Located between Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille, the historic Farragut Naval Training Station was a first stop for many fresh recruits during World War II. During its thirty months of existence, more than 293,000 sailors received basic training at Farragut. As the base grew, a city emerged from the land and permanently impacted the environment. The inland naval training location, the unique land attraction, a short but eventful life, and the park that remains all celebrate Farraguts rare and complex history.

Farragut added jobs, houses, and people to lands that were once used by early tribal affiliation and pioneer explorations. In 1941, the U.S. government purchased the 4,160 acres from two private owners: Kootenai County and a small railway company. The unique inland naval base is 300 miles away from the western coastlines. Walter Butler Construction Co. employed approximately 22,000 men to build libraries, living quarters, mess halls, chapels, recreation facilities, and other buildings for the base. Neighboring communities, including Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene, still struggled from the Great Depression. Farragut provided jobs, higher wages, and more opportunities to these communities.

The groundbreaking for Farragut took place in March 1942. By September 1942, the base population reached 55,000, making it the largest city in Idaho at the time. Farragut was also the second largest naval training center in the world. Recruits left home for the first time, came to Farragut, and learned how to march, row, swim, and use firearms before either heading to the Mediterranean Sea or the South Pacific. The base also contained nearly 900 German prisoners of war who worked beside American soldiers as gardeners and maintenance men.

The land was attractive to the navy for many reasons. Lake Pend Oreille provided natural aesthetics and raw functionality. The lake’s deep waters, large size, and cool temperatures, along with the steep, tree-lined shores and quiet conditions all created an attractive land-locked location that could closely mimic the ocean without the risks. The base allowed for ground and water training and effectively taught sailors how to take care of themselves in war. The base supplied economic benefits and a textbook location for training; however, the rapid urbanization created pollution and habitat loss to the land and water.

The once naval training station is now Farragut State Park and remains a tribute to the base. It now caters to tourists with outdoor activities. Bikers, runners, horseback riders, and swimmers can enjoy the land traveled by World War II naval trainers and trainees. Although the land has been transformed and the environment has changed, the natural beauty of the land is protected and maintained by the state.

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In the fall of 1809, a fur agent with the North-West Company named David Thompson found Lake Pend Oreille. Thompson recognized the environmental value the area held. Years after making the discovery, he wrote in his memoir, “The impression of my mind is, from the formation of the country and its climate, its extensive Meadows and fine forests, watered by countless brooks and Rills of pure water, that it will become the abode of civilized Man, whether Natives or other people.” Soon after his arrival, Thompson established a fur-trading outpost called the Kullyspell House. It was the first permanent wooden structure in Idaho next to Lake Pend Oreille and was named after the Kalispel Indians who guided Thompson around the Columbia River Basin. Once Thompson succeeded with his trading house, he moved on to other adventures, leaving Finan McDonald in charge. The location was forgotten until 1928 when a group of Idaho historians were guided by a blind Kalispel man to the remains of the trading outpost on the lake.

Lake Pend Oreille’s history did not end with Thompson and the Kullyspell House; the area grew over the next two hundred years. With the beginning of the gold rush era in 1866, the lake served as a passage for miners traveling from the Columbia River to Helena, Montana. With the ending of one boom comes the beginning of another. The demand for timber reached North Idaho, one of the largest areas of timber in the United States. The industry began in 1880 when Robert Weeks opened a general store dealing furs in the lake’s largest community, Sandpoint, in the panhandle of Idaho. As the town expanded so did the timber industry, along with the establishment of several sawmills, including the world-class Humbird Mill. The mill sparked modernization in the little lake town. By 1920, Sandpoint became the largest shipper of cedar poles and pilings in the Northwest.

The towns’ populations grew as the industries surrounding the lake attracted people from all over the country. Today, the location is featured in the media as one of the last, best places to live, but with its discovery came the chopping of its meadows and forests. This was followed cultivation and logging, which caused pesticides and other chemicals to drain into the lake. Just as David Thompson stated in his memoir, Lake Pend Oreille did become an abode for man and suffered from the exploitation of its abundant resources along with pollution from its inhabitants.

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