Cottonwood, Idaho: Stagecoach Stop and Nez Perce Ground

Cottonwood began in eighteen sixty-two as a rough shelter for miners and supply wagons pushing south toward the gold fields at Florence and Warrens. Named for the dense cottonwood trees along the creek, it sat on the main trail between Lewiston and the interior, and that geography kept it alive. Stage service came to the town in its early years.

Later the Camas Prairie Railroad arrived and gave the town its modern footing. The surrounding land is also Nez Perce country. In July of eighteen seventy-seven, during the flight of the non-treaty Nez Perce bands, skirmishes between United States Army forces and Nez Perce warriors took place near Cottonwood, just weeks after the opening battle at White Bird Canyon.