|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
North Idaho is a place of
intense beauty, its allure
touching the soul of all who
pass through, many to return
months, years, or even
decades later to make this
little corner of America
their home. It is a land for
all seasons—the cries of
wild geese echoing across
the valleys with the first
cool days of autumn, the
mountainsides ablaze with
color, and a golden aura
falling upon the land,
reminiscent of life in a
painting by Van Gogh.Then
comes the still white
wonderland of winter—a scent
of wood smoke upon the air,
and the little Victorian
town of Sandpoint sparkling
with lights like some Norman
Rockwell vision of times
past. As for the glorious
reawakening of life each
spring; that is a
masterpiece of creation that
only Mother Nature herself
could paint. And, with the
first hot days of summer,
the lake and waterways
beckon us forth to revel in
this vast and pristine
sun-soaked playground that
is our home.But, whatever
the season—summer, winter,
spring, or fall—the very
best place to appreciate the
full extent of our region’s
spectacular beauty lies just
a few minutes drive up from
Sandpoint to Schweitzer
Mountain Resort, where one
can view the postcard
perfect panorama of Lake
Pend Oreille spread out
before us like some vast,
shimmering turquoise jewel.
But, this is just the
beginning—a preview of
things to come. The real
magic awaits us higher up
the mountain.
But, before we explore further, we should take a little journey back in
time. For, while the
exhilarating experience of
hiking, biking, boarding, or
skiing upon the groomed
slopes of Mt. Schweitzer is
something we locals now take
for granted, the story
behind the resort’s founding
is a tribute to the
unwavering dedication of
local winter sports
visionaries… and the story
of how Mt. Schweitzer got
its name, a strange and
fascinating little piece of
local history. |
| |
|
THE ORIGINS OF
SKIING IN NORTH
IDAHO |
From the earliest beginnings
of our region’s history,
North Idaho has been home to
an adventurous few willing
to trudge up snow-covered
mountainsides, tie
hand-shaped wooden slats to
their feet, and slide back
down with as much a measure
of grace as gravity and
their crude equipment would
allow. Fortunately, over
time, both equipment and
technique evolved. But, what
never changed was these
local ski enthusiasts’
fanatical devotion to the
sport, and burning desire
for their own hometown ski
hill—a dream finally
realized in the mid-fifties,
when a group of volunteers
went to work clearing a
wooded hillside two miles
west of Sandpoint, rigged up
a rope tow powered by the
wheel rim of a jacked up
car, and Pine Hill, the
area’s first groomed ski
slope, was born.
Unfortunately, skiing
conditions at Pine Hill were
less than perfect. Even
though the crude rope tow
was soon replaced by a
permanent two-chair lift
 powered by an old Dodge
engine, the hill was not
high enough in altitude to
guarantee a season-long
coating of snow, and a
warmed-up car and thermos
remained the only amenities
skiers could expect
following a run down the
slope. And so it was that
the locals continued to eye
the snow-covered
mountains of the region, and
dream of someday having a
real world-class ski resort
of their own. Then, as the
fifties became the sixties,
two Spokane men, Dr. R.L.
Fowler and Jerry Groesbeck,
driving through our area on
their way home from a ski
vacation, stopped alongside
the highway to stretch their
legs. And, while staring up
at the snow-covered peaks,
as ski buffs are wont to do,
their eyes fell upon a large
natural bowl nestled high in
the mountains above. It
struck them then like a bolt
of lightning. What they were
looking at was untracked,
natural perfection—just
waiting for the hand of man
to groom. |
|
© Bonner County Historical
Society Collection |
|
|
A DREAM IS
BORN |
From that moment on, the
idea of bringing a ski
resort to North Idaho became
an all-consuming obsession
for the two. They pooled
their resources to buy the
acreage encompassing the
bowl, packed in equipment
and provisions to establish
a base camp at the foot of
the basin, and began
exploring the slopes to map
out future runs.
Fowler went to work cornering every ski enthusiast he could find to gain
support for the project,
while Groesbeck traveled
from ski resort to ski
resort, asking questions,
and picking up all the
information he could garner
on operations and equipment.
Bit by bit their dream evolved into reality. By 1961, work had begun on
the ski runs and road up the
mountain. Construction of
the tubular-steel towers for
the mile-long double chair
lift began. Electric lines
were brought up the
mountainside to power the
lift’s 150 horsepower
electric motor, resort
lights, and the heating
cable that would melt the
snow off of the lodge roof.
A diesel motor was put into
place for emergency backup.
And, Canadian ski enthusiast
Sam Worthington was hired as
manager.
By late fall of 1963, twelve hundred acres of the basin were groomed and
ready with three 2,000’ runs
from timberline to the
lodge, miles of trails, and
parking for 500 cars. The
Sandpoint News Bulletin
devoted their entire weekly
issue to the resort’s
upcoming Thanksgiving Day
grand opening. Renowned
international ski racer
Tammy Dix was set to
christen the slopes with the
first downhill run of the
day. And, Idaho Governor
Robert Smylie sent out
invitations to dignitaries
around the world, including
two notables who shared the
resort’s name, Pierre-Paul
Schweitzer, then Chairman of
the World Monetary Fund, and
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who
had won the Nobel Prize for
his humanitarian endeavors
in Africa.
A fitting gesture it would seem. For, the name Schweitzer does indeed
evoke visions of grandeur
and nobility. But, the truth
of the matter is that the
naming of Mt. Schweitzer had
nothing to do with nobility,
and is instead a bizarre
little story that has woven
itself into the fabric of
Sandpoint’s colorful
history, becoming a part of
what makes this region the
fascinating and wonderful
place it is today. |
|
A LOOK BACK IN TIME AS THE
FARMINS ARRIVE IN SANDPOINT |
|
It was in 1892 that
35-year-old Ella Mae Farmin
and her husband L.D. first
arrived in Sandpoint to work
as station agents and
telegraph operators for the
Great Northern Railroad.
At that time, the little cluster of homes and business on the lake’s
shoreline was known as Pend
Oreille, and consisted of
around 100 permanent
residents, 23 saloons, 2
stores, 2 hotels, 1
restaurant, and several
“houses of ill repute.” And,
like many of the other
outposts on the fringes of
civilization, liquor flowed
freely, and with the fall of
night, the sound of
laughter, curses, and
gunfire filled the air. It
was not unusual for a
stranger to be seen entering
a saloon, never to be seen
again, presumably murdered,
robbed, and body tossed into
an empty boxcar or the deep
waters of Lake Pend Oreille.
One northward-bound settler and his wife wrote of holing up in their
hotel room, where they spent
the night praying for God to
spare them long enough to
resume their rail journey
the next morn, so terrifying
was the town’s wildness to
them.
But, though the nearest magistrate was thirty miles south in the town of
Rathdrum, justice reigned
here both swift and
efficient—vigilante style.
And, tales are told of as
many as ten men at once left
hanging at what is now the
south end of the Long
Bridge—a dire warning to all
newcomers of the
consequences of crime—the
Friday night event of their
demise a well attended
though macabre source of
local entertainment. But,
the wild goings on of this
little frontier way station
were in no way a deterrent
to Ella Mae and L.D., who
had previously manned the
forward outposts of a number
of railroads during these
heady days of
transcontinental expansion,
and as Ella Mae put it,
“Managed to keep the
telegraph lines open while
surviving Indian uprisings,
blizzards, and threat of
murder.”
Besides, the two pioneers had already fallen so in love with the region
that they intended to spend
the rest of their lives
here, eventually becoming
the founders of today’s
Sandpoint. |
|
|
AN ENCOUNTER WITH A STRANGE
HERMIT |
It was on a summer morning
in 1893, while riding her
well-mannered little filly,
Nelly, to work, that Ella
Mae first encountered a
strange individual, dressed
in some sort of
 well-worn
military uniform, standing
trailside at strict
attention, musket at his
side, as she passed. This
went on for a few days,
until one morning, he
instead stepped out onto the
trail, and taking Nelly by
the reigns, led the pony
about a half a mile along
the path, before letting go
and disappearing back into
the woods.
When she told her husband and son Earl about this strange occurrence,
young Earl said that it
sounded a lot like a
“friendly old hermit named
Schweitzer” who lived alone
in a small cabin near where
he and his friend Harry
Nesbit liked to fish. This
took the edge off of Ella
Mae’s concern, but she took
to running Nelly through
that section of woods
anyway.
Then, not long thereafter, the man showed up at the railroad station
during Ella Mae’s shift.
Speaking in a thick Swiss
accent, he informed her that
he had come to seek her
advice regarding his
intention to kill a local
settler, and take the
settler’s wife as his own.
Ella Mae made eloquent
argument intended to
dissuade the man from this
plan, and after he had left,
sent a warning to the
settler that he was the
target of a murder plot.
The next morning, Schweitzer came back to the station to tell Ella Mae
that he had decided to take
her advice and not follow
through on his plan, and
that because Ella Mae was
both younger and prettier
than his other intended
bride, it was his intention
to carry her off instead.
Unarmed and alone at the little station, and not a soul within earshot,
Ella Mae decided to put on a
front of bravado. |
|
 |
|
Standing up, she began
loudly berating the man.
“Schweitzer, you know I have
a husband of my own, and am
a respectable woman, and you
cannot talk to me as you are
doing!” she exclaimed. “Let
me tell you my husband and
the railroad company will
fix you if you carry me
off.” He stood there
silently for what seemed an
eternity. Then, tipping his
hat to her, he politely
answered. “Well, for the
present, we will drop the
matter.”
From that day forward Ella Mae kept a six-gun alongside her bible in the
drawer next to the telegraph
machine, and L.D.
immediately contacted the
nearest railway agent at the
Spokane office who,
accompanied by the County
Sheriff and a doctor from
Rathdrum, arrived the
following day to look into
the affair. Upon entering
the recluse’s cabin, located
near where Bronx Road now
crosses Schweitzer Creek,
they found the hides of
numerous cats nailed to the
walls, and a pot full of
cats boiling on the stove
for the man’s supper,
thereby solving the mystery
of the recent disappearances
of numerous of the town’s
pets. Schweitzer was taken
into custody, remanded to
the “county farm” for
observation, and later
committed to an “insane
asylum” where, as Ella Mae
put it, “He lived out the
rest of his life a dangerous
and raving lunatic.”And, to
this day, Earl and Harry’s
favorite fishing spot has
been known as Schweitzer
Creek, and the mountain
above, Schweitzer Mountain. |
|
|
SCHWEITZER MOUNTAIN RESORT
TODAY |
|
Today the mountain that
rises so majestically above
the site of old man
Schweitzer’s cabin has
become home to a world class
ski resort—the largest and
most highly rated in the
inland Northwest.
This year, the skiing and snowboarding area was expanded to 2,900 acres,
with the new Little Blue
Ridge run offering an
exhilarating 1.7 miles of
continuous downhill skiing.
There are now 9 different
lifts taking skiers to the
top, including: One
high-speed six-pack named
Stella; One high-speed quad;
Four double chairlifts; 1
handle tow; 1 new T-Bar, and
a new Magic Carpet® that
will gently whisk beginners
up to a gradual learning
slope, without ever having
to take their feet off the
ground. There is no shortage
of skiing variety either,
with 67 trails, open bowl
skiing, and 32 kilometers of
cross country ski trails
maintained daily.
Neither is Schweitzer Basin a winter-only resort. With miles of hiking
and mountain biking trails,
huckleberry picking, and
scenic chairlift rides, as
well as a variety of
concerts and other events,
not to mention superb
cuisine ranging from gourmet
pizza to world-class dining,
the resort has become a
year-round destination for
locals and visitors alike.
And, no matter what the
season, the view from the
very top is nothing short of
spectacular. Once the realm
of Hudson Bay Company “web
men” who snow-shoed up the
mountain’s steep slopes to
trap marten for their
luxuriously soft and thick
winter coats, the
exhilarating experience of
standing at “the top of the
world” is now easily
accessible to all, thanks to
a modern high-speed
chairlift.
From this vantage point, one can enjoy a panoramic 360 degree vista that
stretches into three states
and Canada, and includes
thousands of square miles of
verdant green forest, three
mountain ranges, and as
previously mentioned, the
vast and shimmering
turquoise expanse of Lake
Pend Oreille laid out before
you in all of its
magnificence—
a Kodak moment not to be
missed.
My
thanks to the Bonner County
Historical Society for
providing the
information from which this
article
was gleaned. |
|
|
|
|
