Bozanta Tavern a place to kick back and enjoy

The clubhouse at Hayden Lake sits on a western bluff, surrounded by land that once was a gathering place for Indians who came to camp, hunt, fish, pick berries and dig roots. In 1842, Father DeSmet, traveling between missions, became the first white man to see the lake and named it Lake DeNuf in honor of a Cataldo Mission benefactor.

DeSmet also heard tribal stories – how the lake was a “swallowing monster” – how a sudden whirlpool sucked into its depths a chief who disobeyed the Great Sprit’s command to move his people from the lake’s shores at a time when game and berries became scarce.

By the beginning of the 20th century, white settlers, ignoring the dark tales, had established sawmills and farms, and a few adventurous souls had built summer cabins on the lake’s shores. And settler Matt Heyden had renamed the lake for himself after winning the privilege in a card game with buddy, John Hagar. Had Hagar won, the seven-mile-long, three-mile-wide lake might be known today as Hagar Lake. Someplace along the way the spelling changed from Heyden to Hayden.

In 1902, as a preamble of bigger things to come, Avondale Cottage, a summer hotel with 13 rooms, opened its doors to visitors – mostly outdoorsmen and hunters because the five-mile route to the Cottage from Coeur d’Alene was a rugged, rutted track, passable only by foot, horse or wagon.

However, by 1906, the lake showed promise of becoming a destination and a group of local investors formed the Hayden Lake Improvement Co. and bought 145 acres, which included Avondale Cottage and the 10 cabins owned by Homer King. Waldo G. Paine, grandfather of present-day member Conrad Gotzian, was one of the seven organizers.

To design their lodge the founders chose Kirtland Cutter, Spokane’s premier architect.

Spokane historian Henry C. Mathews, in his book, “Kirtland Cutter, Architect of the Land of Promise,” describes how, in 1906 Cutter and Aubrey White toured the Hayden Lake site with John C. Olmsted. Olmsted’s landscaping firm had laid out New York’s Central Park and had worked previously with White in the designing of Spokane’s park system.

Cutter had chosen his popular Swiss chalet plan for the new lodge, and Olmsted sited it on a pine-covered bluff overlooking the lake.

Mathews describes Cutter’s original design as, “… an H plan with two parallel bedroom wings joined by a central block. On the lakeside, the terrace had French windows that opened to the view.” The central space was used for dancing and balls and there were “balconies and eaves with Swiss or German fretwork patterns.”

Mathews records that “… the kitchen and dining room were placed in a separate, adjacent building connected by a covered passage.” This building, now the sports shop, still stands just to the north of the clubhouse and is the least changed.

The design of the public spaces, according to Mathews, was rustic and used “the theme of Indians who had once hunted and fished on the lake.” The two triangular, tepee-shaped fireplaces, had “hoods of beaten copper, embossed with Indian symbols.” The copper hoods were removed during interior remodeling in the early 1960s.

The tavern officially opened on the evening of July 20 with a grand ball that signaled the beginning of the heyday of the resort, which was dubbed “Bozanta,” an Indian word meaning meeting place by the Lake. The name was the winner in a contest sponsored to find a descriptive, Indian name.

In the beginning the tavern’s prosperity was tied to the success and importance of railroads, particularly the electric line. In 1907 the resort was sold to the Inland Empire Electric Railroad, which already had purchased the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane Electric. Trains brought visitors from Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and beyond via links to the nation’s rail lines with, according to Mathews, seven trains running a day. In concept, the resort resembled Great Northern’s lodge at Glacier National Park.

Visitors arrived from far and wide to enjoy the majestic view, swim, boat, ride horseback and play tennis. Almost as an afterthought, a nine-hole golf course was added in 1909 and an 18-hole course, the first in Idaho, in 1912. Golf would become the mainstay of the club.

The tavern hosted, in different years, presidents Howard Taft and Teddy Roosevelt. On his 1909 overnight stay, the portly Taft was served a seven-course dinner that included Olympia oysters, Hayden Lake bass, breast of partridge, venison and cub bear, accompanied by appropriate wines, coolers, elderberry jelly and Idaho fruits, plus coffee and cigars.

There is no record of what Roosevelt ate on his 1914 trip.

Events beyond the control of Bozanta’s owners began to shape the future of the resort. Taft’s visit was shadowed by an occurrence two months before when two trains collided at Gibbs, west of Coeur d’Alene. Lawsuits resulting from loss of life and injuries spelled financial trouble for the electric line.

Historic accounts speculate that the crash was the result of too many trains running to accommodate the influx of people eager to place their names in the drawing for homestead land on the newly opened Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation.

Ultimately, in 1919 Great Northern Railroad Corp. bought the resort, having previously acquired the electric line.

Changes were on the wind as the automobile began to replace the railroad in importance. Along with that change came a change in the fortunes of destination resorts whose prosperity had grown with the railroads.

In the 1920s, a group of local families leased the buildings and golf course from Great Northern, according to John H. Hulting in his book, “Meeting Place by the Lake.”

The resort was frequented by local people and local families with, according to Hulting, members raking pine needles from the greens and families gathering for potlucks afterward.

World War I, the Great Depression and World War II all played roles in bringing change to the region and to the resort at the end of the lake.

In 1928 newspaper accounts reported the formation of the Coeur d’Alene Country Club and its purchase of the grounds and buildings for $30,000.

During World War II the Navy leased all living space at the club. The Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille had created a need for more housing.

After the war a growing membership called for more space, particularly for dining and receptions and, for the first time, the directors voted to sell property to finance needed changes.

The open central lobby was divided to create separate dining areas. An addition was added to the south side and the broad veranda on the lake side was enclosed. Workmen removed the covered walkway on the entry side and built a new entry hall extending outward from the central block.

Although not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places because of the extensive changes to the original design, the building, with its gently peaked rooflines and deep eaves characteristic of Cutter’s Chalet style, recall the history surrounding its beginnings when the Bozanta Tavern, nestled on the edge of a rich wilderness, invited people, even presidents, to come, kick back and enjoy a special place.