Although the written history of man's presence at Priest Lake did not begin until the mid-1800s, there is evidence of human presence in the area soon after glaciation receded and vegetation began - approximately 10,000 years ago. Historically, the Kalispel and Kootenai Indian tribes used the Priest Lake area as one of their food gathering areas: fish were easily taken, game was plentiful and berries were abundant. Fish were smoked and pemmican - a combination of dried venison, bear, or deer tallow and kinnikinnick berries - was prepared. Traces of their visits are evident from ancient rock art and rare finds of arrowheads along beaches.
 
Euroamericans arrived in this region in the early 1800's. They came as fur trappers and established trade with the Kalispel tribe. In the 1840's, the Jesuits entered the area, establishing missions as close to Priest Lake as the eastern shore of the Pend Oreille River, and they even established a forward base camp in the Kalispell Bay area. Father Peter DeSmet, a Jesuit priest, spent considerable time in the immediate Priest Lake area during the period 1844-1846. Although the Native American tribes in this area had called the lake "Kaniksu", Father DeSmet named the lake "Roothaan Lake" in honor of his Jesuit superior in Rome. The name Roothaan Lake obviously didn't stick as it was again designated as Kaniksu Lake on an 1865 map prepared by Captain John Mullan. The Indian word "Kaniksu" is believed to be the English equivalent to "black robe" and from that reference, the name gradually evolved from Kaniksu to Priest Lake.
 
The discovery of gold in British Columbia in the 1860's brought thousands of miners traveling through northern Idaho. Some remained in the Pend Oreille region and established many of the small communities that still exist today. By the 1890's, mineral exploration had expanded to the Priest Lake area, although none of the mines produced significant returns.
 
In the 1880's, the Northern Pacific Railroad linked northern Idaho to the rest of the nation. Construction of the Great Northern Railroad in 1890 led to a depot on the Pend Oreille River near its confluence with Priest River. Here the community of Priest River began to develop and grow. A few settlers went north to build homestead cabins along the shore of Priest Lake. By the turn of the century, a small settlement was established at Coolin. A road linked the town of Priest River to Coolin, but other areas of the lake were accessible only by boat or trail.
 
The rail transportation boom in the late 1800's provided access to markets that needed forest products. Government and industry surveys had recorded the abundance of large stands of timber in the Priest Lake area. Lumber companies, such as Weyerhauser and Humbird, purchased land and began logging operations. Railroad spurs, such as the narrow gauge railroad constructed in the Kalispell Bay area, flumes and splash dams were built to move logs down major tributaries to the lake. Logs were transported across the lake to the outlet, and floated down Priest River to the lumber mills located along the Pend Oreille River. The first recorded log drive was in 1901 and they continued until 1950. In that year, the first Priest Lake Outlet Dam was constructed. The largest of the log drives took place in 1931 when 50,000 cedar poles and 125 million board feet of logs were "herded" down the river by the long gone, but not forgotten, "river pigs".
 
National concern over conservation of natural resources led to the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, under which the Priest River Forest Reserve was established in 1897. This forest reserve subsequently evolved into the Kaniksu National Forest - which has been recently incorporated into the Panhandle National Forest system. Most of the area on the east side of Priest Lake was gradually consolidated into State of Idaho lands beginning after Idaho's entry into statehood in 1890. In conjunction with statehood, Idaho received land grants for Sections 16 & 36 of each Township within the newly created state. Subsequently, beginning in 1917, the state and the federal government began "in lieu of" land agreements that gave Idaho tracts of contiguous land on the east side of the lake in lieu of the originally granted sections. This process continued into the late 1920's. In 1950 these state lands to the east of Priest Lake were designated as Priest Lake State Forest. Later, in the 1980's, the State executed land exchanges with private companies that added nearly 13,000 acres to the state forest and resulted in its present boundaries.
 
With the advent of the Forest Homestead Act of 1906, more families began to settle in the area. Shortly thereafter, schools were opened at Nordman, Coolin, Squaw Valley and Lamb Creek. The Coolin Civic Center and Priest Lake Library occupy two of these original school buildings. It took pioneers with dedication, and a spirit of adventure coupled with a love of nature to successfully settle the Priest Lake area. That character and spirit remains within those who presently call Priest Lake "home". A good example of these qualities is one early schoolteacher's description of her trip to Nordman. She tells of the train trip to Priest River, then a horse drawn stage to Coolin with a change of horses at the Halfway House just south of Jack Pine Flats on the only road to the lake. She stayed overnight at the Northern Hotel (built by the Great Northern Railroad Company, and remains today as the Old Northern Inn B&B) in Coolin. The next day, she was transported by rowboat from Coolin to Nordman. Such were the rigors of travel in the early 1900's. Today the same trip takes less than an hour!
 
Steamboats also played a major role in the early day transportation requirements of the area. From herding logs on the lake, to mail and "grub" deliveries from Leonard Paul Store to the early settlers, these workhorse boats are an important piece of Priest Lake history. When the lake froze over, dog sleds were used to transport goods. Early homesteaders used ice blocks cut from the lake for their refrigeration needs in the summer. Blocks were cut and stored in icehouses located at present day Elkin's Resort, Coolin and Ledgewood Bay.
 
In the 1920's, a bit of Hollywood came to the lake. Renowned silent film actress and screenwriter, Nell Shipman, established a film production camp on Mosquito Bay (present day Lionhead Unit, Priest Lake State Park). Miss Shipman, her crew and a menagerie of more than 70 animals, produced only a few short films while at Priest Lake. Within a couple of years, the severe winter weather, often present at the far north end of the lake, took its toll and the enterprise was abandoned.
 
In the 1930's several Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were established in Kaniksu National Forest. CCC programs were established for a variety of purposes that included forest fire fighting; combating forest disease infestations; building roads, bridges and trails; planting tree seedlings; and thinning forest stands. All of this for $30 a month pay!!
 
Today, aside from timber operations, the basin's primary attraction revolves around vacation homes and recreational tourism. Vacationers have been coming to Priest Lake since the early 1900's. Lake resort facilities date back to at least 1914 with a lodge on Mosquito Bay. Today's resorts have all the modern conveniences expected at a first class resort area, but without the crowds, traffic and costs associated with other resort locations.

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