Kamiah Chamber of Commerce

06/12/2026

06/12/2026

06/12/2026

Chocolate citrus olive oil cake was not what you may have thought of when you first imagine dessert. I promise you that it will be from the moment it hits your taste buds!

06/11/2026

06/11/2026

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

220 Years Ago Today: Lewis and Clark Prepare To Leave Kamiah

After three weeks in Kamiah, Lewis reported much better health amongst the Corps of Discovery: “Our invalids are all on the recovery; Bratton is much stronger and can walk about with considerable ease.” This fact led Lewis to begin thinking of crossing the Bitterroots; that day, "the Indians dispatched an express over the mountains." But Lewis was warned that though "the mountains being practicable for this express we thought it probable that we could also pass, but the indians informed us that several of the creek would yet swim our horses, that there was no grass and that the roads were extreemly deep and slipery; they inform us that we may pass conveniently in twelve or fourteen days."

That wait did not mean their party was sticking around the Clearwater River much longer. Despite Nez Perce fishermen capturing abundant fish, Lewis "to lose all hope of any dependance on the Salmon as this river will not fall sufficiently to take them before we shall leave it, and as yet I see no appearance of their runing near the shores as the indians informed us they would in the course of a few days." and instead "come to a resolution to remove from hence to the quawmash grounds beyond Collins's creek [Weippe] on the 10th to hunt in that neighbourhood a few days, if possible lay in a stock of meat.”

While Lewis and Clark were unable to catch fish, their men had better luck hunting, gaining five deer that day and trading with the Nez Perce Tribe for salmon that they caught. Clearly, the hunger pangs and ill health which malnutrition exacerbated were waning for the explorers during their historic stay in our region

06/10/2026

84 Year Ago Today: Ridgerunner Commits First U.S. Forest Service Robbery:

On This Day in 1942, William Moreland, better known as "The Ridgerunner" committed his first known theft of Forest Service property by stealing food and provisions from a Forest Service trail crew at Isabella Creek. For the next three years, he would commit a series of thefts while living in the wilderness that bedeviled Forest Service law enforcement and which led him to become a notorious Idaho outlaw.

Born in Kentucky, Moreland lived a rootless adult, traveling across the country and earning his first arrests in Arizona and Arkansas in 1921 and 1922. He first came to the Northwest in 1923, but only began to live in the wilds of Idaho in 1932, when he spent the winter in the Sawtooths, where he survived the harsh winter by trapping animals with snares made from telephone wire he stole from local Forest Service ranger stations.

In 1936, Moreland began living on our forests. For the next six years, he lived in the Selway River country, the Clearwater, and the St. Joe River drainages, where he learned how to make a Forest Service key using tin cans and the impression of an actual key he found in one of our forests' ranger stations. Now able to enter Forest Service buildings without breaking in, he carefully supported himself by stealing supplies from ranger stations undetected. The June 9 robbery would put him on the radar of authorities and lead to his fame as a fugitive.

In future posts, we will explore Moreland’s sensational capture and legacy on our forests on their anniversary.