Excavations at
Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads, that rank among the oldest dated artifacts in North America. Later
Native American tribes predominant in the area included the Northern
Shoshone and
Bannock. The first people of European ancestry to visit the Twin Falls area are believed to be members of a group led by American
Wilson Price Hunt, who attempted to blaze an all-water trail westward from
St. Louis, Missouri, to
Astoria, Oregon, in 1811 and 1812. Hunt's expedition met with disaster; much of his expedition was destroyed and one man was killed in rapids on the
Snake River known as
Caldron Linn near present-day
Murtaugh. Hunt and the surviving members of his expedition completed the journey to Astoria by land. In 1812 and 1813,
Robert Stuart successfully led an overland expedition eastward from Astoria to St. Louis, which passed through the Twin Falls area. Stuart's route formed the basis of what became the
Oregon Trail. Some 150 years later, Robert Stuart Middle School in Twin Falls was named in his honor. , founder of Twin Falls, Idaho The first permanent settlement in the area was a stage stop established in 1864 at Rock Creek near the present-day townsite. By 1890, a handful of successful agricultural operations were in the Snake River Canyon, but the lack of infrastructure and the canyon's geography made irrigating the dry surrounding area improbable at best. To address this issue in 1900,
I. B. Perrine founded the Twin Falls Land and Water Company, largely to build an irrigation canal system for the area. After an August 1900 area survey of in October 1900, the company was granted the necessary
water rights to begin construction of the irrigation system. Several lots in the surveyed area were set aside specifically for future townsites. These lots eventually became the settlements of Twin Falls,
Kimberly,
Buhl,
Filer,
Hansen, and
Murtaugh. In 1902, the project nearly failed, as most of the original investors pulled out, with only
Salt Lake City businessman Stanley Milner maintaining a stake in the company. By 1903, Perrine, who had been a successful farmer and rancher in the Snake River Canyon, had obtained private financing from Milner and others under the provisions of the
Carey Act of 1894 to build a dam on the Snake River near Caldron Linn. Completed in 1905,
Milner Dam and its accompanying canals made commercial irrigation outside the Snake River Canyon practical for the first time. As a result, Perrine is generally credited as the founder of Twin Falls. A
land drawing was held for the future townsite in July 1903, with disappointing results. A much more successful drawing was held in October 1904. The city is named for a nearby waterfall on the Snake River of the same name. In 1907, Twin Falls became the seat of the newly formed Twin Falls County. After Milner Dam was constructed, agricultural production in south-central Idaho increased substantially. In 1909, the privately owned Twin Falls Land and Water Company was reorganized as the shareholder-owned Twin Falls Canal Company. The launch ramp's foundation lies on private land on the canyon's south rim. Less than 2 miles west (3 km) of
Shoshone Falls, it is still visible (). During the last quarter of the 20th century, gradual diversification of the agriculture-based economy allowed the city to continue to grow. Major Twin Falls employers in 2006 included
Dell,
Glanbia and
Jayco. In September 2009, Dell announced it would close its Twin Falls facility by January 2010. Later in 2010, the call center company C3 opened a facility in the former Dell location. The
College of Southern Idaho had administered a refugee program in Twin Falls from 1980 until 2024, when management was taken over by the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. ==Government==