Priest Lake is a lake in Idaho, United States, in the northernmost portion of the Idaho Panhandle, 80 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington. The northern end of the lake extending to within 15 miles (24 km) of the Canada–US border. The primary lake, lower Priest, is 19 miles long and over 300 feet deep. Upper Priest is connected by a 2.5 mile thoroughfare to lower Priest. History The history of the lake dates back almost 10,000 years to the end of the last ice age. After the vast glaciers that had covered most of the area receded and vegetation started to regrow, humans started to resettle the area. That is evident from historical artifacts found in the area and ancient rock art along the lake. In the early 19th century fur trappers established trade with the native Kalispel tribe. In the 1840s Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean DeSmet began working with the Kalispel tribe along the nearby Pend Oreille River. From the tribe's information about Priest Lake, De Smet was able to create a map and 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 who was traveling through the area under orders to build a road (later known as the "Mullan Road") from Walla Walla, Washington to Fort Benton, Montana, after the discovery of silver in the central Idaho mountains along what today is the route of Interstate 90, would rename the lake Kaniksu. The lake was later named Priest Lake. Logging Since the 1890s, logging has played an important role at Priest Lake. Logs were floated down the lake, and eventually to the outlet where they would travel down the Priest River until they reached the mills on the Pend Oreille River. National concern over conservation of natural resources led to the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, under which the Priest River Forest Reserve was established in 1897. This forest reserve subsequently evolved into the Kaniksu National Forest – which has been recently incorporated into the Idaho Panhandle National Forests system. Most of the area on the east side of Priest Lake became school or endowment land for Idaho. In 1911, the state wanted to consolidate the three million acres of scattered parcels it received with statehood into a compact body to better manage timber sales effectively. It took 10 years