41 kilometers) wide. Shoshone Falls

Shoshone Falls

Shoshone Falls is a waterfall on the Snake River located approximately five miles east of Twin Falls, Idaho. Sometimes called the "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls is 212 feet high—45 feet higher than Niagara Falls—and flows over a rim 1,000 feet wide.A park overlooking the waterfall is...

 is located approximately 5 miles (8.33 kilometers) east of Perrine Bridge in the canyon.

In the late 19th century I. B. Perrine

I. B. Perrine

Ira Burton Perrine was an Idaho farmer, rancher and businessman. Perrine is generally credited as the founder of Twin Falls and other towns in the Magic Valley region....

 and others founded the Magic Valley's first successful agricultural operations on Snake River Canyon floor. The canyon's value as a farming area diminished after irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 projects made agriculture practical in the surrounding areas in the early 20th Century. Today the canyon floor is a tourist

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 attraction and features several parks and golf courses

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

.

In the past it was generally believed the Snake River Canyon was created by a cataclysmic flooding of Lake Bonneville

Lake Bonneville

Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 14,500 years...

approximately 14,000 years ago. However, geologists now believe that while the canyon was shaped by the flood, its basic structure predated it.