NameLatah’s first recorded inhabitants were the Nez Perce Indians who arrived in the area about 1200 A.D. The Greater Nez Perce Trail crossed the county from north to south. The Nez Perce would use this trail to meet with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to the north. Many other trails led to the flat land along Paradise Creek. The Nez Perce migrated to Latah County in the spring and summer to dig camas and biscuit root, to pick huckleberries, fish and hunt. During the winter they lived in camps along the Sna ke and Clearwater Rivers where the climate was milder. No hostilities between native Americans and whites occurred in this region, although farmers erected crude stockades and forts when a general fear swept the countryside during the Nez Perce War of 1877. A plaque commemorates the site of the Fort Russ ell Stockade in Moscow’s historic district of that same name
Early SettlingThe name Latah evolved from two Nez Perce words, La-Kah and Tah-ol. La-Kah refers to the large trees in the area and Tah-ol to the pestles used to grind the camas roots. Latah is derived by combining the first syllables of these Nez Perce words, to mean, "pine and pestle place". The name Latah was selected by a local committee, including Moscow merchant and Idaho’s future senator and governor, William J. McConnell.
Economic GrowthThe first white men to travel through the county were trappers of the North West Company, which had a trading post on the Spokane River, beginning in 1810. Traders and missionaries followed. In the 1830’s, the Reverend Henry Spaulding and Father Cat aldo came to the area to preach the gospel to the Nez Perce. In 1855, Isaac I. Stevens and his surveying party camped overnight at a spring south of Moscow and Paradise Ridge, recording his impressions of the country. In the 1860’s, gold was discovered near Orofino and later in Crumarine Creek on Moscow Mountain. Other strikes followed in the Hoodoo Mountains northeast of Potlatch. The miners created a need for supplies, and stage stops at places like Woodfell an d gardening communities like Viola supplied their needs. When the prospecting boom ended, many prospectors turned to ranching and farming. Viola was the first agricultural settlement followed by Genesee in the late 1860’s and Moscow in the early 1870’s. The need for sawmills and new rail lines created new towns or prompted the rapid growth of small settlements like Huff’s Gulch, later n amed Troy. Originally a part of Nez Perce County, Latah County was created by an Act of Congress in 1888. It has the distinction of being the only county in the United States to be created in this manner. Homesteading extended 30 years, from 1868 to 1898. By 1900, Latah and Nez Perce were the two most populous counties in Idaho. When the University of Idaho was established in 1889, the new county seat experienced a period of rapid growth, soon becoming t he largest town in the county. Today, Latah County’s economic base depends mainly on agriculture and the University of Idaho which is the county’s major employer.
Latah County contains many diverse regions with different histories. The north and northeastern parts were economically shaped by mining, logging, recreation, and timber claims. Although many homesteaders, including numerous immigrants from Scandina via, took up farming, most farms were small and did not prosper. Logging had a great effect on this part of the county which contained the largest stand of white pine in the United States. Many immigrants filed homestead claims in the timbered areas hop ing to win title to their land and then sell to a lumber company for a handsome profit. However, with the newly created Forest Service and a national interest in creating forest reserves, the government denied these timber homestead claims. Logging had a great impact on the area, with the Potlatch Lumber Company owning a great deal of land in Latah County. The town of Potlatch, built by the company in 1905 and operated by it until the 1950’s, is one of the few true examples of a company town in the west. The influence the company had in this area is also reflected in the towns of Deary and Harvard and the depots that once stood along the route of the Washington, Idaho, and Montana railway. The Potlatch company built this railroad to m ove logs to its large mill at Potlatch which operated until 1981. The south and southwestern parts of the county, which are part of the Palouse geological region, have large farms, some of which have been in one family for generations. The rich soil of the Palouse hills is legendary. Originally the farmsteads had orchards and large gardens as well as crops. Now agricultural production is mainly confined to wheat, dry peas and lentils. The Palouse is one of the primary wheat-producing regions in the United States and also claims to be the Dry Pea and Lentil Capit al of the Nation. Kendrick and Juliaetta, located along the Potlatch River, were important trade centers for the mines and were at one time famous for their production of fruits and vegetables. That industry has largely disappeared.
Sources: A Great Good Country, Lillian Otness
Latah County Comprehensive Plan
Latah County Map of Historic Sites by Latah
County Historical Preservation Commission