It is amazing the difference four decades can make in an area. When I was going to school about 30 miles north of Lewiston the smell from the paper mills was noticeable 10-15 miles away and murky brown haze filled the air well before you got to this overlook of the white knuckle switchback going down the hill. We called it the armpit of the nation.
All the smell and haze are now gone and there is a new US-95 divided highway that barrels down the hill with only one big curve before it joins US-12 along the Clearwater River.
The big river coming up from the south is the famous Snake River coming out of Hell's Canyon, the deepest gorge in the US, to pickup the Clearwater River and continue southwest to join the Columbia River just before it becomes the Oregon-Washington border. East of the Snake is Lewiston, Idaho and west is Clarkston, Washington, sister cities named after Lewis and Clark. This very nice silhouette sculpture depicting the meeting of clutures graces the hill where US-12 and US-95 join before crossing the Clearwater into the main part of Lewiston.
In the northwest corner of Lewiston where the old bridge comes over the Snake from Clarkston is another set of silhouette sculptures also depicting the explorers meeting the native Americans. It is a rather interesting observation that the tribes that eventually fought the growing USA are generally still around and have reservation lands while the peaceful mergings resulted in the tribe disappearing. Worldwide that seems to be the key to prosperity: fight the US, lose, get foreign aid.
Within walking distance of the sculptures is the Nez Perce County Historical Society with these very well done murals mounted on the north side of the building so hopefully they will last a long time. In the Idaho page I showed some of the rugged country the Lewis and Clark team faced in crossing Lolo Pass and then coming down the Lochas River which becomes the Clearwater before joining the Snake and then the Columbia leading to the sea. I'm not familiar with all the history but the frequent name changes had little to do with the journey and their whole path could very well be named a single river.
Inside the museum was having an exhibit about fraternal orders which were the precursors to labor unions and then Social Security as a safety net. I really enjoyed this shrine from one of the Chinese associations in the area.