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Lewiston is located at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Its main industry is
paper and timber products production at the mill owned and operated by the Potlatch Corporation.
Because the portion of the Snake River between its confluence with the Columbia River near Pasco,
Washington, and Lewiston is navigable by some oceangoing vessels, Lewiston has the distinction of
being Idaho's only seaport and the western United States' farthest inland seaport. Barges of
timber products, grain and other goods are shipped via the Snake-Columbia system to the Pacific
Ocean.
Lewiston, Idaho History:
The first people of European ancestry to visit the Lewiston area were members of an
expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in October 1805. At the future
townsite the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered settlements of the native Nez Perce.
Named after Lewis, the town was founded in 1861 in the wake of a gold rush which began in
the area the previous year. The first newspaper in present-day Idaho began publication in
Lewiston in 1862. In 1863 Lewiston became the capital of the newly-created Idaho Territory.
Lewiston's stint as a seat of government was short-lived. A resolution to have the capital
moved from Lewiston to Boise was passed by the Idaho Territorial Legislature on December
7, 1864. The move was made in 1865. According to legend the move was very unpopular in
northern Idaho, so government officials secretly took the territorial seal from Lewiston
and immediately departed for Boise to avoid the public outrage that was sure to erupt.
North Idahoans were somewhat placated in 1883 when the University of Idaho was awarded
to nearby Moscow.
Lewiston Businesses Wanted
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