Emmett and the Gem County Valley
Emmett is the county seat of Gem County and the only incorporated city in it. It grew up around a ferry crossing on the south bank of the Payette River, at about 2,362 feet, and irrigation projects in the early 1900s turned the surrounding valley into a farming and fruit-growing center that packers labeled the "Gem of Plenty." The Black Canyon diversion dam on the Payette sits just east of town. Emmett had 7,647 residents at the 2020 Census, up from 6,557 in 2010.





