by Michal Berreth, Ford's Creek Research Center

Born in Landsaw, Kentucky Oct. 1, 1900, William C. Moreland was raised in a troubled home and orphaned by the age of 10. He spent the next few years in and out of reform schools in the south. By the age of 31, he had left his native Kentucky home and was drifting around the Pacific Northwest.

Moreland left civilization near Mountain Home, Idaho and went into the mountains living alone and away from other people for the next 14 years. His journeys eventually brought him to the North Fork of the Clearwater River country, where he generally stayed, living off the land, out of cabins or hollow cedar trees, earning the title, The Ridgerunner.

After complaints of thefts at some cabins, Moreland was apprehended the Skull Creek drainage and brought to Orofino where he was booked into the Clearwater County Jail. The picture accompanying this article was taken outside the courthouse shortly after his arrival. Eight months later on Oct. 4, 1945, he was given a five year suspended sentence for burglary and released.

Moreland spend the next 18 years living in this area, working for various logging companies, Clearwater Timber Protective Association and doing volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service. He was last seen in 1963 walking down a country road. When asked where he was going, he replied, "I'm leaving, there are too many people here for me now."

For two diverse views on the subject of William Moreland read The Ridgerunner by Richard Ripley and The Clearwater Story by Ralph Space.

William C. Moreland, "The Ridgerunner", outside the Clearwater County Courthouse the day after his arrest, Feb. 11, 1945. (Photo courtesy of Berreth Collection)