Just sixty miles south of the Canadian border, Sandpoint, Idaho, is the largest city in the Pend Oreille region. Sandpoint was settled in 1880 after the Northern Pacific Railroad surveyed the area and Robert Weeks opened the town’s first general store. Until the mid-twentieth century, the city’s economy was based on extractive industries like mining and timber. More recently, this remote city of 5,200 people attracts tourists who ski and fish and artists who enjoy the city’s natural beauty.
