Potlatch, Idaho
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Potlatch census division. It lies in ZIP code area 83855. It stands on Rock Creek. The Survey maps it on the Potlatch quadrangle. 763 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,546 feet above sea level.
On record in Potlatch
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 11 records
American Legion Cabinlisted 1986
Boarding Houselisted 1986
Commercial Historic Districtlisted 1986
Four-Room Houselisted 1986
Freeze Community Churchlisted 1990
Edward and Ida Soncarty Barnlisted 2008
Joseph A. Terteling Houselisted 1986- Mountain Home Grange Halllisted 2021
- Nob Hill Historic Districtlisted 1986
- Three-Room Houselisted 1986
- Workers' Neighborhood Historic Districtlisted 1986
Population over time
2 figuresPotlatch fell from 804 to 763 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 804 | |
| 2020 | 763 | -41 (-5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1955 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Potlatch quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Potlatch quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Potlatch quadrangle1:24000
- 1994 USGS Potlatch quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
18 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Potlatch between 1996 and 2020, burning about 416 acres in total. 5 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 89 acres | Idaho Department of Lands | CHANEY |
| 26 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | 56 acres | Idaho Department of Lands | GOLD HILL |
| 23 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 acres | Idaho Department of Lands | DUTCH LANE |
| 2 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Idaho Department of Lands | WEST GROUSE CREEK |
| 15 September 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 7.5 acres | Idaho Department of Lands | EAST ROCK CREEK |
| 8 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Idaho Department of Lands | GOLD CREEK GRASS |
| 6 August 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Idaho Department of Lands | WEST GOLD |
| 29 August 2001 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Idaho Department of Lands | FLANNIGAN CREEK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Potlatch: 3 past producers, 3 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Brick Clay, Phosphorus-Phosphates. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onaway Mine | Kaolin | Past Producer | 1902 | |
| Potlatch Clay Deposit | Brick Clay | Past Producer | Clay | |
| Potlatch Corporation Pit | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Unknown | ||
| Potlatch Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Brickner Mine | Clay | Past Producer | 1903 | |
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Potlatch South Clay Occurrence | Clay | Occurrence | Clay |
Storms near this place
6 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Potlatch in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 hail, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2009 | Flood | Potlatch | $250,000 | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Potlatch | $20,000 | many power lines and trees down. possible funnel cloud. |
| March 2022 | Flood | Potlatch | $5,000 | The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported that the rising Palouse River, near Potlatch, led to several parks and a softball field flooded. The Palouse River reached action stage from mid-day March 3rd until March 4th. The flooding was initiated by heavy rainfall and snow melt. There were no injuries or fatalities. |
| September 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Potlatch | $500 | Social Media reported large Ponderosa tree snapped near root from storm. A sensor at Potlatch recorded a gust of 41 MPH. |
| June 2022 | Funnel Cloud | Potlatch | - | Funnel cloud reported with no damage. |
| July 2006 | Hail | Potlatch | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onaway | 0.6 miles | 12 | |
| Potlatch Junction | 1.9 miles | 12 | |
| Hampton | 2.6 miles | 12 | |
| Princeton | 3.4 miles | 12 | |
| Freeze | 3.6 miles | 12 | |
| Chambers (historical) | 6.1 miles | 12 | |
| Cora | 6.7 miles | 10 | |
| Mountain Home (historical) | 6.9 miles | 10 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Potlatch | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1519646 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 397063. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.





