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Not to be confused with Coeur d'Alene people. The Coeur d'Alene Reservation is a Native American reservation in northwestern Idaho, United States. It is home to the federally recognized Coeur d'Alene, one of the five federally recognized tribes in the state.

It is located in parts of Benewah and Kootenai counties. The land area is 523.76 sq mi (1,356.531 km2) and it had a population of 6,551 residents at the 2000 census. The largest city entirely within the reservation is Plummer, with a population of more than 1,000 in the 2010 census.

Part of the larger city of St. Maries, the county seat of Benewah County, extends onto the reservation's eastern end. Some 734 of the city's 2,652 residents reside in this area of the reservation.

History and Origin
Considered as the place "where the old ones walked," the Coeur d'Alene Reservation came to fruition by the tribesmen using the surrounding resources to fish and hunt. The name, "Coeur d'Alene," meaning "Heart of the Awl," was given from a French trapper in the late 18th or early 19th century, recognizing the high trading skill the tribe displayed.

The Coeur d'Alene territory, acquired by the United States under an 1846 treaty with Great Britain, saw numerous settlers from eastern United States move in the same decade. Following the defeat of the Indians in the Skitswish War of May–September 1858, more speculators were attracted to the territory after the discovery of silver in 1863 in the north Panhandle near the city of Coeur d'Alene. Mining and development revealed this to be an area of the second-largest silver deposits in the United States.

In 1873 the Coeur d'Alene lands were reduced to approximately 600,000 acres (940 sq mi; 2,400 km2) when President Ulysses S. Grant established the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation by executive order. Chief Peter Moctelme traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with the President to discuss his disagreement of allotments. Upon ratification, Chief Peter Moctelme's land was reduced by 1/3 and sold to white settlers. The US agreement with the tribe "expressly included part of the St. Joe River (then called the St. Joseph), and all of Lake Coeur d'Alene except a sliver cut off by the northern boundary."

As of 1885, Congress had neither ratified the 1873 agreement nor compensated the Tribe. This inaction prompted the Tribe to petition the Government again, to "make with us a proper treaty of peace and friendship ... by which your petitioners may be properly and fully compensated for such portion of their lands not now reserved to them; [and] that their present reserve may be confirmed to them." Successive government acts put a reservation boundary across Lake Coeur d'Alene, rather than following customary practice of using the high water line, and reduced the size of the reservation to 345,000 acres (1,400 km2) near Plummer, south of the town of Coeur d'Alene.

Note: Add in Idaho v. Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Idaho

Geography
Spanning over eastern Washington, north Idaho, and western Montana, also referred to as the Panhandle region of Idaho, the Coeur d'Alene's and the neighboring tribes live on over 5 million acres (20,234 km2) of land. The region consists of grass-covered hills, camas-prairie, forested mountains, lakes, marshes and river habitat. The territory extended from the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille in the north, running along the Bitterroot Range of Montana in the east, to the Palouse and North Fork of the Clearwater River in the south, to Steptoe Butte and up to just east of Spokane Falls in the west. At the center of this region was Lake Coeur d'Alene. The abundant natural resources included trout, salmon, and whitefish. The tribe supplemented hunting and gathering activities by fishing the St. Joe and Spokane rivers. They used gaff hooks, spears, nets, and traps and angled for fish.

Note: Find reference/edit wording

Demographics
Consisting of over 2,190 current members, the Coeur d'Alene people were established as non-nomadic and had several villages along the surrounding rivers.

Economy/Trading
Trading was at the forefront of the Coeur d'Alene, being described by a past Frenchman fur trader as "the greatest traders in the world." The land provided ample amounts of resources, allowing for the tribe to be stationary and non-nomadic while being able to establish farms and a "productive agriculture." Fish, quarry, waterfowl, nuts, and berries all derived from the bodies of water, mountains, grassy lands, and wetlands nearby. Additionally, the Coeur d'Alene tribe created a 6,000 acre farm, producing several food sources such as wheat, barley, peas, lentils, and canola.

Tribes are permitted to participate in economic development in a corporate form and "create perpetual membership corporations encompassing all tribal members." Committing tribal income and entering into leases must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The Coeur d'Alene tribal government itself employs about 1000 people. Tribal enterprises include the Benewah Automotive Center, the Benewah Market, and an Ace Hardware store.

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe is the second largest employer in Benewah and Kootenai Counties. The tribe has two primary areas of economic development, agriculture and gaming. According to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe website, the tribe has a 6,000 acre farm that produces wheat, barley, peas, lentils and canola. However, in addition to the reservation's 6,000 acre farm, there is 150,000 acres in privately owned farms and 30,000 acres of farm land dedicated to turf farming. The tribe also practices selective cutting logging on 180,000 acres of forest land.

In 1988, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the 100th Congress, which stipulated that regulated gambling was permissible on tribal lands, provided that the state had some form of legalized gambling. The act led to an increase in tribal casinos, which also led to other ventures, such as resorts, hotels and golf courses. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe operates the Coeur d'Alene Casino, Resort, and Hotel in Worley, Idaho. The casino is overseen by the Coeur d'Alene Gaming Department, which consists of eight core members. The Casino employs around 500 people and generates about $20 million in profit each year. The money is returned to tribe for funding tribal programs and economic development.

In 2001, across Idaho, tribal gaming contributions to the state's economy were $84 million in wages and earnings, $250 million in sales, $11 million in property and sales taxes. In total contributions, including gaming, tribes contributed $159 million in wages and earnings, $478 million in sales, $17 million in property and sales taxes, and $6 million in state income tax payments. The tribes generated 7,400 jobs, 4,500 in gaming.

The Coeur d'Alene tribe also operates the Benewah Medical Center, which opened in 1998. The center is a $5 million, 43,000 square foot facility that serves around 10,000 patients. The tribe also has a $5 million school, which built in 1997.

Communities

 * Conkling Park
 * DeSmet
 * Harrison (part, population 267 persons)
 * Parkline
 * Plummer
 * Rockford Bay
 * St. Maries (part, population 734 persons)
 * Tensed
 * Worley

Notable residents

 * Mildred Bailey