Sandpoint, Idaho

Sandpoint sits on the northwest shore of Idaho's largest glacial lake - Lake Pend Oreille. First a mining era town, it quickly added timber and milling to its economy.

day its major industry is tourism with both winter and summer recreation. Don't miss its signature building, the Cedar Street Bridge public market, a covered bridge over Sand Creek.

Sandpoint is the home of national retailer Coldwater Creek, a leading women's apparel catalog & store chain and Litehouse, a salad dressing manufacturer.

The words "Pend Oreille" (pronounced pond-o-ray) are French for an ear-hanging or pendant. French trappers were among the first Europeans to be in the area and ear pendants were characteristic of the Kalispell tribe. The lake is shaped much like a human ear when viewed from above. To discern that fact in the early 1800s would have entailed a good bit of hiking.

Today, the name is everywhere in the region - the lake, a winery, even a town with the name spelled phonetically - Ponderay.