This was once a bustling pioneer river village; here Lewis and Clark camped in 1805 and made peace with the Nez Perce bands, and here along the banks of the creek Chief Red Wolf, who had been given some seeds by the Reverend H. H. Spalding, planted, in 1837, the first orchard in the Snake River Valley. In 1861 Sam Smith established a trading post in this part of the country and for years the post was an important crossing point on the river and a stage stop on the Lewiston-Pomeroy route.

The name commemorates one of the early sheriffs, John Silcott, who was known for many miles as a man quick on the draw and worthy of respectful attention from would-be law breakers. Silcott with his wife, the daughter of Chief Timothy, ran a little ferry across the river, and the village that took root was known familiarly as Silcott, or Silcott’s Landing, until 1882, when it was platted and named Alpowa. For a brief time the settlement flourished around a flour mill and warehouses, but in 1885 the miniature boom collapsed and the original name was restored. A few years later most of the buildings were destroyed by fire.