Council, Idaho: The Weiser River Valley's County Seat

Council is the county seat of Adams County, Idaho, a small mountain community on the Weiser River that took shape when the Pacific and Idaho Northern Railway pushed into the valley in nineteen eleven. The name comes from a council of settlers who met at this location in the eighteen nineties to organize the early community. Before Euro-American settlement, the valley was part of the homeland of the Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce, who used the river corridor for hunting and travel.

Adams County is among the least populated counties in Idaho. Council's population of around eight hundred makes it one of the more substantial communities in the county. The surrounding mountains and the Weiser River draw hunters and anglers. Fiddle music is taken seriously here: The National Old-Time Fiddlers' Contest is held in Weiser, just downstream, and Council has its own mountain music festival. The mountains on every side are still old-growth Douglas fir and ponderosa pine country.