Clearwater County Idaho History
Nez Perce County, one of the oldest and richest counties of the
state, lost more than one-half of its area when Clearwater county was
created from its western portion, by act of the legislature of 1911,
said act having been approved on the 27th of February of that year, and
at the same session of the legislature its area was still further
diminished by the taking of Lewis County from its southwestern part.
Clearwater County is somewhat sparsely populated as yet and still
offers an excellent field for development. It is largely covered with
the native forests of white and yellow pine, red and white fir, cedar
and tamarack, with a little hemlock. The forests of Clearwater County
comprise nearly eight hundred thousand acres in the national forest,
controlled by the United States government, what is known as the
Clearwater national forest having an area of 822,700 acres. This one
condition alone is certain to make the county long one of great
wealth-resource. Official statistics given in 1912 show the acreage of
patented lands in Clearwater to be as follows: Irrigated and
agricultural land, 24,145 acres; grazing land, 57,013 acres; mineral
land, 885 acres; standing timber, 400,051 acres; cut-over and burnt
timber land, 27,475 acres.
Orofino, the county seat of Clearwater County, is accredited by the
Idaho State Gazetteer of 1913 with a population of seven hundred. It is
on the Clearwater branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad and on the
Clearwater River, the city of Lewiston, being forty-three miles to the
west. The village is the distributing point for the Pierce City mining
district and is the seat of the Northern Idaho Insane Asylum. Orofino
has three churches, Catholic, Methodist and Christian, and it claims an
electric-light plant, three hotels, two saw mills, a brick yard, a lime
kiln and its due allotment of mercantile and other business
establishments. The two financial institutions of Orofino are the Bank
of Orofino and the Fidelity State Bank. Here are published two
progressive weekly papers, the Clearwater Republican and the Tribune.
The Village of Elk River, Clearwater County, has an estimated
population of twelve hundred, and it is situated thirty miles north of
the county seat, on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget
Sound Railroad. The Elk River State Bank makes adequate provision in
its field of operations, and the town has a weekly newspaper, a
Methodist church, a saw mill, four hotels, a hospital, a theater, and a
due complement of business concerns.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
I; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
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