Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Potlatch, ID

Potlatch is a city in Latah County in north central Idaho, on the Palouse north of Moscow, about six miles east of the Washington border.

Potlatch had a population of 763 at the 2020 census, down from 804 in 2010, and it counted 339 households in the 2010 census.

In 1903 Frederick Weyerhaeuser incorporated the Potlatch Lumber Company, and the townsite was chosen for its proximity to the company's large holdings of western white pine on the Palouse River.

Crews began building in 1904 what would become the largest white pine sawmill in the world, and the mill began operating on September 11, 1906.

Because the mill was remote, Potlatch was built as a company town, with 143 houses built in 1906 and 58 more the following year, along with a hotel, school, general store, churches, and a hospital.

The company ran the town on a model patterned after the Pullman Company town in Illinois, providing police and fire protection, a school, churches, a hospital, and an inexpensive company store, while banning prostitution and prohibiting alcohol.

The mill operated for over seven decades before closing in August 1981 because of a depressed economy and declining lumber prices, and the town had been sold to its residents shortly before.

Five years after the mill closed, part of Potlatch's commercial district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

After the mill's closure, Potlatch became a bedroom community for the university towns of Moscow and Pullman, Washington.

City leaders have set aside 26 acres on the former mill site to attract companies in the firearms industry.