Rivers and Creeks -
"Selway River"
"Selway River"
Selway River Details
The Selway River is west of the Idaho-Montana border, located on the edge of Bitterroot Mountains. The river flows more than 120 miles miles (beginning at the headwaters in the Bitterroots) until confluence with the Lochsa near Lowell, Idaho, where together they form the Middle Fork of the ClearWater River. The Selway River resides in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area, which is known for its high ridges that drop off to steep walled canyons. The barren peaks bely the dense forests below, as well as the numerous streams, creeks, rivers and more than 100 lakes. The wildlife is abundant and thrive in this protected environment.
It has been said that the name,' Selway '(Selwai) is a combination of two words from the Nez Perce and Snake Indian languages, meaning 'smooth water'.
Selway River History
Evidence exists which indicates people have inhabited northern Idaho for over 10,000 years. The Selway River region was heavily used during prehistoric as well as historic times.
The Nez Perce (also known as Nimiipuu), as well as the Salish occupied the Selway area throughout their seasonal movements. Their trails followed high ridges near Lochsa River's north divide (aka Lolo Trail) and across Upper Selway terrain (aka Nez Perce Trail). This area was explored by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805 and 1806, and their recommendations were to avoid this area due to the challenging terrain. In the 1830s Hudsons Bay Company trappers explored the area looking for beaver, but determined that the effort outweighed the potential.
The Selway experienced prospecting in the 1860s, but no gold or silver in sufficient quantities were discovered, and resulted in no mining expansion in the area. The last part of the 19th century there was a lot of focus on development of a railroad connection from Lewiston ID to Missoula MT, via the Selway mountain area. The ruggedness of the area resulted in the railway option untenable which also inhibited any lumber/timber production.
The Forest Service heritage is strong in the Selway area and they maintain two ranger stations that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Moose Creek Ranger Station, built in 1922, and Fenn Ranger Station, constructed by the CCC in 1939.
The Bitterroot forest reserve was established in 1897 (and renamed Bitterroot National Forest eight years later), upper Lochsa and upper Selway timber lands were included along with a strip in Montana.
From a fire perspective the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness area, data has shown that approximately 70% of the area has burned in 524 fires in the span of 116 years (1880 through 1996). Additionally, approximately 70% of the total area burned is linked to the six (6) largest fire years (1889, 1910, 1919, 1929, 1934 and 1988).
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) projects had a considerable impact in many parts of Idaho. This depression era program, designed to relieve national unemployment and to undertake useful public projects, brought young men from distant places to build roads that opened Lolo Trail and Nez Perce Trail routes to automobile and truck traffic by 1935 and 1936. Many of the existing trail systems were expanded and bridges were built through this program.
The United States Congress designated the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in 1964, and it is the third largest Wilderness in the Lower 48 at approximately 1,340,500 acres (1st is Californias Death Valley Wilderness and 2nd is the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness). The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness is shared by Montana (approximately one fifth of total area) and Idaho.
In 1968, Congress established the National Wild & Scenic Rivers system that began with only six (6) rivers, of which the Selway River was one of first six.
Selway River and Area - Current Day
The Selway River is known as being one of the highest quality rivers in America, its preservation, beauty, and solitude are attributed to the wilderness designation. It is well known for its rapids, but it is actively managed from a float perspective to one group per day (16 people maximum) to reduce the impact of the environment.
Very few people visit the area although there are hundreds of trails (not maintained) in the Wilderness area (more than 700 in the Moose Creek Ranger District alone).
The Nez Perce Trail, which is approximately 101 miles long, single lane with very few turnouts, primitive dirt road (built by the CCC in the mid-1930's), is known today as Magruder Corridor Road. The corridor was created in 1980 when the Central Idaho Wilderness Act was enacted. The corridor which is 600 foot wide, straddles the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area as well as the Frank Church RONR Wilderness, and offers pristine views of the mountains as well as wildlife.
The Magruder Corridor is named after Lloyd Magruder who was murdered (along with his party) in October 1863 for his gold, by four travelers that had joined their group.