As it goes with any addition to a family, deciding on a name is tough. Looking around Schweitzer, you’ll find names that represent the area, like our Selkirk Lodge or Cabinet Mountain Coffee, referencing the two mountain ranges around us. We have other names that recall the experience of Schweitzer - Sky House or the Great Escape Quad for example. We have chosen names that ground us in our physical space like the Lakeview Lodge and Cedar Park Express. Schweitzer has also used names to share the historical importance of the people and place that make Schweitzer, Schweitzer. The Colburn Triple, Idyle-Our-T-Bar, and Basin Express Quad celebrate the old town of Colburn (located near the base of the mountain), its infamous bar, and the large basin that cradled these places and the people who called it home.
Back in the late 1800s, intrepid loggers arrived in the area, working hard and long days for the local mills. One particular logging enterprise, the Humbird Lumber Company, became the economic lifeblood of the area providing steady work and an all-encompassing community for its workers. These loggers lived out of logging camps for months at a time, a motley collection of young and old men, enduring raw days in the forest, earning what money they could. The camps were remote and when the loggers came to town, they were easy to spot wearing their flannels over long underwear, dirty logging jeans and suspenders.
Fast forward to 2021 and you may have just described half the people who have a ski pass to the mountain. Just replace the dirty jeans with Carhartt’s and the suspenders with Kinko gloves. Of course, the flannels remain along with the "work hard, play hard" mentality.
There is a connection to those men that resonates today. The local mills of the Humbird Lumber Company transformed Sandpoint in the early 1900s from a male dominated logging settlement of 400 people to a bustling small town of 3,500 brimming with families. We may live more comfortable lives, escaping the risk of losing life and limb on the job, but the spirit of Sandpoint and Schweitzer has grown from the foundations laid by these persevering characters.
In tribute to the logging history and the legacy left to us, we wanted to ensure that the history and character of one of the area’s largest mills lives on. Our new hotel, Humbird, may not look like any logging camp would have looked like, but the energy and vibrance of those men and their hard line of work are celebrated in the choice of materials and simplicity of design. The new Humbird features cross laminated timber in the primary gathering spaces, metal panels, board formed concrete, and large expanses of glass beckoning you to take in the views as you take in our history.