Discover Area Guides has produced and delivered local community guides for over 8 years now.  For most people in Southeast Idaho, the brightly colored location information guides are a familiar and welcome sight,  Owned and operated by Jack Johnson, based in the Logan, UT area, directories are currently produced in Montpelier, Soda/Lava Springs/ Marsh Valley, Preston, Burley/ Rupert, Malad and City of Rocks, ID; Box Elder County and North Cache, UT; Bear Lake, UT and ID; and the newest directory (produced in 2025) featured Star Valley, WY. In 2024, just under 30,000 full-color directories were delivered to local households and businesses.  

A version of the guides was included in last week’s paper, and the website DiscoverAreaGuides.com can be accessed at any time as well. 

But that’s not the end of the story.  Johnson has been hard at work recently to create a website featuring expanded content, related to the histories of the guidebook areas in even more detail.  Since much of the content pertains to the histories and stories of each local area, Johnson recently announced DiscoverHeritageHub.com, which is nearing completion to complement the content on DiscoverAreaGuides.com with histories, legends and general information for each area. DiscoverHeritageHub provides in-depth, localized information in an easy-to-use, straight-forward configuration. This all-new site continues to be populated with many of the popular features that have made the local guides so important to local communities.

Some resources direct outward to established information locations like FindAGrave.com.

Navigating DiscoverHeritageHub.com

The site’s landing page includes a search bar to find topics of interest, as well as a straightforward site navigation menu at the top of the page.  Some features of the site are still under construction, but the basic process should be clear.  To navigate the page, click on the state you wish to visit from the drop down menu. A list of counties within that state show the areas where Discover Area Guides are produced. Clicking on any resource will take you to that entity’s website, social media or other online presence.  Many more state-related resources will be added as time allows.

Local Searches

 Clicking on any county displays the communities within that county. Every attempt is made to provide complete lists, including current communities, communities that are dwindling and even some we wonder if ever existed. Ghost towns, abandoned mining towns and other areas are also listed. When rural or farm-related areas exist, they are listed as well. Clicking on any community brings up a mini-historical summary of that area, including topics like: dates and circumstances of first settlement; information on who settled the area: railroad, church group, farmers searching for new land, etc.; previous or other names associated with the settlement, historical overviews, important people or events that impacted the area, current populations and  other similar items of note.

When a community is clicked and the mini-summary appears as a landing page for that community, making it possible for stories, legends, historical photos, genealogies and many other items to be linked to that community. It is expected that submissions from individuals will help develop each community’s presence.  You will note another group of resources below the county’s search buttons. This listing is far more robust than the states’ resources, since our focus is on providing easy-to-use localized information. In many counties, 3, 4 or more pages of local resources are listed. Clicking on the “Area Cemeteries” search button displays all known cemeteries in that county. Clicking on any cemetery takes you to Find-A-Grave.com, with its inventory of over 1.6 million cemeteries and almost countless graves, many listings provide in-depth information on relatives, dead and living and a whole host of useful information.

A searchable map on the site provides information about locations, groups, and other points of interest for visitors.

Regional Searches

“Histories,” “Museums,” “Points of Interest,” and other popular destinations display entities within the coverage area (and sometimes a little more) are housed here. For example, you’ll find museums from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls, Brigham City to Pocatello all displayed, since many people enjoy touring numerous museums throughout the area, and want to consider all options.

Clicking on “Discover Area Guides” displays all the current editions of the Discover Area books. Click on any one to plan your next day-trip, since digital copies of each directory gives you an in-depth look at features, activities and events of the coverage area.

Clicking on “Maps and Posters” shows our collection of Historical Wall Maps that are available in our coverage areas. We look forward to the day when links can be connected from the summaries on each map to more advanced information on the topics covered.

You probably noticed a list of articles, recently changed or added to the Home Page. To date, over 100 articles have been included in our community guides; at this time about 30-35 have been posted. Click on “Your Stories” on the black heading of the home pages to see a quick overview of those articles. You will notice that a black pulldown appears, listing the articles that pertain to each area. Articles vary from hard-core, carefully researched accounts to more relaxed local stories, all published under our “A Bit of History” heading. One of our most favorite stories tells of an 8-year-old girl from Malad, who recently became a published author!

Special Features

You’ll find two “Special Features” currently listed under “Your Stories:”.  “Special Feature: Early Railroad History in Box Elder” tells the story of uniting the Transcontinental Railroad, near Promontory Summit in 1869; “Special Feature: Minidoka Dam- A Historic Undertaking” lists the first hydroelectric project in the Pacific Northwest on Idaho’s Snake River, near Rupert. Both Special Features have a common structure: large brown oval buttons below the colorful photos list main topics covered. Clicking on any one, takes you to a short essay or listing of the items listed on the clicked button, clicking on the back arrow returns you to the main screen.

Early Railroad History in Box Elder includes a map of each of the construction camps, rail sidings and junctions constructed in the early days of the railroad. You’ll find red markers for the Central Pacific, coming from California in the west and blue markers for the Union Pacific, coming from Omaha, Nebraska in the east, along with sites of the Lucin Cutoff that made that section obsolete in the 1920s, by routing trains across an earthern berm in the Great Salt Lake. Bright blue “Link” buttons take you to details of each of the sites, along with current-day photos. Those who are attentive will find exactly where our photo safari was ended by a two-hour changing of a flat tire, punctured by a long ago-discarded spike. We hope to complete the photo section soon, weather allowing.

As we are able, we will add links to local social media groups from our local areas and will also add Special Features that reflect events from our local areas. We look forward to being able to share your stories and photos in the very near future. You will find details under “About Us” on the home page black header. Got ideas? Or stories? We’d love to hear from you soon.