Idaho panhandle
Other important cities in the region include Lewiston, Moscow, Post Falls, Hayden, Sandpoint, and the smaller towns of St. Maries and Bonners Ferry.The panhandle has traditionally been one of the strongest areas for Democrats in statewide elections, largely because of its unionized miners and a smaller Mormon population than Southern Idaho.However, it largely changed in the 1980s with the drop in silver prices, slump of metal markets, mine closures and passage of a right-to-work law.Additionally, the influx of conservatives from Southern California beginning in the 1970s, many of whom were retired LAPD officers who chose to move to Coeur d'Alene, also shifted the politics of the region.The passage by vehicle was arduous until significant highway improvements were made on U.S. Route 95 in North Central Idaho, specifically at Lapwai Canyon (1960), White Bird Hill (1975), the Lewiston grade (1977), and Lawyer's Canyon (1991).The North Idaho region is most noted for silvaculture, the growing of trees and the production of lumber through the region's 12 lumber mills.