Restoring the Lake

Restoring the Lake is an Idaho historical marker in Kootenai County, dedicated 2025.

SH-97, milepost 95.94

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Idaho’s Silver Valley, east of here, is one of the world’s richest silver-producing regions. It created jobs and wealth. But for more than a century, mining wastes flowed downstream to Lake Coeur d’Alene. This beautiful lake has always been a center of Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene) life. In 1991, the Tribe filed one of the largest natural resource lawsuits in American history in an effort to compel a lake cleanup. A far-reaching legal victory resulted in mining companies paying millions of dollars to mitigate damages. The Tribe, along with federal and state agencies, began the long-term project of restoring the lake.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Department of Oregon. Map of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1861 · Rocky Mountains to Puget Sound. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1870 · Ore., Wash., Idaho, Mont. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1872 · Bancroft's Map Of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana And British Columbia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1927 · Spokane, Seattle. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Spokane, Seattle, 1927, covering the location of Restoring the Lake, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Spokane, Seattle, 1927, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Restoring the Lake

Historical maps covering this location

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