To understand the history of Sandpoint, and Bonner County, North Idaho, one must first take into account our geography. While our area is dominated by mountains, the most prominent feature is Lake Pend Oreille, with an area of 148 square miles, and 111 miles of coastline. After the Great Salt Lake it is the 2nd largest in the Western US. It is 65 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions (5th in the US). Fed by Clark Fork River and drained by the Pend Oreille River. It is surrounded by national forests and many small towns, including Bayview, Hope, and Sandpoint. All but the southern tip of the lake is in Bonner County, the southern tip which is home to Farragut State Park, the original home of the Farragut Naval Training Station, and the home of the NAVSEA's Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division's Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD) is in Kootenai County.

The lake is home to many species of fish including: rainbow trout, lake trout, perch, crappie, bass, walleye, whitefish and kamloops. The forests are known to have various pines, such as ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, poplar and western larch. Whitetail deer, squirrels, black bears, coyotes, elk, cougar, and bobcats are known to reside in these forests. Bald Eagles, osprey, owls, hummingbirds, hawks, woodpeckers, ducks and the mountain bluebird are seen in the skies around the lake.

It is also believed that the eastern side of the lake was in the path of the ancient Missoula Flood. This is the great event that shaped much of the Inland Empire of the Pacific Northwest. The Missoula Flood is an Ice Age event that has been featured on NOVA, and refer to the catastrophic floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. Farragut State Park is located where the Lake Missoula Floods broke out from the end of Lake Pend Oreille.

The floods were the result of the periodic sudden rupture of the ice dam on the Clark Fork River that created Glacial Lake Missoula. After each rupture of the ice dam, the waters of the lake would rush down the Clark Fork and the Columbia River, inundating much of eastern Washington and the Willamette Valley in western Oregon. After the rupture, the ice would reform, recreating Glacial Lake Missoula once again.

Geologists estimate that the cycle of flooding and reformation of the lake lasted on average of 55 years and that the floods occurred approximately 40 times over the 2,000 year period between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago.

The other great shaping feature was the area’s glaciers. The rugged mountainous beauty of this area of North Idaho was formed by these two components. For thousands of years, these two forces of nature were actively moving the landscape of North Idaho. The glacial ice sheets moved land, mountain, and water over centuries. The floods occurred over relatively shorter periods. The areas of the Lake Pend Oreille and the Clark Fork River held a dam of ice that towered over two thousand feet today’s lake level. When this dam failed many times over the millennia a deluge of water was released in unimaginable proportions at speeds of 60 miles per hour and hundreds of feet deep, creating forces great enough to shape the landscape we know today from here to Portland, Oregon.

The Kalispel tribe was the first to inhabit Sandpoint. With a moderate climate and bountiful game and food, they prospered from Montana to Eastern Washington.

White man reintroduced the horse to North America in the 16^th century and by the 1700s the Kalispel tribe began to utilize the horse, taking them east of the Rocky Mountains, bringing contact with Plains Indians. The Kalispel adopted some of the habits and culture of these tribes, including hide-covered tipis and buffalo meat.

Despite their growing dependence on buffalo, the Kalispel remained adept at utilizing local resources. They caught fish and hunted a wide variety of game and birds. Women dug camas bulbs, baking them in large underground pits to render them suitable for winter storage. They also picked berries and wild fruits, drying large quantities for use during the cold months.

Another group that lived on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille were the Flathead Indians and several Salish, Kootenai and Pend O'Reilles bands lived in western Montana, northern Idaho, and eastern Washington in the early 1800s. The Flathead Indians of Montana built encampments on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille every summer, fished, made baskets of cedar, and collected huckleberries before returning to Montana in the fall. The encampments ended before 1930.

Traditionally Kalispel territory encompassed Lake Pend Oreille along the Pend Oreille River into eastern Washington, and east along the Clark Fork River into Montana. They established year-round settlements near present-day Laclede, on both sides of the river, and at the mouth of the Clark Fork River, where 300-400 Kalispel lived. There were additional permanent villages in eastern Washington, as well as numerous seasonal camps, including one near present-day Sandpoint.

Long before white explorers came to the Pend d'Oreille country, an old Indian trail from Spokane River ran through Rathdrum prairie and crossed the Pend d'Oreille at Sineacateen (a name which comes from the Kalispell or Pend d'Oreille word for crossing-of-the-waters), located close to the present site of Laclede. Then the trail continued northward across the Kootenai at Bonner's Ferry.

Idaho was the last state to be explored by European and American explorers. Lewis and Clark crossed into Idaho in August 1805 on their journey of exploration for the United States government. Their route took them far south of present-day Bonner County, over Lolo Pass and down the Clearwater River.

While many explorers gained great fame, including Lewis and Clark, our area was first exploited by David Thompson: the determined and intrepid Canadian trading expedition leader who led the first white men to the shores of Lake Pend Oreille in the fall of 1809. His contemporary, the great explorer Alexander Mackenzie, remarked that Thompson did more in ten months than he would have thought possible in two years.

Thompson served as explorer, map maker, and trader for the Canadian North West Company, a rival in the fur trade with Hudson's Bay Company. Although he was in Idaho for a total of only sixty-eight days over several years, Thompson's impact was tremendous. He not only expanded the fur trade into the Inland Northwest and established the first trading post on Lake Pend Oreille, Kullyspell House, but he also located all the practical routes of travel. Kullyspell House still stands on the Hope Peninsula, and longevity of the building is a testament to the fortitude of the man. Soon after Thompson set up Salish House in Montana later in 1810, a year after David Thompson established a North West Company fur trade post on Lake Pend d'Oreille, and some of his trappers came down this trail to found Spokane House west of Spokane Falls where the later city of Spokane was built. Thompson's Pend d'Oreille post (Kullyspell, or Kalispell House) proved to be an unfortunate location: on November 14, 1811, Thompson decided to abandon it because the Kalispell (or Pend d'Oreille) Indians did "not hunt, but only gamble & keep the men starving. . . ." So he sent his trappers back to Spokane House. But Finnan MacDonald (who had a Pend d'Oreille wife) continued to work with the Pend d'Oreille band, which often camped at Sineacateen. By the spring of 1813, rival Astorian fur traders were on hand at MacDonald's Pend d'Oreille camp at Sineacateen. In an effort to rush in a stock of tobacco for more effective competition for furs in the Pend d'Oreille camp, the Astorian gained a temporary advantage. But MacDonald, who regularly helped his Pend d'Oreille associates fight the Blackfeet, came out ahead in the long run. The North West Company emerged in control of the Spokane-Pend d'Oreille country, and MacDonald spent many years enjoying "the fascinating pleasures of the far-famed Spokane House." Whenever he took his wife to see their Pend d'Oreille relatives, he still traveled over the old Indian trail past Sineacateen.

Trappers and traders continued to sporadically make their way to the region throughout the first half of the century, along with many missionaries, mainly Jesuits, called “Kaniksu” (Black Robes in Indian). In the years after the fur trade, the Indians continued to camp on their travels at Sineacateen. The North West Company was not alone in trying to harvest furs in the Pacific Northwest. Hudson's Bay Company maintained a chain of posts throughout the region and absorbed its opponent in 1821. The fur trade continued into the 1840s, but its importance declined as the years went on.

As more Europeans and Americans arrived, they displaced the Indian tribes that originally lived in the region.

However, efforts to establish a reservation for the Kalispel failed, and tensions between the two cultures increased. Michael, leader of the upper Kalispel, signed a treaty with the government in Sandpoint in 1887, but Masselow, leader of the Lower Kalispel, refused to agree to its terms. As a result, Congress never ratified the treaty.

In 1914, the Kalispel finally received more than 4,500 acres of land for a reservation in eastern Washington. Members of the tribe continued to travel in and out of Bonner County into the 1930s, following some of their traditional seasonal activities.

Father DeSmet arrived in 1846. He marked a lake in the Selkirk Mountain range as “Roothan” honoring his superior in Italy. Captain John Mullan, builder of the Army’s Mullan road, likewise saw the mountain gem and named it “Lake Kaniksu” on his map in 1865. This mountain-ringed body of water later became known as Priest Lake.

Two major survey projects introduced more newcomers to northern Idaho. Isaac Stevens directed a transcontinental railroad survey in the early 1850s, exploring several possible routes across Idaho. One along the northern shore of Lake Pend Oreille later became the route chosen by the Northern Pacific Railroad.

British and American surveyors camped in what is now Bonner County in 1860-1861 as they worked their way north to mark the international boundary. Survey crews established a supply depot at Sineacateen in 1860, and another one farther north at Chelemta, near present-day Bonners Ferry. From there crews moved north to the border, which they marked with a wide swath cut through the forest. Artist James Alden accompanied the American team, recording their activities much as a photographer would today.

The decade of the 1860s brought a flurry of activity to northern Idaho. Gold was discovered in 1863 on Wild Horse Creek in British Columbia and the next year near Helena, Montana. Thousands of miners swarmed through Idaho on their way to the new diggings. While those heading for Wild Horse followed the old Indian trail that David Thompson had used, miners going to Montana had the option of taking the recently completed Mullan military road (the route of Interstate 90) or the trail around Lake Pend Oreille. A steady stream of pack trains passed over both routes, taking supplies to the new camps.

The naming of Bonner County is a memorial to an outstanding pioneer of the north area - Edwin L. Bonner, who came here in 1863 and purchased the right to build and operate a ferry on the Kootenai river from old Chief Abraham of the Kootenai tribe at the ferry site less than 30 miles from Canada.

Idaho Legislature also granted ferry privileges to Charles H. Campfield and associates whose ferry was a part of the Wild Horse Trail to the booming mining country of the Kootenays in Canada, in 1863 and 1864. This led to the opening of pack train trails from Fort Walla Walla in Washington territory and in 1864, with the Kootenay gold rush, miners and supply trains came from Walla Walla up the old Indian trail past Sineacateen. A wagon road went as far as Sineacateen, where a ferry was installed to accommodate traffic. Miles Moore, later governor of Washington, had one of the trading posts there during the gold rush. From Sineacateen ferry, a pack trail (known thereafter as the Wild Horse Trail) followed the old Indian route to Bonner's Ferry (also established on the Kootenai in 1864) and on to the Wild Horse mines near later Fort Steele, British Columbia. By 1866, Sineacateen had two saloons, two stores, and a hotel. Traffic from the Pacific Northwest to the Montana mines at Helena came by Sineacateen in 1866, since the Mullan road (actually only a pack trail across Idaho) had fallen into poor condition.

Mail pouches traveled by pony express to government steamers at Steamboat Landing at the head of Lake Pend Oreille for delivery to waiting riders at Hope, for Fort Missoula.

Idaho Territory was still in its swaddling clothes when a visitor to Bonner county of today found “Pend d’Oreille City (now Sandpoint) a charming little place, where he enjoyed the society of the enterprising and hospitable gentlemen who have made it their home.“

This visitor, Col. Cornelius O’Keefe, “late of the Irish Brigade,” told of this visit in an article published in the August, 1867 issue of a monthly magazine.

O’Keefe was en route to Montana at the time, making the trip, according to his article; “From New York to San Francisco, via Nicaragua – thence by sea to Portland, Oregon – thence up the Columbia to Walla Walla – thence on mule or horse back to Lake Pend d’Oreille, in the Territory of Idaho.”

O’Keefe, who was to make the next leg of his trip aboard the Mary Moody, one of the early day steamers on Lake Pend Oreille, wrote in glowing terms of Pend d'Oreille City, its people, the scenery of the area and also of the Mary Moody.

“Pend d’Oreille City, standing on a picturesque slope – or running down it, to speak more correctly – consists of a large store comfortably stocked, with California and Oregon goods – dry, soft and liquid – a billiard saloon of grand dimensions – a modestly-proportioned hotel – and a half dozen private residences, evenly and compactly built of logs and snugly shingles,” O’Keefe wrote.

“The store belongs to Captain Moody, who is also the principal owner of the little steamboat, which has been complimented with his daughter’s name. The billiard saloon is the property of Mr. Blackstone, whose genial nature well deserves the soldierly and splendid frame through which it radiates.”

The Pend Oreille route was plagued with mud problems which slowed, but did not stop, determined travelers. Launching of the steamboat Mary Moody in 1866 helped ease this situation. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company built the boat at Sineacateen in the winter of 1865-66. Following the launching in late April, the Mary Moody carried packers and their animals from Sineacateen to Kootenai Landing if they were headed north, or to Cabinet Landing if they were headed east. Later in 1866 the home port was changed from Sineacateen to Pend d'Oreille City at the south end of the lake.

The Mary Moody he termed the first of three boats to navigate the Clark’s Fork of the Columbia to the mouth of the Jocko, 10 miles west of the main range of the Rocky Mountains … some 50 miles from Pend d’Oreille City. There, O’Keefe wrote, she stopped short at the landing at the foot of Cabinet Mountain, “the Rapids, immediately above the landing, being too violent to permit her pushing further up.”

Above the Rapids, a second boat took travelers to Thompson’s Falls, and above Thompson’s Falls, the third boat completed the chain of navigation to the Jocko.

The distant mines stimulated the growth of the first two settlements in Bonner County. By 1867, Pend d'Oreille City had two grocery stores, a hotel, billiard hall, saloon, and stable and just about matched the booming metropolis of Sineacateen with its hotel, two stores, and two saloons. These towns did not last, however, fading as the mining boom dwindled at the end of the decade.

The impact of the mining boom on northern Idaho was temporary, but the coming of the railroad changed life here permanently. After the initial survey in 1853, the Northern Pacific conducted additional surveys in the 1870s to justify the big northerly sweep that the line took around Lake Pend Oreille.

Efforts at construction moved forward slowly, moving from west to east through this area. The tracks reached the south side of the Lake Pend Oreille outlet at the end of 1881. The next year 6,000 men - 4,000 of them Chinese - continued the construction through the Clark Fork division which ran from Sandpoint into Montana. This was the most expensive section to build on the entire Northern Pacific line.

Sineacateen still served as an important base when the Northern Pacific Railway was built nearby in 1881-1882. Surveyors who located the line camped there prior to construction, but the Northern Pacific came through a few miles away. New communities emerged with rail transportation, and Sineacateen no longer occupied a strategic site after transportation routes changed with new bridges and new lines of communication. Sandpoint on Lake Pend d'Oreille replaced Sineacateen as the major center for that part of the country.

Hope began to grow in 1882 when the Northern Pacific came through and in 1900 set its Rock Mountain division point in the hillside village. Incorporated in 1903, the village was named in honor of the veterinarian who tended the construction horses. A wise and kindly man, Dr. Hope was widely respected. Hope was the largest town in the area during the 1880s, achieving prominence as the Rocky Mountain division point on the Northern Pacific line. Engines turned around in the large roundhouse, and the railroad built shops, offices, and a "beanery" there.

The Hotel Jeannot was able to capitalize on this business with its location right above the depot, and with it's tunnels providing easy access for passengers to the hotel. Many say that the tunnels were used to entertain these Chinese “coolees,” who were normally not allowed in the establishments that served the locals and travelers.

In contrast to Hope's early boom, Sandpoint grew slowly following completion of the railroad. An 1883 visitor found only 300 people in town, and nine years later another traveler reported that "Sandpoint is made up of between three and four dozen rude shacks and perhaps a dozen tents." The town experienced tremendous growth, however, following the turn of the century.

When the division point moved to Sandpoint, Hope began to decline. The hotel continued to draw people until the 1960's, partly because the picturesque setting of the town beside Lake Pend Oreille attracted many tourists. Some of them prominent, such as; J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, Gary Cooper, and Bing Crosby.

The original Hotel Jeannot (now Hotel Hope) was a wooden structure which burned down in about 1886. It was then that Joseph M. Jeannot started on his fireproof commercial building, which he shared with his brother Louis. He constructed one section at a time, and added on over the years, finally completing the three-bay, two story hotel in 1898. The rectangular building has two full stories above two separate basement sections. The facade is divided into three approximately equal bays which vary in design and building materials indicating that the hotel was built in sections over a period of years. This theory collaborated by the analysis of the structure during restoration as well as through oral accounts. The first section to be built was the first story of the east bay with it's walls of rock-faced random-coursed granite ashlar with beaded joints. Next came the first story of the center bay with it's lower facade walls of poured concrete. Following this, or possibly built at the same time, was the red brick second story over the center and east bays. The west bay was the last to be built, either all at once or in two stages. The first floor is of poured concrete with the second floor of red brick.

Various business have occupied the building over the years including a saloon, a restaurant, a general store, a meat market, and even a post office. The vaulted meat cooler adjoining the west basement was probably built when Louis ran his general store, and meat market in the period from 1895 to 1897. Now called the Hotel Hope, it still stands as a testament to the times.

J. M. Jeannot's hotel and saloon were not his only business interests. He was also involved in mining and had several claims across Lake Pend Oreille in the area of Green Monarch Mountain. Hope had a large Chinese population which had arrived with the railroad, and Jeannot supposedly took advantage of this source of cheap labor for his mines. According to one of Jeannot's friends, he allowed these men to use the meat cooler under the hotel as a clubhouse. They gained access to this room through the small tunnel which connected it to the railroad depot, thus bypassing the more obvious entrances. This vault in the hotel is one of the few sites left in Hope which may be connected with the large number of Chinese who used to live in the town.

Jeannot's mining operations as well as his losses at gambling led to his unstable financial condition which may have been one reason the hotel took ten to twelve years to complete. According to one source, the construction was held up for more than a year when Jeannot lost all of his money in a bet on William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Uncertain finances continued to plague Jeannot and he mortgaged and remortgaged the hotel over the years between 1907 and 1918, eventually losing the building in 1918. A friend paid off the debt in 1920, and ran the hotel until her death in 1968.

Two other railroads contributed to the growth of Bonner County. The Great Northern Railroad came through in 1892, stimulating the development of Colburn, Laclede, and Priest River. In 1905, the Spokane International opened more of the countryside to development. Sawyer, Vay, and Clagstone grew up along this route.

The spring of 1894 is still remembered as “high water year.” Streams throughout the entire panhandle were overflowing with a heavy snow pack melting rapidly under a sudden hot spell.

An old railroad map first designated the village of Sandpoint as “Pend Oreille.” The first post office was at Venton across the lake, but when the Northern Pacific railroad completed its long trestle over the mouth of the lake, the post office was moved to Pend Oreille and Venton died out. In 1886, the second community became known officially as Sandpoint. So named for the nearby landmark … a long bar of silvery sand stretching into the lake. Sandpoint was platted as a town site in 1898 when the Great Northern Railroad telegrapher, L. D. Farmin, subdivided his family homestead along Sand Creek. The village was incorporated in 1900. He filed on the original town site and laid out Sandpoint ten feet above the lake's high water mark, near the sandy shore of Lake Pend Oreille.

While the railroads were the primary links connecting early communities, trails and rough roads were upgraded for general use. Much of this was done on a commission basis, with the county then granting the contractor the right to charge a set toll for using his road. Dr. Wilbur Hendryx held a franchise on the toll road running from Kootenai to Bonners Ferry, and the early county commissioners received many complaints from northern citizens about the unjust fares. The county gradually took over these roads, but maintenance was a continual problem. In October 1888, J. J. Noonan, Road Supervisor of District 3, reported that recent fires had destroyed all of the corduroy (log "ribbing" laid across a wet spot to provide stability) on the county road between Sandpoint and Kootenai Station. The commissioners appropriated $450 for necessary repairs.

Water inundated the Northern Pacific Railroad trestle at Sandpoint. Flat cars, loaded with rock for ballast were run out on the bridge to keep it from floating away. Later the railroad raised its tracks well above the high water level creating a problem for Sandpoint.

The village, strung along either side of the tracks, found itself divided by the railroad’s 10-foot high fill and cut off from expanding. Left with but one recourse, the villagers moved west of the tracks and across Sand Creek into “the sticks” (logged over land).

The main settlements underwent their baptism of fire. Three times the Sandpoint business district was burned out with several lives lost.

Steamboats also served as an important link between towns and outlying areas. The heyday on Lake Pend Oreille ran from the 1880s into the 1930s. The boats burned many cords of wood on each trip to generate the necessary steam.

The surrounding countryside filled up with settlers who often homesteaded government land or purchased land from the railroad for as little as $2.60 an acre. Although land was cheap, life could be hard and frequently lonely. Elmina Markham arrived with her husband and seven children in November 1883, settling at Sineacateen where they operated a ferry for many years. Mrs. Markham later wrote, "I was here eight months without seeing a white woman. There was a man and his wife and two or three sons come here on a fishing trip. I went out and shook hands with her. I was so glad to see a white woman. She only stayed one day. My husband told me he thought she was afraid to stay longer for fear I would talk her to death."

As outlying areas grew, small communities developed. These were often served by a store, post office, and school. Schools functioned as community centers in most rural areas.

Along with people came industry. Mines prospered in many areas, including Priest Lake, Hope, Clark Fork, Lakeview, and Talache. Investors even backed a smelter at Ponderay to process local ore, but the venture did not last long.

At the turn of the century, lumber began to take over the local economy. Snowy slopes and the many rivers provided a great way to haul logs.

Timber continued for many years to be the areas biggest industry. Big Midwest companies began moving into the virgin forests of northern Idaho as their resources at home were depleted. Logging techniques changed over the years as the industry became mechanized. Early loggers knew how to use the difficult terrain of the region to their advantage. The steep mountain slopes had the grade needed for chutes and flumes. Heavy snows provided a good base for easy winter sleigh hauling. And swollen rivers in the spring provided transportation for logs to the mills.

The Humbird Lumber Company grew to be the largest in the area, turning out 200,000 board feet every twenty-four hours. With a large mill, a shingle mill, and a company store, Humbird employed 350 men and provided a stable economic base for Sandpoint into the late 1920s.

While timber has always been a great natural resource in the county, its demise was predicted long before the twentieth century. Great consternation reigned in the Priest Lake area when, on February 27, 1897, President Grover Cleveland issued a proclamation creating the Priest River Forest Reserve. With this 650,000 acre reserve closed to settlers, and the loggers’ axes prophets of doom darkly declared “The economy of North Idaho is scuttled.”

Many families converted cut-over land into farms, or "stump ranches." The primary agricultural crop was hay, suited to the short growing season of northern Idaho. Timber companies purchased large quantities of hay to feed the horses used in logging operations.

The impetus of logging activity brought sudden mushrooming of building and business to the county, bringing in many settlers and causing a period of growth that has not since been equaled. By 1902 North Idaho had more miles of railroad than any other part of the state.

Not until the Great Northern was built in 1891 did Priest River have official status. Charles Jackson platted the 87-acre town site in 1901.

Sandpoint was a city built on railroad and logging and had quite the reputation as a rough and tumble sort of town.

After receiving their pay, loggers and railroad men would flock to one of 23 saloons in the small town, spending money on liquor and prostitutes.

Life was difficult in those times and the weather caused great hardships as well as wonderful bonding relationships. People flooded into the area eager to start a new life and in 1894 LD Farmin opened the first school in the area. Bonner County was formed and in 1901, Sandpoint officially became a city and was named the county seat.

The community across the lake to the south, Sagle was also a growing community. Sagle in 1891, had a one-room log schoolhouse where the term was three months in summer. The Turnbull brothers—Oliver, Tom, Fred and Lou Summer were the first students to take eighth grade examinations in the county. Sagle residents would have to travel to Spokane for their town business and shopping. It was finally decided to literally bridge the gap between the two communities and The Long Bridge was built in 1910. It was the longest wooden bridge in the world at 2 miles long.

One of the most significant aspects of the county’s history is the fact that the county was “formed” twice and “divided” once in political maneuvering.

As early as 1905 the turmoil began. Senator Herman H. Taylor introduced the Spaulding bill which created the counties of “Lewis” and “Clark” out of the original Kootenai county. After a legal hassle, the Supreme Court declared the new counties invalid because Kootenai County had lost its identity. Considerable competition generated within the illegal county of Clark to locate the new county seat at Bonners Ferry.

However, it was finally agreed in “behind the scenes” politicking that in return for support to change the name of Clark to Bonner, the northern town would lend its support to Sandpoint for the county seat. Quietly at the 1907 Legislature, Clark and Lewis Counties went out of the record in favor of Bonner and Kootenai.

So Bonner County is among the latest of the state’s 44 counties, having been cut off from Kootenai County by an act of the Legislature on February 2, 1907.

The Panida Theater was built in 1927 as a place to provide entertainment such as silent movies, vaudeville and eventually sound movies. The town of Sandpoint grew and the economy flourished.

Soon thereafter, the depression hit hard in Sandpoint shuttering many businesses, lumber yards and banks. Many left town altogether but those that persevered, turned their efforts towards the arts, culture and recreation and other ways to make a living. Fishing became a prosperous endeavor with record sized fish being pulled from the waters of Lake Pend Oreille.

During World War II, the construction of the Farragut Naval Training Station in Bayview brought 300,000 seamen to the area for boot camp training. Many either stayed in the area, or came back after their tour of duty drawn by the beauty of the area and the great opportunity they saw.

Jim Brown founded The Pack River Lumber Company in 1940 and it soon became a dominant force in the local economy.

In the 1940s and 1950s as Sandpoint recovered from the depression, optimism pervaded the air as radio and the movies came to town. KSPT brought music to the region in the '50s and soon thereafter, the Motor Movie, a drive-in opened its gates.

In the summer, the area was booming with lake activities and movies and theater at the Panida.

However, the town was dead quiet in the winter, until Jack Fowler stopped for gas in Hope on his way home from a ski trip to Big Mountain in Montana. He looked up and saw a snowy bowl in what is now called Schweitzer. He thought to himself that it looked like a great place to put a ski area and then he wouldn’t have to drive so far for their ski vacations. He got a group of local and regional businessmen together, sold stocks to raise enough money, hired Sam Wormington from Canada to come and run the resort and Schweitzer Basin opened December 4, 1963, with $4 day passes for one rope tow and a mile long chair lift.

Suddenly, Sandpoint began to lose its anonymity as visitors flocked to the ski area from all over the Northwest as well as Chicago and Minneapolis. It was then that Sandpoint became a year round community offering a simple, quiet life for those who wanted it.

The 1970s brought hippies and environmentalism as well as arts and more theater to the area. This spelled the downfall of the lumber industry. Jim Brown, of the Pack River Lumber Company, wisely diversified his business and, as one of the original founders of Schweitzer Mountain, bought out the rest of the shareholders to make Schweitzer a privately owned venture. To this very day one can still see the occasional psychedelic bus or love bug traversing county roads. Now the hippies are augmented by the winter ski bum, and the warm weather off-road cyclists.

Schweitzer has since been purchased by the Harbor Mountain Company based in Seattle and continues to expand its facilities and ski terrain.

Around this time the Hope Peninsula became an art colony. Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz moved there from Los Angeles in 1973. The Peninsula also had a cluster of buildings owned by the Max Factor family, and the Kienholz’s drew upon the beauty of the area as inspiration. A close friend and principal benefactor to Kienholz was Klaus Groenke, also a former resident of the Hope Peninsula. Groenke is one of the richest German real estate developers and is the managing director and part owner of Trigon Holding GmbH, a Berlin based international real estate company. He is also reported to be a leading share holder in Coca Cola Company, and a regional board member of the Deutsche Bank Berlin/Brandenberg. It is reported that the reason that the Hope Peninsula has a paved road it that he had it done so his guests would not have to drive on a dirt road out to his estate. Half his estate was sold in 2005, however, formerly Mr. Groenke's land boasted a series of triangulated satellite dishes, extensive antennae arrays, and curious metal "art." These giant sculptures dotted his property, many of which were originally purchased for millions of dollars, and some could be seen by Lake Pend Oreille boaters. A few were the "Tableaux" that Kienholz was famous for. One of the most famous features is the Plexiglas-encased full section of the Berlin Wall, graffiti and all, easily seen right in front of the front gate. The Hope Peninsula is also the home of the Ruen property: a 194 acre jewel that the family cannot agree on what to do with. It also has Sam Owen Park and is a nature preserve, with hundreds of friendly, tame deer that tourists love to interact with, and many other protected animals such as dozens and dozens of wild turkeys.

Local art gallery owner, Jim Quinn of the Timberstand writes in his blog: “Throughout the years art colonies have developed by region because they give skilled but lessor known artists the opportunity to work side by side with more accomplished painters. One of the earliest and better known colonies is The New Hope Colony. They were associated with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the concept of painting en plein air. Many members of this group, Daniel Garber, Fern Coppage, Walter Emerson and many others are very collectible in today's market especially since they followed in the footsteps of artist Edward Willis Redfield who influenced an entire generation. Some other well known colonies are - Woodstock, New York, The Hoosiers, Colonies of the South, Southern Women Artists, etc...

In today's world art colonies continue to develop in places like Jackson Hole, WY, Sun Valley, Idaho, Sandpoint, Idaho and many other places known for their natural beauty.”

Today with the Artist Studio Tour, many galleries, and hundreds of artists, the county has become a true artist’s haven.

The Pend Oreille Arts Council was formed in 1978 and with it, summer theater was born. The Panida Theater closed its doors until it was saved by a community fund-raiser and reopened in 1985. A bridge was constructed across Sand Creek and housed the public market. It is now home to Coldwater Creek’s flagship store. The 1980s brought more local flair to the area as the Farmer’s Market was founded and the Festival at Sandpoint began welcoming top name musicians to the area at its wonderful setting on the shores of the Pend Oreille River.

In the 1990s nearby Coeur d'Alene and Hayden Lake attracted nationwide publicity when white supremacist Neo-Nazi groups (most notably the Aryan Nations) set up headquarters in the area. Many Sandpoint residents reacted negatively to such groups; some formed the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force in opposition. In 2001 the Aryan Nations lost a lawsuit filed against them. The lawsuit bankrupted the organization and forced them to give up their Hayden Lake property and disband.

Politically we are a mixed bag. After the Civil War many Southern Democrats moved to Idaho Territory. As a result the early territorial legislatures were solidly Democratic. In contrast most of the territorial governors were appointed by Republican Presidents and were Republicans themselves. This led to sometimes bitter clashes between the two parties. In the 1880s Republicans became more prominent in local politics.

Since statehood the Republican Party has usually been the dominant party in Idaho. In the 1890s and early 1900s the Populist Party enjoyed prominence while the Democratic Party maintained a brief dominance in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Since World War II most statewide elected officials have been Republicans, but Democrats have had at least one elected official in a statewide office at any given time. Curiously, Idaho has no political party registration. Fiercely individualistic, North Idaho's hippie past displays more as a group that often wants to be simply left alone. Many Californians, Oregonians, and Washingtonians have migrated to the area, many leaning towards environmental politics, as well as a NIMBY attitude. Surprisingly, while Southerners immigrated here in droves after the Civil War, in recent years they have again been one of the strongest groups to come to the area.

As stated Idahoans have usually voted Republican in presidential elections, but sometimes elect Democrats to Congress or the statehouse. The state has become increasingly Republican in the 21st century, however. The dominant Republican in the 20th century was US Senator William E. Borah, an isolationist-progressive who opposed US entry into the League of Nations but advocated world disarmament and supported prohibition, the graduated income tax, and some New Deal reforms; as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1924 to 1940, he was one of the most influential legislators in the nation.

One measure of the conservatism of Idaho voters in the 1960s and 1970s was the showing by George Wallace's American Independent Party in 1968 (12.6% of the total vote) and his American Party in 1972 (9.3%, the highest of any state). In 2000 Republican George W. Bush received 69% of the vote, while Democrat Al Gore won 28% and Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan captured 2%. In 2002 there were 679,535 registered voters. While there is no party registration in the state, some polls placed the number of voters that consider themselves Independent as more than Republicans or Democrats. The state had four electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election.

A Democrat, Cecil Andrus, served four terms as governor, retiring in 1994. In winning the governor's office in November 1994, Republican Phil Batt ended 24 years of Democratic control of that office. He was succeeded by another Republican, Dirk Kempthorne, following the 1998 election; Kempthorne was reelected in 2002. In May 2006, Republican Jim Risch took over the helm as governor. In mid-2003, the state legislature had 28 Republicans and seven Democrats in the senate, and 54 Republicans and 16 Democrats in the house. In 2002 elections, Idaho voters again elected two Republicans to represent them in the US House. Its US senators, Larry Craig, reelected in 2002, and Mike Crapo, elected in 1998, are also Republicans. In the House are C. L. (Butch) Otter and Mike Simpson, both Republicans. Butch represents our area.

In recent years Sandpoint and Bonner County have seen tremendous increases in housing values. The quality of life here, on beautiful Lake Pend Oreille and under Schweitzer Mountain has been reported in so many national publications that many are migrating here and sharing in that life. The National Press that Sandpoint, Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort, and Lake Pend Oreille have received in the last couple of years has been astonishing. Astonishing only if you haven’t been here. Our area has been featured in USA Today and Smart Money Magazine. Sunset magazine called us the “West’s best small town.” National Geographic Adventure magazine voted Sandpoint one of the 10 best adventure towns in the nation. Outside magazine featured Schweitzer & named Sandpoint the “cool Northwest’s hot property.” Schweitzer was in Away.com and has been in many ski mags such as Ski Snowboard. Forbes.com loved our telecommuting, MSNBC said it again, & Cabin Life, Cabin Living called Sandpoint “the quintessential Western outdoor lover’s town.”

Why do all of these publications find Sandpoint so alluring? Some say it is because of the true small town appeal, with less than 10,000 residents. For others it is the breath-taking scenery. We have perhaps the most beautiful by-way in America, the second largest lake in the west, & it takes less than half an hour to get to the top of Schweitzer Mountain, a top-rated ski haven over looking Lake Pend Oreille., which was featured in 48° North Sailing Magazine. Summers have more sports than many cities & year-round the fine people of the community have festivals and  happenings that make the heart sing. But if what you are looking for is privacy along with friendly people, there are truly few places left like North Idaho.

Some of our festivals and events are much like other communities. We have an annual Mardi Gras, which breaks up the winter nicely. We have two Oktoberfests: one at Schweitzer and one at Hidden Lakes. We have a number of art events, including Art Walk, Plein Air, and the Arts and Crafts Festival. We have a Wooden Boat Show, fishing tournaments, and lots of water events. The 4th of July brings cool fireworks at the water's edge, and we have the expected Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations. However, our most famous event began in 1982 and has grown into an internationally recognized music festival. The Festival at Sandpoint is graced by many world-class and famous musicians every year, with a history that makes us proud.

Still we have controversies. We have more issues than we have ever faced before. And...we are faced with challenges, such as population growth and a booming economy. Some of the local controversies we face are the planned bypass around the city, the Rock Creek Mine, and the widening of Highway 95. But as many have discovered, these are but minor events in a place that many have come to know as paradise.

Compiled from various sources

For Idaho History try this page at VisitIdaho.org