Welcome to InlandNW.org

Our basic goal is the decentralization of government, and to move borders where necessary to create communities of like-minded people to govern themselves and to compete and trade with other communities. The purpose of this project is to combine Eastern Washington, with a population of 1,485,000 out of a state population of 6,725,000 (22%) with Northern Idaho, with a population of 303,000 out of a state population of 1,567,000 (19%) and create a new state with a population of 1,788,000, making the new state approximately #40 in population of U.S. states and #30 in area of U.S. states.

The Inland Northwest is being defined here as the area east of the Cascades and west of the Continental divide, north from approximately the 45th parallel to the 49th parallel. Portions of eastern Oregon, western Montana, and southern British Columbia could also be included.

The entire region shares the Columbia River watershed and shares its history and its people. By 1853, the area north of the Columbia River and west of the Cascades was sufficiently settled to establish Washington Territory. Areas of eastern Washington and northern Idaho were settled by reverse migration eastward, mostly following Catholic and Presbyterian missionaries and westering emigrants who followed the Oregon Trail. The region is still largely Catholic today and Catholicism is the fastest growing religion in the U.S. now.

The population shift caused by the gold rush in the Clearwater and Salmon River areas, caused the Washington territorial legislature to become concerned about shifting its capital in Olympia eastward, and with help from Lewiston, lopped off the mining country creating what became Idaho Territory in 1864.

Idaho was coined by a Colorado state promoter in 1860, the US Senate changed it to Colorado. A friend of his then named his Columbia River steamboat the Idaho, since it carried miners bound for the Idaho mines of the Salmon and Clearwater areas. In 1863, a treaty with the Nez Perce ceded Lewiston to the US. Congress then organized the Territory of Idaho and Lewiston was made the capital of the territory by William Wallace, the first governor of the territory.

In 1865, C. Dewitt Smith was appointed territorial secretary, and he had plans to move the records to Boise. With the help of the US army from Ft. Lapwai, they seized the Idaho seal, records and treasury, He then went south to Boise and died a few months later from alcoholism.

In 1886, Northern Idaho voted to join Washington State by a margin of about 98%. This was passed by Congress in 1887. Nevada helped because they wanted to annex southern Idaho, but Boise convinced President Cleveland to exercise a pocket veto.

Statehood in 1890 settled the matter when Moscow was promised the University. This issue has resurfaced in 3 elections since 1907 and will resurface again here and now.

Northern Idaho, which is rich in hard working people, natural resources, and recreational activities, is being and has always been exploited, subjugated, and intentionally held back by Southern Idaho so that Northern Idaho doesn't get too much political power.

Northern Idaho will have far more economic growth opportunity in the future than Southern Idaho, which will just dry up and blow away as the climate continues its unstoppable journey north. Northern Idaho is the true and original Idaho. Southern Idaho is actually just North Utah.

Central Washington was settled in the 1880s at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers when the Northern Pacific Railway was built near the Columbia River, bringing many settlers into the area. The city of Pasco, was incorporated in 1891. It was a small railroad town until the Grand Coulee Dam brought irrigation and agriculture to the area in 1941 and Hanford brought the soft glow of nuclear wastes to the area.

If you zoom in to the satellite view of the Tri-Cities area of Washington you can see about a thousand square miles of center pivot irrigated fields. This area should benefit greatly as the climate shifts north and there is no water left in Southern California. The climate shift will also bring more water to the Columbia basin rivers from increased moisture carried in the warmer air hitting the Rocky Mountains.

Our regional economy depends on continued use of our public lands, for logging, mining, grazing, recreation, etc. Conservation should just be the responsible application of economic uses, not curtailment. We also depend on all the jobs and tax revenue from the operation of our federal facilities and properties.

The Salmon River wilderness created an impenetrable barrier between north and south Idaho. There still is only one road connecting the north and south. Southern Idaho was settled by Mormon farmers migrating north from Utah, looking for water. The Carey Act of 1894, and the Reclamation Act of 1902, opened the Great American Desert in southern Idaho. Two million acres of productive irrigated cropland, canals, and reservoirs replace the tall sage and rabbit bush.

Mormonism is more than a religion, it is a socialist vertically integrated economic system. There are no homeless Mormons. There are no Mormons on public assistance. In fact, applying for government benefits is actually forbidden. You get a job, a home, free healthcare, free education, and single parents get free daycare. If you are not a member? Good luck, you will need it.

A majority of responsible businesses in the U.S. value their workers and their families and would like to have global peace, prosperity, economic growth, responsible government, and a reliable, happy, motivated, workforce. No business should ever have homeless workers. The business community should be “encouraged” to stand up to our politicians and demand responsible economic behavior from our government. 

I think we can all agree on the basic principles of bringing our money home to rebuild and grow our own economy and eliminate our corrupt political system.

Get up to date status, see what is happening, and what people are saying on our blog page.

If you can help our mission, please volunteer! We need directors and feet on the ground.

We will be endorsing and supporting Inland NW candidates for state and federal elected representative offices who have traditional Republican values of small government and economic and person freedom. Social Conservatives need not apply.

Private Land Use

There is a disturbing thing happening in agricultural real estate lately. Extremely rich corporations and people are buying large chunks of farmland and taking it out of production.

I've always opposed land use zoning, but now I can see the need for protecting the rural environment from unwanted development and developers. Ag zoning should require actual active agricultural operations.

In residential zones, building restrictions should be reduced substantially.

Public Land Use

Public land is the embodiment of freedom. It is necessary for the survival of the human spirit. Its resource value is continuously regenerated and selling off any of it for one time value is insanity. People shouldn't be arrested and fined for taking a walk in the woods.

Visit the Sagebrush Institute to help the fight against the privatization of public land.

Breaching the lower Snake River dams has nothing to do with Salmon migration:

“The rapid currents of the rivers which run into the Pacific render the ascent of them very exhausting to the salmon. When the fish first run up the rivers, they are fat and in fine order. The struggle against the impetuous streams and frequent rapids gradually renders them thin and weak, and great numbers are seen floating down the rivers on their backs. As the season advances and the water becomes chilled, they are flung in myriads on the shores, where the wolves and bears assemble to banquet on them”, from Washington Irving, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville in the Rocky Mountains and Far West…revised edition New York and London, 1843.

Swimming 400 miles of still water is a lot less work than 400 miles of fast moving water separated by a whitewater rapid nearly every mile of their migration to their spawning areas. If fish population was an actual concern, they could simply eliminate commercial fishing on the lower Columbia River.

It doesn't make sense that the Nez Perce tribe would want to hurt their local economy by eliminating the inland port, the clean electricity, and the food produced in the Tri-Cities area of south central Washington. It is more likely that WEF supported extreme environmental groups, who want to breach all the dams on all our rivers, pushing the movement to breach the 4 dams on the lower Snake River. Water plus CO2 equals food. Control the world's food supply, control the world.

This issue is causing uncertainty in economic planning for the future of communities in the Inland NW region. Do we have reliable stable power? Do we have a reliable stable workforce? Do we have reliable stable transportation?

For more information on the Snake River dams issue, check out the "Citizens for the Preservation of Fish and Dams" website: