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| Submitted photo by Ross Schneidmiller |
Holiday Hills ski resort operated in the 1970s on what now is called Legacy Ridge. One ski lift accessed three runs: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
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Did you know?
1/27/2010 11:08:34 AM
By Hope Brumbach
Splash Editor
Did you know the county's garbage used to pile up near the hill at Country Vista Apartments?
That skiers once swished down the slopes on the hilltop now known at Legacy Ridge?
That developers planned to construct a regional mall on the Safeway site long before Spokane Valley built its shopping mall?
Liberty Lake is a community rich with history and interesting factoids, and in honor of those times gone by, here is a list of 10 tidbits - some well-known and not-so-well-known - about Liberty Lake (which once was called Lake Grier).
1. Ironman Coeur d'Alene used to loop through Liberty Lake
Most residents likely will remember that the grueling Ironman race in neighboring Idaho once looped through Liberty Lake on the route to 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running. Advertisement
The bike course swept through the northeast corner of the community along Appleway Avenue and closed the roadways to other traffic.
In 2007, Ironman switched course to the north, rerouting the bike portion of the event to Hayden. Post Falls city officials had asked for reimbursement for extra city services used during the race, and some race participants said the course interest and variety could be improved.
The race director called the Hayden course better and safer.
2. Liberty Lake once was known as Lake Grier
U.S. Army Col. George Wright (more on him later) led battles against Native Americans living in the Liberty Lake area in the mid-1800s. After winning his best-known battle in 1858, he named Lake Grier (what is now called Liberty Lake) in honor of Maj. William Nicholas Grier, who led battles elsewhere in the region.
The name didn't stick, however. Settlers who came to the area following the Civil War disregarded the military's designation. Liberty Lake is named after Stephen E. Liberty, who homesteaded in 1871 near the lake, along with other settlers. Liberty carried mail over the Mullan Trail in its early days and also served as a guide.
3. A regional shopping mall once was proposed for Liberty Lake
In the 1980s, Cafaro Co. out of Youngstown, Ohio, proposed a regional shopping mall for Liberty Lake. The proposed $60 million project on more than 100 acres stalled, however, after a series of lawsuits mired it down in the spring of 1987.
Opponents of the project, which would have been located on the present Safeway site and Liberty Lake Commerce Center, said the developers needed to prepare an environmental impact statement.
When first proposed in 1986, the project was supposed to be 907,000 square feet and expected to provide more than 1,600 jobs, according to newspaper archives.
Splash photo by Josh Johnson
A monument commemorating the slaughtering of about 800 horses in the mid-1800s is located along the Centennial Trail due north of First Liberty Apartments about one mile east of the true location of the incident. The monument was moved in 1964 from its original placement in 1946.
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4. Col. George Wright slaughtered hundreds of horses near Liberty Lake
One of the most traumatic acts in the mid-1800s war between the U.S. government and Native Americans in the Inland Northwest occurred near Liberty Lake.
U.S. Army Col. George Wright, commanded to win decisively against the Native Americans, instructed his soldiers to slaughter about 800 horses belonging to the tribes of the area, according to historical accounts.
The animals were killed Sept. 8 and 9, 1858, along the banks of the Spokane River. Even 50 years later, the physical evidence was still there, with bleached bones of the horses spotted along the river.
Wright wrote of the act: "I deeply regretted killing those poor creatures, but a dire necessity drove me to it."
In 1946, an 8-foot granite marker was installed along the river to commemorate the spot. It later was moved in 1964 about a mile east of the true location.
5. A garbage dump operated near Liberty Lake's Country Vista Apartments
A 45-acre open-pit dump operated for decades in the hills near Liberty Lake, south of Interstate 90 and a mile west of Liberty Lake.
The Greenacres dump, near the hill now occupied by Country Vista Apartments, closed in the early 1970s.
In 1979, a drinking well downhill from the dump was contaminated by industrial solvents and heavy metals, according to newspaper accounts. The well did not draw from the Spokane Rathdrum Aquifer.
By the early 1980s, the Greenacres dump was among the first 500 landfills to be placed on the federal Superfund cleanup list.
6. Legacy Ridge was once a ski resort
In the 1970s, the large hill on the west side of the city, formerly known as Carlson Hill and now known as Legacy Ridge, was used as a ski and snowmobile recreation destination.
Holiday Hills, developed by Chuck Williams, offered a lodge and restaurant, one ski lift and three runs. Liberty Lake historian Ross Schneidmiller remembers the resort making snow for the runs, which still can be seen today marking the hillside, Schneidmiller said.
An RV park with an A-frame office also offered camping in the summer, according to historical accounts.
Due to financial difficulties, Holiday Hills closed by the end of the decade.
7. Liberty Lake used to host hydroplane boat races
Racing boats on Liberty Lake started in the 1900s, said Schneidmiller, the Liberty Lake historian, but the hydroplane boat racing revved up in the 1940s off of Sandy Beach.
Some of the biggest names and boats in the sport raced across the waters at Liberty Lake at breakneck speeds.
"You could hear the roar of the hydros forever," Schneidmiller said. "There were some of us that loved it, let me tell you."
Schneidmiller remembers the racing coming to an end in the mid-1970s. Residents around the lake likely tired of the noise and bustle, he said.
8. Zephyr Lodge was rumored to be a brothel
Zephyr Lodge, now a Christian retreat center, started in the early 1900s when Charles Traeger constructed a lodge and casino on the east side of the lake adjacent to Liberty Lake County Park.
Traeger spared no expense in decorating the two-story, 20-room inn, according to a 2004 article written by Keith Yates in "Nostalgia Magazine." Zephyr Lodge Casino, along with the dance hall, hotel and restaurant, did well. Yates wrote that music from the piano and vocalists could be heard at all hours across the lake.
Mary Floy Dolphin, whose family settled in the area around the same time, said her relatives told stories about people riding boats from the west side of the lake to Zephyr, since there were no roads to the lodge at the time.
"Liberty Lake was the place to go back in the day with its dance halls and merry-go-round," she said in an interview with The Splash for a 2009 article. "Zephyr Lodge was known as a speakeasy way back then and a house of ill repute."
9. Liberty Lake once was considered "Spokane's Inland Seashore"
Far from being private, Liberty Lake once had half a dozen resorts operating along its banks at one time and was considered "Spokane's Inland Seashore."
In the early 1900s, visitors could rent boats from the Liberty Lake Boat company, enjoy live band music and dancing at the pavilion, stay at resorts and enjoy all-Valley picnics. Silver City, on the site of the old Liberty Lake Park, offered a Ferris wheel, swing ride and a carousel with hand-carved wooden tigers, horses, frogs, cats and dogs. The carousel remained at the park until 1961. By 1951, according to historical accounts, six resorts operated on Liberty Lake with four public beaches.
By the 1960s, however, many of the attractions had closed: the dance pavilion at the old Liberty Lake Park burned, the lake's water quality began to decline and by the 1970s, more resorts had closed and the Liberty Lake Park area was converted into a housing development.
In 1991, the last resort closed at Sandy Beach.
10. Country Vista Drive used to have a 45-mph speed limit
For newcomers to Liberty Lake, the 35-mph speed limit on Country Vista Drive west of Liberty Lake Road might not seem abnormal.
But less than two years ago, the road that some residents have termed "the tarmac," stretching between Liberty Lake and Spokane Valley, sported a 45-mph speed limit. City officials changed that in 2008, citing the need for consistency and safety, especially as development along the road continues to build.
Some residents were not pleased, complaining that the lower speed limit was unnecessary and inconvenient.
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