RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Idaho >> Elmore County >> CleftIndex...

Welcome to Cleft ...

Cleft is located in Elmore County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Cleft, you might get a feel for it by knowing that the earliest mention that we've found (so far) was in a book dated 1895.

Cleft is 3,220 feet [981 m] above sea level.<2> In other words, the elevation of Cleft is about ½ mile above sea level.

Time Zone: Cleft lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Cleft: 208 & 986<3>

Communities near Cleft ...

We have created a list of 9 communities that are near Cleft.

  • Mountain Home
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Mayfield
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Mayfield is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayfield
  • Reclamation Village
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Reclamation Village is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reclamation Village
  • Dixie
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Dixie is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
  • Grand View
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Bruneau
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Swan Falls
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Swan Falls is located in Ada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Falls
  • Hammett
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Oreana
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Oreana is located in Owyhee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oreana

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Cleft. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Cleft.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Cleft. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Cleft.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Cleft. See our Newspapers Page for Cleft.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Cleft ...

Looking for more information about Cleft? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Cleft, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Cleft.

Adding Cleft to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Cleft in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Cleft was in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Cleft.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Idaho's counties, including Elmore, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Cleft - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 208 code has been Overlayed with the 986 area code. New phone numbers in the Cleft area will be assigned with one of these codes: 208 or 986. As a result, placing a call in the Cleft area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.