Priest Lake reflects a beautiful blue sky and white patches of clouds as it lays peacefully below the Mountains of the Kaniksu National Forest; Watson Mountain, Lakeview Mountain, Nickelplate Mountain, Granite Mountain Bismark Mountain Reeder Mountain and Indian Mountain.
I found the following from this Research Source:
The human history of this lake dates back almost 10,000 years to the end of the last ice age. After the vast glaciers that covered most of the area receded and vegetation started to re-grow, First Nations Tribes (pre historic humans) started to resettle the area. This is evident from historical artifacts found in the area and ancient rock art along the lake.
Long before the white man set foot on what is now called the Great Basin (the area around Lake Pend d' Oreille) the land was populated by three tribes of Indians, the Kutenai, Kalispel, and the Coeur d' Alenes. The Kalispel lived around Priest Lake (in this photo) and their territory extended into Canada, Washington, and Montana from Idaho. They lived in much smaller groups than the Kutenai and enjoyed a good relationship and traded with the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and Kutenai tribes.
Their trading also included some Plains Indians.The hunting practices were similar to the Kutenai and there was a migration each year to The Plains to hunt Bison but to a lesser degree than did the Kutenai. The other elements of their diet was about the same as their neighbors to the north.
Most of the gathering and the preparation of meat was done by the women, while the men did the fishing and hunting for the tribe. Like the Kutenai everything they used came from what they gathered or killed. Their food tools, clothes they wore, and their shelter came from the land in which they lived.
The Kalispel tribal government was much like the mayor-council form of government. Their leaders had limited power and what power they had came mostly from persuasion and by setting a good example for the tribe to follow. The position of headman came by appointment of a council.
(Research Source)
The first european settlers arrived in the early 19th century. These early settlers were mainly fur trappers who quickly established trade with the native Kalispel Tribe. Jesuit Priests would eventually settle the lake in the 1840s and establish a base camp at Kalispell Bay.
One of these priests, Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, a native Belgian who had escaped from European persecution and became the most trusted of the white men among the Western Native Americans, named the lake Roothaan Lake for one of his superiors in Rome.
The name would not stick though and in 1865 Captain John Mullan, a U.S. Army Captain was traveling through the area under orders to build the "Mullan Trail" from Walla Walla, Washington to Fort Benton, Montana. This was after the discovery of silver in the central Idaho mountains along what today is the route of Interstate 90.
Captain Mullan renamed the lake to "Kaniksu", believed to be the native word for “black robe” and because of the Jesuit presence, the lake was later named Priest Lake.
(Research Source)
I lensed this scene while camping just south of here in and exploring the wilderness between the Columbia River and the Kootenai River.
Taken in late August as the sun starts to shift back south for the winter, this story-image is from my ongoing project in which I am trying to raise awareness of the 47% of the USA and 90% of Canada that remain unpopulated wilderness.
Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition is my personal mission to introduce people to these amazing locations that surround us.
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Yehaw!!