Priest River in Bonner County

Priest River has a deep logging culture

Priest River Trivia

While being a small quiet town, there are many great things to know about Priest River, ID. Did you know these 5 interesting facts about the town?

  1. Priest River was originally settled by Italians in 1892. The Italians lived on the east side of town, which quickly became named “Little Italy”.
  2. The economy of Priest River is greatly impacted by timber. The City has made great efforts to diversify, and have succeeded. Although Timber is still at the heart of the town with a total of 1700 people as of the 2007 census.
  3. This town was home to one of the last log drives in the lower 48. An annual Timber Days celebration still is held to commemorate this as well as their lengthy timber culture.
  4. One of the safest Idaho cities. Priest River is rated as one of the 50 safest cities in Idaho.
  5. Priest River was originally closer to the river. The town was closer to Keyser’s but was forced to move to its current spot due to the floor of the Pend Oreille River flood of 1894.

This information was gathered on Priest River’s website.

If you like this article, check out our article about 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Bonner County.