Welcome!
Valley County
- established February 26, 1917, from Boise and Idaho counties, with its county seat at Cascade
- named for the outstanding topographical feature of the area
Fur trappers were the first white men in the area but permanent settlement did not take place until the 1880s when livestock ranchers moved into the area.
The majority of the county is public land, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service. The Cascade Ranger District, Boise National Forest, covers the southern portion of the county and the McCall Ranger District, Payette National Forest, covers the northern portion.
The valley floor at Cascade is 4739 feet and 5038 feet at McCall. Since pre-history the area has seen a population swelling in the summer months. Mountain Shoshoni and Nez Perce Indians used the mountainous areas for summer food gathering, hunting and fishing. The area saw fur-trapping from the 1820's through the 1840's. With the discovery of gold at Warrens (Idaho County) in 1862, gold-miners started pouring into the area. A few miners stayed on into the 1880's, at which time early settlers began entering into the Long Valley area to homestead the fertile valley. In 1904 the state constructed a wagon road up the North Fork of Payette River. Prior to that time major access route to Long Valley was via a wagon road up Squaw Creek (now Gem County), or over Dry Buck Summit (now Boise County) and through High Valley to Smith's Ferry. The main route into northern Valley County was through Wesier, Council and Meadows. The railroad reached Cascade about 1916 and several post offices were established along the route.
The logging and mining camps of the last century, as well as the Forest Service, brought seasonal workers here. The Civilian Conservation Corps, the "Tree Army," brought men here in the '30's. An Idaho PTV story says CCC boys planted millions of trees and built thousands of miles of roads and trails, transforming Idaho’s backcountry. Stibnite boomed during the '40's, due to the nation's mineral demand. In the late '40's Cascade boomed with the construction of the Cascade Dam. Today, as extractive industries wan, tourism draws people and many people from other areas have summer homes here.
Valley County towns, post offices and communites
- Cascade Chamber of Commerce
- Donnelly Chamber of Commerce
- City of McCall
- Yellow Pine and Yellow Pine Harmonica Contest
- Warm Lake Users Assoc.
