Lowman, Idaho

Lowman is a small rural census-designated place in Boise County, Idaho, United States. It is nestled along the north bank of the South Fork of the Payette River in the central part of the state, at an elevation of 3800 ft above sea level. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42.

History


The community was named for a homesteader, Nathaniel Winfield Lowman, from Polk County, Iowa, who settled there in 1907.

Lowman is notable for having a one-room school, one of only a couple hundred still in use in the United States.

A devastating wildfire ravaged the area around Lowman in 1989; it destroyed over 45000 acre and 26 structures, but without injuries or fatalities.

Geography
80 mi from Boise on State Highway 21, the "Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway," Lowman is at the junction with the 33 mi "Banks-Lowman Highway"; now designated Highway 2512A. It is the "Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway," which heads west and descends nearly 1000 ft with the whitewater of the South Fork to its confluence with the North Fork at Banks, the junction with State Highway 55, the "Payette River Scenic Byway."

The "Highway to Heaven" trail, stretching more than 150 mi from Idaho's capital of Boise, is the only mountain passage in the West that begins from a major city. The trail winds from 8th Street in Boise and climbs the Boise River, past the Lucky Peak Dam. Sagebrush gives way to gentle pine slopes leading to historic Idaho City, then over Mores Creek Summit at 6117 ft. The road descends over 1000 ft then climbs to Beaver Creek Summit (6041 ft) and switches back down to Lowman. The route then climbs with the South Fork of the Payette River up and over Banner Summit at 7056 ft to Stanley, where it meets State Highway 75, just northeast of the Sawtooths.

Lowman is in a geothermally active region; natural hot springs surface in the middle of the community as well as in many other places in the surrounding mountains.

Lowman has an area of 2.078 mi2; 2.039 mi2 is land, and 0.039 mi2 is water

Climate
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Lowman has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

Transportation

 * ID-21.svg - SH-21 - to Idaho City and Boise (south) and Stanley (north)

Notable residents

 * Gordon Bess, cartoonist of Redeye
 * Robin Fontes returned to Idaho after a military career, retired a Major General