Rathdrum Prairie

Rathdrum Prairie is an Idaho historical marker in Kootenai County, dedicated 2025.

SH-53, milepost 0.45

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

The greatest floods in geological history once swept across the Rathdrum Prairie. Some 15,000 years ago, a lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet crept south from Canada to Sandpoint. The ice formed a dam creating glacial Lake Missoula, containing as much water as Lakes Erie and Ontario combined. As the climate warmed, the dam failed multiple times, repeatedly emptying the lake. Torrents of water rushed through here. The Missoula Floods shaped much of the Northwest. Following those deluges, this lowland became a natural transportation corridor. People traveled along the valley at least 10,000 years ago. Today, highways run through it.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Department of Oregon. Map of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1861 · Rocky Mountains to Puget Sound. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1872 · Bancroft's Map Of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana And British Columbia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1927 · Spokane, Seattle. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
A correct map of the Pacific Northwest showing rail & steamer lines of the O. R. & N. Co. (University of Michigan Library)

Spokane, Seattle, 1927, covering the location of Rathdrum Prairie, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Spokane, Seattle, 1927, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Rathdrum Prairie

Historical maps covering this location

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