Idaho Facts

The Buck 110 is the brass-and-wood folding knife in a million pockets. At 13, Hoyt Buck forged his first blade from a worn-out file. In WWII, the country ran short of knives for soldiers. He built a basement forge in Mountain Home, Idaho. "I didn't have any knives, but I sure knew how to make them," he said. His son Al built the company. The 110 came in 1964. The family still makes them.

Former NFL lineman Brandon Bair watched a train hit a semi in St. Anthony, Idaho, then ran toward the burning cab as the train crew climbed out and warned him back. He reached through the broken back window, unbuckled the trapped driver, shoved the steering wheel off him and pulled him out. Seconds after they got clear, fire filled the cab. Bair later received the Carnegie Medal for civilian heroism.