November 10, 2007 in HandleX

Take a historical driving tour with ‘Roads’

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Kathy Plonka photo

Dorothy Dahlgren, left and Simone Kincaid co-wrote “Roads Less Traveled Through the Coeur d’Alenes.”
(Full-size photo)

The “road” began in a museum.

A new book, “Roads Less Traveled Through the Coeur d’Alenes,” subtitled “Historical Driving Tours of Benewah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties,” is off the press and onto bookstore shelves. Its co-authors, Dorothy Dahlgren and Simone Kincaid have done a remarkable job of compiling thousands of hours of collected, historical information and placing that information neatly into an attractive and readable book. Dahlgren is a museologist and director of the Museum of North Idaho, and Kincaid is an archeologist and historian.

The two women will be at Hastings Books, 101 Best Ave. in Coeur d’Alene, today from 2 to 5 p.m. for a special booksigning.

Dahlgren says the book had its beginning in the fall of 2000 when Museum of North Idaho members and members of other organizations interested in the preservation of history met to discuss how they could promote interest in local history. The group settled on the idea of developing a driving tour of the region.

“Actually it started out to be a pamphlet,” says Dahlgren.

As information accumulated, in response to a press release, asking people to send in historical information, that idea gave way to the concept of a book that was five years in the making.

Dahlgren described the undertaking as, ” … monumental … the most extensive historical tour ever undertaken in this area.”

Research and compilation involved hundreds of hours and dozens of volunteers whose names are listed at the beginning of the book. Dahlgren and Kincaid credit these people with making the book possible.

“Because we had information coming from many sources, we had to check and cross-check each story,” says Kincaid. “It was very time-consuming.”

To get started, the Museum received a grant of $2,484 from the Idaho Humanities Council to fund a workshop and writers to develop the tour.

Beginning with the cover, the reader knows something special is in hand. Kyle Walker’s springtime, 1949 photo of a brand new Mercury convertible, top down, parked at a turn-out at the top of the Beauty Bay Hill sets the tone of fun and adventure. He captured a scene showing three young people enjoying the view of Blue Creek Bay in the distance – the way it looked before the present bridge spanned the entrance to that inlet.

Well thought-out in presentation, the main section of the book offers eight different drives along the back roads and byways of three of the Panhandle’s counties – homes, businesses, bridges that all have contributed to the development of the region. Human interest stories about people associated with these places along with historic photographs connect the reader to the past.

To see how a drive might work, my husband and I drove Tour 3, Historic Coeur d’Alene, and we learned much – although we had driven past many of these places almost every day. One, in particular, is the Kootenai County Fairgrounds which is the first point on this tour. We were unaware that at one time there had been an airfield at the site that corners on Kathleen Avenue and Government Way.

According to the guide, in 1920 Weeks Field, as the airport was named, “became the first municipally owned airport in the U.S.” Right here in Coeur d’Alene. Amazing, we thought. In those early days, the air field attracted crowds of spectators to assorted stunt flying, air derby and parachuting events. The book further tells us that “During WWII Gwin Hicks and Herb and Gladys Buroker leased the airport to train pilots for the war, teaching more than 400 students to fly.”

The tour guided us through the various buildings of the Fort Sherman site, North Idaho College, City Park, downtown Coeur d’Alene and a row of historic, waterfront homes. We even learned that the current building that houses the Museum of North Idaho started out life in 1966 as a feed store and gas station which operated at that location until 1975.

We found the directions that told us where and when to turn and onto what streets. Maps with numbers that corresponded to the descriptive text would keep visitors on the right track. The miles of all the respective drives are at the beginning of each chapter. The Coeur d’Alene tour is about 9.5 miles and should take less than an hour. Dahlgren and Kincaid traveled each drive, sometimes more than once.

We found that before beginning the Coeur d’Alene drive, we should have spent more time studying the map and reading the text because one cannot stop in the middle of busy Sherman Avenue to admire the Masonic Temple building.

The Historic Coeur d’Alene National Forest Drive, the authors say, is more adventurous. A narrow, winding road runs along the shoreline of Fernan Lake, down the Little North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene, over a mountain divide and finally to I-90. The route covers 125 miles and takes most of a day, particularly if you stop along the way. So, be sure to take along a lunch. Late one Sunday afternoon we drove the first part, along Fernan Lake but ran out of time and will try it again beginning earlier in the day.

“Roads Less Traveled” is a tour well-worth taking whether you decide to do it in the comfort of your armchair or behind the steering wheel of the family car. Perhaps it’s time to load the kids in the van and revive the old tradition of the Sunday drive. You and they will be richer for it.

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