Spokane and Coeur d'Alene

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I broke the journey from Seattle to Spokane at Moses Lake, Washington. Some of the names of the towns in Washington State are interesting to say the least. Puyallup for example; pronounced Puh-al up, Walla Walla, Ephrata, the list goes on and on. I guess the folks that got across to the side of the United States were a mixed bunch of all nationalities that got thrown in with several tribes of American Indians with their own flair for naming areas created just the right recipe.
The name “Spokane” is a Salish word which loosely translated means “children of the sun” or “land of shimmering waters.” The town was originally known as Spokane Falls because of the huge waterfall which is right in the center of the city. The summer of 1889 was very hot and followed a long drought, and like Seattle, Spokane was destroyed by a devastating fire. The citizens of Spokane rebuilt right away but in far grander fashion than before.
The Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in 1881 and was linked transcontinentally in 1882. Spokane experienced its first boom when the discovery of gold in the Coeur d’Alene mining district established Spokane as the service center for the north Idaho mines. The population that was just over 300 in 1880 had grown to more than 100,000 people by 1909 making Spokane the largest city west of Minneapolis. Today’s population is almost 220,000.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is just 35 miles from Spokane. It was named by early French fur traders in the late 18th or early 19ht century. The name means “Heart of an Awl” referring to the perceived shrewdness of the trading skills exhibited by the Shitawish tribe. The native language is and interior Salishan language. The Salishan meaning is “Discovered People” or “Those who are found here.” The Coeur d’Alene was a tribe of hunter gatherer indians that lived along the banks of the rivers as well as the lake shores around this area.
I left my park in the Spokane area on June 20th, and arrived in Medicine Hat on the 22nd, driving through some beautiful countryside. I had absolutely no problem crossing the border---it can be a challenge; my accent, a Canadian passport, and I'm driving a vehicle with Texas plates. I'll be here with the family in Medicine Hat until August 10th when I start trekking south again. My first destination being Yellowstone National Park.

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