Heyburn State Park

Heyburn State Park. the Oldest State Park in the Pacific Northwest. , The Coeur d’Alene people are the earliest inhabitants of this area. , The natural wealth of the forests, rivers, and lakes sustained their existence for countless generations on five million acres of ancestral land. Their lifestyle was forever altered with the discovery of gold in the Idaho pan handle in 1860. The Coeur d’Alene were forced onto a reservation in 1873. Then, a series of concessions each downsized the reservation as their land was taken for homesteading. One of the concessions also involved the establishment of Heyburn State Park. , Idaho’s junior U.S. Senator Weldon B. Heyburn felt it was urgent to make part of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation a national park before it was opened to homesteaders in 1909. , Theodore Roosevelt agreed and signed the Congressional Act into law April 20, 1908. The federal government changed its position and decided it did not want to make it a national park. Idaho chose to purchase the 7,838 acres from the Department of the Interior for $1.45 per acre, making it a state park, and the first in the northwest. , Today, you can explore the park as Weldon Heyburn intended, as “a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” , Major upgrades in visitor access occurred from 1934 to 1942 when Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1995 was assigned to enhance the park’s recreational resources. , Their labors included the construction of the Chatcolet campground, development of the water distribution system, construction of many of the trails and roads in the park, and building many of the structures still in use.