North Idaho History

Young Burdette - North Idaho Realtor - Idaho History
The City of Coeur d’Alene began with the construction of Fort Coeur d’Alene, later named Fort Sherman, in 1878. For 20 years, the presence of the military not only contributed to the local economy, but also provided a variety of cultural activities for local residents. The fort and the town were named by early French-speaking fur traders, who also named the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. The most common theory for the name is that they were known to have hearts (Coeur) as sharp as the point of an awl (Alene). The lake, which was the center of the Tribe’s homeland, become known as Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Natural resources of the area generated a flow rich in the industries, such as fur-trading, logging, mining. As a result of logging and mining, railroad and steamboat transportation greatly impacted the region’s economics. In 1886 Coeur d’Alene became the transfer point for a railroad/steamboat transportation system that connected the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Silver Valley. By 1910 the booming city had a variety of new stores and was served by five railroad lines and a fleet of steamboats. Coeur d’Alene became incorporated as a town in 1887, and the same year Fort Coeur d’Alene was renamed Fort Sherman in honor of General William Tecumseh Sherman, its original commander.

By the early 1890’s Coeur d’Alene was developing into a prosperous and unique city. The surge of prosperity came to a halt when a railroad was built around the southern end of the lake to the mining district and thus Fort Sherman closed.

The city of Coeur d’Alene had a rebirth in the early 1900’s as the result of a major timber boom. Coeur d’Alene developed from a small frontier village with a population of less than 500 into a bustling city of 8,000 in less than 10 years. In addition to becoming the political and business center of Kootenai County, Coeur d’Alene also became known for its tourist attractions as the electric train brought people from Spokane, WA to enjoy the parks, beaches and excursion boats. In 1908, Coeur d’Alene became the county seat of Kootenai County.

Idaho Trivia

Furby, the insanely popular interactive furball from Tiger Electronics, has Idaho roots. Tiger bought the little furball to market in the late 90s.

63% of Idaho is public land managed by the federal government. The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness is the largest wilderness area in the 48 contiguous states – 2.3 million acres of rugged, unspoiled back country.

The world’s first alpine skiing chairlift was (and still is) located in Sun Valley. Built by Union Pacific Railroad engineers, it was designed after a banana-boat loading device. The 1936 fee: 25 cents per ride.

The world’s first nuclear power plant is located at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL), near Arco, Idaho. The Atomic Energy Commission offered the town of Arco electricity generated by atomic energy in 1953.

The deepest river gorge in the North American Continent is Idaho’s Hells Canyon – 7,900 feet deep. Yes, it’s deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Sacajawea, a Lemhi Shoshone from an area now known as the Montana/Idaho border, escorted Merriwether Lewis and William Clark through northern Idaho to the mouth of the Columbia River drainage. Today, Highway 12 follows the old Lewis and Clark Trail along the Lochsa (pronounced lock-saw) and Clearwater Rivers until they merge with the Snake and continue their journey to the Pacific Ocean.

Five of history’s pioneer trails, including the Oregon Trail and the California Trail, cross Southern Idaho. Wagon ruts are still visible all along the rugged terrain.

The Scott Ski Pole, an invention which helped revolutionize skiing, was invented by Ketchum’s Edward Scott in 1958.

Nearly 85 percent of all the commercial trout sold in the United States is produced in the Hagerman Valley near Twin Falls.

Butch Cassidy , aka – George Leroy Parker, robbed the bank in Montpelier, Idaho, on August 13, 1896. He got away with $7,165, allegedly to hire a lawyer for his partner Matt Warner, who was awaiting trial for murder in Ogden, Utah.

Shoshone Falls (212 feet), near Twin Falls, Idaho, drops 52 feet further than Niagara Falls.

The Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area, near Kuna, is the location of the largest concentration of nesting raptors in North America. Thousands of visitors travel to the site each year, from March through August, to observe the birds.

Wilson Butte Cave, near Twin Falls, was excavated in 1959 and found to contain bones of bison and antelope, as well as some arrowheads and other artifacts that were carbon-dated to be 14,500 years old. This makes them “among the oldest definitely dated artifacts in the New World.”

Craters of the Moon National Monument in southeast Idaho contains nearly 40 separate lava flows, some formed as recently as 250 years ago. The other-worldly area was used as a training ground for early astronauts. The lavish June display of wild flowers adds to the surreal quality of the landscape.

“Coeur d’Alene” means “heart of an awl” in French.

Between 1863 (when Abraham Lincoln signed the bill making Idaho a Territory) and statehood (27 years later), the Idaho Territory had 16 governors, four who never set foot in Idaho.

Appropriately named the “Gem State,” Idaho produces 72 types of precious and semi-precious stones, some of which can be found nowhere else in the world.

The Silver Valley in northern Idaho has produced more than $4 billion in precious metals since 1884, making the area one of the top 10 mining districts in the world.

One of the largest diamonds ever found in the United States, nearly 20 carats, was discovered near McCall, Idaho.

In 1953, the engineering prototype of the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, was built and tested in the Idaho desert on the Snake River Plain near Arco.

Idaho’s Salmon River, known as the “River of No Return” because of its difficult passage, is the nation’s longest free-flowing river that heads and flows within a single state.

Did you know that Idaho has a seaport? The Port of Lewiston allows the exportation of millions of bushels of grain down the Snake and Columbia Rivers for overseas shipment.

After the great Wallace fire of 1910, the Pulaski, a mattock-axe tool used in fire fighting, was invented in Idaho.

When Bernard DeVoto, author of the 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning history Across the Wide Missouri, died in 1955, the U.S. Forest Service saw to DeVoto’s wish that his ashes be scattered over Idaho’s Bitterroot Wilderness.

The Statehouse in Boise and dozens of other buildings in the city are geothermally heated from underground hot springs. In fact, Idaho is well sprinkled with public and private hot springs.

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