Potlatch is a city in the northwest United States, located in north central Idaho in Latah County, about six miles (10 km) east of the border with Washington.

On the Palouse north of Moscow, it is served by State Highway 6, and bordered on the northeast by the small community of Onaway.

The townsite was chosen because of proximity to the company's large holdings of Western White Pine on the Palouse River.

Wilkinson of Minnesota began constructing what would be the largest white pine sawmill in the world.

[6] It provide police and fire protection, a school, churches, a hospital, an inexpensive company store, and recreational amenities.

[6] Less than a decade later, with labor costs significantly reducing its townsite profit, the mill sold most of the homes and other buildings it owned, and Potlatch was incorporated.

[6] On the west side of town, the mill began operating on September 11, 1906, and continued for over seven decades.

Due to a depressed economy and declining lumber prices, the mill closed in August 1981.

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

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.43 square miles (1.11 km2), all of it land.