Priest River: The Last Log Drive
Near Sandpoint, Idaho
The name Priest River comes from a Kalispel word for the black-robed missionaries the tribe encountered. The Humbird Lumber Company was among the big timber operators in the region, and Priest River grew up around the lumber trade. What made this town historically distinctive was its log drive.
Every spring from nineteen oh one through nineteen forty-nine, loggers floated timber down the Priest River to the mills below. When the last drive ended in nineteen forty-nine, it was one of the final log drives in the lower forty-eight states. The timber eventually ran out, the mills closed, and Priest River settled into the quieter life of a small Idaho town on the road to Priest Lake, where the wilderness it once devoured still stands.
