Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille: The Deepest Lake You've Never Heard Of
Near Sandpoint, Idaho
Lake Pend Oreille stretches forty-three miles and plunges eleven hundred and fifty-two feet, making it the fifth-deepest lake in the United States. The name comes from French fur traders who named the local Kalispel people for their ear pendants. Explorer David Thompson built a trading post here in eighteen oh nine.
Sandpoint itself was incorporated in nineteen oh one as a logging hub, but the lake turned out to be good for something unexpected: submarine research. The Navy discovered its depth, cold bottom temperature, and quiet acoustics made it ideal for testing scale models of submarines, a program that continues today at Bayview, just south of town. From fur trade to timber to warship acoustics, Sandpoint is a small town with an unusually long resume.
