Clearwater Historical Museum

05/27/2026

The Clearwater Historical Museum will be open on Saturdays 10am to 2pm, along with normal weekdays Tues. - Fri. 10am to 3pm. Sat. start May 30th until the end of August.

05/27/2026

Each spring brought the annual Potlatch Log Drive

05/27/2026

Clearwater Historical Museum has a new featured display about the Clearwater River Log Drives that brought logs down from the North Fork of the Clearwater River to the Potlatch Forest, Inc. mill in Lewiston from 1928 to 1971.

The Clearwater River Log Drive began in 1928 and continued until 1971. The Log Drive became a 90-mile river trek from the upper reaches of the North Fork of the Clearwater to the Potlatch Forest Inc. saw mill at Lewiston.

Approximately half of the timber that went to the saw mill was transported by railroad and half was transported on the river. The Clearwater River Log Drive of 1971 was the last major white-water sawlog river drive in the West.

In 1971 the completion of Dworshak Dam contributed to the demise of the Log Drive and inundated the stretch of the North Fork from Ahsahka to several miles beyond Camp T.

The wanigan served as a floating bunkhouse and cookhouse for the 34-man crew of river drivers. On average the Log Drive began around May 8.
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Regular hours at the museum are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday Summer hours will begin May 30 and be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Exhibit Prepared by Sandra Goffinet, daughter of Charles McCollister
Photos from:
Charles McCollister, Jack Gruber, Hugh Burgess, Earl Roberge
Forest History Society and Potlatch Forest Incorporated, Archives
Clearwater Historical Museum Photo Collection

04/21/2026

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2026/04/after-long-fight-idaho-downwinders-stricken-by-cancer-can-get-compensation/

The museum has been getting several calls from individuals trying to go through the process of filling out paperwork and other requirements. This may be of help to some.

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Mary Alice Glen was 37 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. Years earlier, her mother died from ovarian cancer. One of her sisters had breast cancer. A brother had colorectal cancer. In the early 2000s, when Glen was in remission, people in her com...

04/02/2026

Can someone tell me where this business was in Orofino?

03/22/2026

03/22/2026

Leonard Cardiff is the subject of Clearwater Historical Museum featured display.

Leonard Cardiff was born July 29, 1888 in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada and graduated from high school there. He went on to work on the family farm and delivered supplies to logging camps. Then he decided to work in a hardware store, first in Ontario and later in other locations until he ended up in Spokane, Wash., where he spent 11 years.

At that point, he decided to go into the lumber business for himself in Ione, Wash. After three years, he took his enterprise to British Columbia and a few years later to Orofino. He moved later to Weippe and then Pierce. Cardiff started his first mill in 1925 near Headquarters at a settlement that bears his name. He owned and operated mills from that point until more than four decades later in 1967 when he retired from the business. He was the head of the Pierce Ponderosa Pine company, a logging firm and landowner until his death Nov. 12, 1973 at age 85.

Cardiff was elected to the state senate in 1938, 1952, 1954 and 1956-58 on the Republican ticket. During his time as state senator, Cardiff was partially responsible for the creation of Canoe Camp Park on the Clearwater River. At its creation, it was a state reservation.

He was also active in the school board, Kiwanis Club and a past president of the Lewis-Clark Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

He married Hettie Burns in 1912 in Oaksdale, Wash. They had one daughter. Hettie died in 1935. He married Helen Lawson Wells, a widow with timber interests in Pierce in 1937. She first came to Pierce in 1910.

Stop by the Clearwater Historical Museum, 433 Bartlett St. in Orofino and learn more about Leonard, Hettie, Helen and so much more. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by special appointment by calling 208-476-5033.

03/12/2026

Clearwater Historical Museum has playing cards stocked for sale at $15. They will also be a available at the program on March 27th.

03/12/2026

St. Patrick's Day, last winter program for this series.

02/26/2026

The last winter program until November.