Athol, ID

Athol is a Kootenai County city at the crossroads of northern Idaho roads, about two miles north of Silverwood and four miles west of Farragut State Park at the south end of Lake Pend Oreille. The Northern Pacific station arrived in 1882, followed by a post office in 1895, a sawmill, and the businesses that turned a rail stop into a town. Athol was first called Colton; a settler later brought the name from Athol, Massachusetts, which in turn was named for a Scottish town associated with the Duke of Atholl. Today the city sits between forest, farmland, the lake country, and the roads to Silverwood and Farragut. It is a small Idaho city with a map that opens in several directions.