Giant white pines, steam engines, sawmills, flumes, wooden matchsticks, railroads, forest fires, mill fires, lumberjacks and lumber camps.
These are just a few parts of Idaho's colorful timber history. Timber helped build Idaho then, and it continues to do so now. Click on the links to explore many aspects of our forest history.
If you have information, photos or stories to share, please contact us.

Forest History Student Reader

The Clearwater River Log Drives: A Photo Essay   (PDF)

Flumes and Fluming in North Idaho   By Cort Sims, (PDF 874kb)

Logging in Bonner County   Sandpoint.com

Overview Report: Idaho Panhandle Oral History Study   (PDF 376kb)


Idaho State Historical Society

• Summary of Idaho's Twentieth-Century Forest History (ISHS Reference Series)   (PDF)
  
  
• Intermountain Railway (ISHS Reference Series)   (PDF)
  
  
• Lumber in the Boise Region (ISHS Reference Series)   (PDF)
  
  
• Barber Mill (ISHS Reference Series)   (PDF)
  
  
• The Mullan Road in Idaho (ISHS Reference Series)   (PDF)
  
  
• Bertha Hill Lookout (ISHS Reference Series)   (PDF)
  
  
• Smokejumping and Forest Fire Fighting Oral History Project
  
  

Museum of North Idaho

• Sawmills & Logging
  
  
• Experiences on the Coeur d'Alene National Forest   (PDF 17Mb)
  
  
• Lumberjacks Go To War - Museum of North Idaho newsletter article   (PDF 13Mb)
  
  
• When the Mill Whistle Blew - Museum of North Idaho newsletter article   (PDF 13Mb)
  
  
• Unions in the Timber Industry 1917 to 1947 - Museum of North Idaho newsletter article   (PDF 16Mb)

Clearwater Historical Museum

• Logging
  
  
• Photo Gallery

Priest Lake Museum

• Working Boats Were The Settlers' Lifeline - Priest Lake Museum Newsletter

J. Howard Bradbury Memorial Logging Museum, Pierce, Idaho

Boundary County Museum


National Forests

• U.S. Forest Service History
  
  
• The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film   (Available for loan in our media library)
  
  
• History of the Priest River Experiment Station   (PDF 2.6Mb)
  
  
• Rocky Mountain Research Station: A Retrospective Look
  
  
• Idaho Panhandle National Forest: History and Culture
  
  
• Nez Perce National Forest: History and Culture
  
  
• Payette National Forest: History and Culture
  
  
• Boise National Forest: History and Culture
  
  
• Caribou-Targhee National Forest. History and Culture
  
  

1910 Fires

The Forest History Society

• Idaho Tree Farms Gallery
  
  
• Forgotten Characters from Forest History: The Guberif
  
  
• Forest History Society’s photo stream
  
  

Videos

• River Log Drives 2:37 YouTube video
  
  
• Early 1900s logging 6:26 YouTube video
  
  
• Last of the Log Drives
  
  
• Visions of Idaho. Idaho Public Television, 1990 Idaho History series. Videos and lesson plans