Coeur d'Alene is the county seat and largest city of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States.^[1] It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census the population of Coeur d'Alene was 34,514 (2006 estimate: 41,328).^[2] The city is located about 30 mi (48 km) east of Spokane, Washington, which combined with Coeur d'Alene and northern Idaho has population of 590,617.^[3] Coeur d'Alene is also the largest city in the northern Idaho Panhandle.

The city of Coeur d'Alene has grown significantly in recent years due in part to a substantial increase in tourism, encouraged by several resorts in the area. Barbara Walters called the city "a little slice of Heaven" and included it in her list of most fascinating places to visit. On November 28, 2007, Good Morning America broadcast the city's Christmas Lighting Ceremony because its display is among the largest in the country. Coeur d'Alene is also located near two major ski resorts in Silver Mountain Resort to the east in Kellogg and Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort to the north in Sandpoint. Coeur d'Alene is located at the northern end of Lake Coeur d'Alene, a 25-mile long lake. Locally, Coeur d'Alene is known as the "Lake City," or simply called by its initials: "CDA".

 French Canadian fur traders allegedly named the local Indian tribe the Coeur d'Alene out of respect for their tough trading practices. Translated from French Coeur d'Alene literally means "heart of the awl" which might mean "sharp-hearted" or "shrewd." Another possibility is that it is a corruption of Coeur de Leon, or Lion Heart. Others interpret "Heart of the Awl" to translate to "Eye of the Needle", perhaps referring to the narrow passage through which the lake empties into the Spokane River on its way to the Columbia. The area was extensively explored by David Thompson of the Northwest Company starting in 1807. The Oregon boundary dispute (or Oregon question) arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. The Oregon Treaty ended disputed joint occupation of the area when Britain ceded all rights to land south of the 49th Parallel in 1846.

When General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered a fort constructed on the lake in the 1870s he gave it the name Fort Coeur d'Alene; hence the name of the city that grew around it. The name of the fort was later changed to Fort Sherman to honor the general.

Source: Wikipedia

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