Clearwater County formed in 1911

   The area now in Clearwater County was originally inhabited by various bands of Nez Perce Indians. They had permanent villages along the Clearwater River on what is now the western edge of the county. Hunting and fishing parties traveled out into the rest of the country when travel was feasible.

   Different roots and berries were gathered in season. A favorite camas gathering area was the Weippe prairie and the Musselshell Meadows, west of Weippe

   The first white men in this area were the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The most difficult part of their journey was across the mountains in, and adjacent to, what is now Clearwater County.

   Other than possibly a few visits by missionaries, it was over 59 years before white men were again involved with the Clearwater area, when in 1861 Capt. Pierce and his party discovered gold at Oro Fino near the present site of Pierce. Miners flocked to the area for a few years then traveled on to richer strikes and farming and ranching began to be more firmly established on the Weippe prairie.

   In 1895 unallocated tracts of land on the Nez Perce reservation were made available to white settlers. Shortly afterward railroad construction began along the Clearwater River. With an increase in population and the promise of a transportation system into the area, interested was renewed.

   In 1889, C.C. Fuller subdivided a portion of his homestead at the mouth of Orofino Creek and started a new town of Orofino, about thirty miles below the old mining town of Oro Fino City.

   In 1899 the railroad was completed to Orofino, then in the county of Shoshone, and this new town became firmly established. Travel to the county seat at Wallace was extremely difficult, necessitating travel through about five other counties and one other state, a distance of 200 some odd miles. Various proposals to split south Shoshone County and form a new county, or to annex it to an existing county began. One or two attempts were made but failed. In 1903, upon a favorable vote of the residents of the area to be annexed, the legislature passed an act authorizing annexation of south Shoshone to Nez Perce County. This proposal was passed at the general elections in 1904, and south Shoshone became officially annexed to Nez Perce County in December 1904.

   In February 1911 the legislature voided the act which permitted the annexation and established the present Clearwater County with the county seat at Orofino.