What is the history of Lewiston, Idaho?
The first people of European ancestry to visit the Lewiston area were members of an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in October 1805. At the future townsite the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered settlements of the native Nez Perce. Named after Lewis, the town was founded in 1806 in the wake of a gold rush which began in the area the previous year. The first newspaper in present-day Idaho began publication in Lewiston in 1862. In 1863 Lewiston became the capital of the newly-created Idaho Territory. Lewiston’s stint as a seat of government was short-lived. A resolution to have the capital moved from Lewiston to Boise, IdahoBoise was passed by the Idaho Territorial Legislature on December 7, 1864. The move was made in 1865. According to legend the move was very unpopular in northern Idaho, so government officials secretly took the territorial seal from Lewiston and immediately departed for Boise to avoid the public out rage that was sure to erupt. North Idahoans
