The modest Bald Mountain ski area is located between Orofino and Pierce.

The Clearwater River and Lolo Pass, in the southeast corner of the county, were made famous by the exploration of Lewis and Clark in the early 19th century.

Following an arduous trek through the Bitterroot Mountains, suffering through a mid-September snowstorm and near starvation, the Corps of Discovery expedition camped with the Nez Perce tribe on the Weippe Prairie outside of present-day Weippe in 1805.

With the assistance of the Nez Perce, the expedition recuperated and constructed burned-out canoes at Canoe Camp in October 1805 and then paddled down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia rivers and met the Pacific Ocean a month later at present-day Astoria, Oregon.

It was the first gold rush area of present-day Idaho (then Washington Territory) in 1860 and was made the county seat of a vast Shoshone County in 1861, two years prior to the establishment of the Idaho Territory.

The vast distance and time required for travel to Wallace from the Clearwater River area prompted the move of the southern portion to Nez Perce County.

[4] It is part of the Palouse, a wide and rolling prairie-like region of the middle Columbia basin.

24.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 8,761 people, 3,660 households, and 2,397 families living in the county.

[14] In terms of ancestry, 29.3% were German, 17.8% were Irish, 13.8% were English, 6.7% were American, and 6.2% were Norwegian.

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Clearwater County.