Coeur d'Alene

City in northwestern Idaho, USA, at the northern end of Coeur d'Alene Lake where the Spokane River flows from it, 51 km/32 mi east of Spokane, Washington; seat of Kootenai County; population (2000) 34,500. A trade and processing centre for an agricultural, mining, and lumbering area, tourism is also an economic mainstay of the city.

Coeur d'Alene was the site of the Army's Fort Sherman (1879). It developed after lead and silver were discovered (1883) and the railroad arrived (1886).

It is headquarters for Coeur d'Alene National Forest and seat of North Idaho College (1939). A golf resort was completed here in 1992.

Coeur d'Alene

River in the Panhandle of northern Idaho, USA, flowing into the Coeur d'Alene Lake; length 180 km/110 mi. It rises in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, along the Montana border, southeast of Lake Pend Oreille, and flows south-southeast through the former Coeur d'Alene National Forest, now a unit of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, then turns west-southwest to Coeur d'Alene Lake. Its valley, especially around Kellogg, is a famous mining centre. Coeur d'Alene Lake, also fed by the St Joe River, extends north–south for some 38 km/24 mi, and is 1–5 km/1–3 mi wide. A noted beauty spot, it is the source of the Spokane River, which flows west into Washington.

At the southern end of the lake, along the Washington state line, is the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation (1549 sq km/598 sq mi; population (1990 est) 5800), home to the Salishan Skitswish, known as the Coeur d'Alene (‘awl-heart’) for their hard bargaining.