Moscow

History

Indigenous people who inhabited what is now Moscow, Idaho include the Nez Perce, Palouse, and the Coeur d'Alene people (Schitsu’umsh). Miners and farmers began arriving in the northern Idaho area after the Civil War. The first permanent settlers came to the Moscow area in 1871. The abundance of camas bulbs, a favorite fodder of pigs brought by the farmers, led to naming the vicinity "Hog Heaven." When the first US post office opened in 1872, the town was called "Paradise Valley," but the name changed to "Moscow" in 1875. The name Paradise persists in the main waterway through town, Paradise Creek, which originates at the west end of the Palouse Range, flows south to the Troy Highway, and west to Pullman where it enters the South Fork of the Palouse River. Historians have disputed the precise origin of the name Moscow. There is no conclusive proof that it is connected to the Russian capital, though various accounts suggest it purposely evoked the Russian city or was named by Russian immigrants. Another account claims that the name derives from a Native American tribe named "Masco". Early settlers reported that five local men met to choose a proper name for the town, but could not agree. The postmaster, Samuel Neff, then completed the official papers for the town and chose Moscow for the name. Neff was born in Moscow, Pennsylvania. By 1875, the town had a business district that was a center of commerce for the region. By 1890, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company's rail line (later the Union Pacific) and the Northern Pacific railroad line helped boost the town's population to 2,000. The capital of the Idaho Territory was relocated from Lewiston to Boise in December 1864. In the late 1880s, statehood for the Washington Territory was nearing. Because its…

Geography

Main Street runs north–south through Moscow along the 117th meridian west. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land. Moscow lies on the eastern edge of the Palouse region of north central Idaho in the Columbia River Plateau. East of the city is a valley within the mountains of the Palouse Range to the northeast, whose highest point is Moscow Mountain at above sea level. The less prominent Paradise Ridge at and Tomer Butte at are southeast of the city. Paradise Creek, with headwaters on Moscow Mountain to the northeast, flows through Moscow, then crosses the state border and joins the south fork of the Palouse River near Pullman, which eventually drains into the Snake River and Columbia River on its way to the Pacific Ocean. The geology in and around Moscow represents varied formations: very old intrusive granite structures of the Jurassic−Eocene Idaho Batholith, fertile fields atop rolling hills of deep Pleistocene loess of the Palouse Formation deposited after the last ice age by westerly winds, and flood-worn channels of the Columbia River Basalt Group. There is a variety of flora and fauna within the vicinity of Moscow. An amphibian, the Rough-skinned Newt, has a disjunctive population at Moscow; this species is found typically along the Pacific coast of the US. The city sits at the boundary between the Palouse grasslands and wheat fields, and the conifer forests of the Rocky Mountains to the east. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Moscow has either a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb) or a dry-summer continental climate (Dsb).

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  11,188
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  10,535
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,016
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  9,321
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  8,918
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,332
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,066
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,811

Largest nearby schools

• MOSCOW HIGH SCHOOL
  High · MOSCOW · 769 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• MOSCOW MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · MOSCOW · 498 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• A B MCDONALD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · MOSCOW · 354 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• LENA WHITMORE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · MOSCOW · 236 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• PALOUSE PRAIRIE CHARTER SCHOOL
  Elementary · MOSCOW · 210 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• MOSCOW CHARTER SCHOOL
  Elementary · MOSCOW · 197 students · 17.9:1 ratio
• WEST PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · MOSCOW · 173 students · 14.4:1 ratio
• J RUSSELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · MOSCOW · 143 students · 11.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2021-12-15
  1 km NW of Lewiston Orchards, Idaho
• M 2.9 — 2021-10-16
  8 km SSW of Culdesac, Idaho
• M 2.51 — 2020-03-31
  12 km NE of Sprague, Washington
• M 2.65 — 2017-04-17
  5 km ENE of Lewiston Orchards, Idaho
• M 2.7 — 2016-09-20
  16 km SE of Deary, Idaho
• M 2.5 — 2015-11-30
  8 km N of Onaway, Idaho