Lucile, Idaho — Life in the Narrow Space Beside the Salmon

Lucile sits along the Salmon River north of Riggins, where steep canyon walls leave very little flat ground to argue over.

Homes, ranches and agricultural patches occupy benches and openings beside the water. Mining and river travel added other reasons for people to use the corridor.

U.S. 95 now follows the canyon through the same limited space.

The Salmon remains free-flowing along this stretch, giving Lucile a very different relationship with its river than communities beside the large reservoirs farther north.

Everything here has to negotiate with topography: highway, houses, fields and driveways.

The river gets the broadest part of the canyon. Everyone else works with what remains.