Hagerman Valley was formed 14,300 years ago by the Bonneville flood, which gouged out canyons, moved house-sized boulders and left enormous sand bars. The Valley's landscape is dotted with a amazing number of melon gravels giving silent testimony to the colossal flood.

The Valley is a land of water, with hot and cold springs, volcanic lava flows, deep box canyons, fossil beds, and vast rock formations. It is the canyon of the mighty Pohogawa, River of the Sage Plain, as the Indians called the Snake River, with its rapids, whirlpools, waterfalls, and associated wildlife. It is a land of melon farming, waterfowl, deer, and trout. It is a land of hot summers and mild winters; a land that has served the Indian, the trapper, the emigrant, the settler, and the farmer and rancher for hundreds of years.

Today the town offers a number of services including: 2 service stations, 3 restaurants, a bank, Bed & Breakfast, and a grocery store, as well as a number of little shops.