Long before Sandpoint had a name, Lake Pend Oreille had people. The Kalispel — called Pend d'Oreille by French fur traders, roughly "hangs from ear," for the large shell earrings they wore — made the lake and its rivers their home for centuries.

The Kalispel are an Interior Salish people, believed to have migrated south from British Columbia. They lived in tipis in summer and lodges in winter, both built from woven cattail "tule mats." They made clothing from rabbit pelts and deer hides, embellished with dyes, beads, and porcupine quills, and fashioned tools from flint.

Few chapters in Idaho history are as dramatic as the mining wars of the Coeur d'Alene district — two explosions of violence, in 1892 and 1899, that pitted union miners against mine owners, drew in the governor's militia and federal troops, and ended with one of the most notorious labor bombings in American history.

The Bonner County Board of Commissioners will not decide the fate of the proposed Long Bridge Marina expansion this month after all. The board continued its hearing on the conditional use permit for the third time on Oct. 7, leaving the decision to a resumed hearing Thursday, Nov. 5 at 10 a.m.

The delay came at the request of the applicant, Long Bridge Land Holding Company, LLC, represented by HMH Engineering, which opted to wait until a full board could be seated following the absence of Commissioner Brian Domke.

Bonner County's 2026 general election season opens next week. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 19, and on Tuesday, Oct. 20, local media will host a candidate forum for Idaho Legislative District 1 and the Bonner County Board of Commissioners.

In September 1885, a prospector named Noah Kellogg was combing the hills above Milo Creek in Idaho's northern panhandle when the jackass he had been grubstaked with wandered off. When Kellogg tracked it down, legend says the animal was standing on a glittering outcropping of galena, a lead-silver ore, gazing across the canyon at another. That chance discovery became the Bunker Hill and Sullivan lode, one of the largest of its kind in the world — and the town that grew up nearby took Kellogg's name.

Happy Friday from the hill above the village. If you have been waiting for the perfect fall weekend in Sandpoint, this one might be it.

Did you know today's Schweitzer — Idaho's largest ski area, with 2,900 acres and ten lifts overlooking Lake Pend Oreille — spent its first two decades as a non-profit corporation owned by hundreds of local stockholders? The modern destination resort that millions of skiers know was built one ownership era at a time, and each new hand on the wheel left something lasting on the mountain.

Good morning from the hill above Schweitzer's ski village. Thursday arrives quietly on the mountain: the resort is between seasons, with no published ski report yet and opening day set for November 27. Sandpoint woke to a crisp 40 degrees under fair skies; expect a pleasant, partly cloudy day near 71, with tonight dipping to 44. This morning's radar sweep showed a quiet panhandle — no precipitation on the map.

On opening day, December 4, 1963, Schweitzer Basin had exactly one way up: a mile-long double chairlift that carried skiers from the new day lodge at 4,700 feet to 1,700 feet of vertical above. A T-bar was added a month later, and that was the whole mountain. Dr. Jack Fowler of Spokane, the avid skier whose idea it was, had spent the late 1950s driving to The Big Mountain in Whitefish, Montana, eyeing a closer alternative on every trip past the snow-laden Selkirk slopes.

Did you know that October is one of the quietest — and prettiest — months to be on Schweitzer Mountain? The National Weather Service has Sandpoint sunny and 72 degrees today, with a mostly clear night dipping to 44. Up on the mountain it's cooler, of course: sunny and 59 at Schweitzer today, with a 42-degree overnight low. Thursday looks much the same — partly sunny and 72 in town, mostly sunny and 58 up top — before a front rolls through on Friday with a chance of rain showers.