Bonners Ferry

Understand

A lonely cartographer from the North West Company first arrived here in 1808 and set up a trading post. Then Jesuit Priest Father DeSmet showed up in 1846 to work with the Kootenai tribe. But it was in 1863 when things really took off, as prospectors scampered north along the Wildhorse Trail to reach the goldfields in the Kootenays of British Columbia. That's when Edwin Bonner decided to set up a ferry here in 1864.

By the 1880s and 90s, a steamer and freight train were transporting freight and passengers between places. The village of Bonners Ferry was formally established in 1893, on stilts along the south bank of the Kootenai River to guard against spring flooding, with a smattering of ranches and homesteads along the valley and benchland and numerous mines, including the Continental Mine in the Selkirks, in the hills nearby. The lumber industry also grew rapidly.

By the 20th century, the Kootenai valley land was drained and managed with levees to become the "Nile of the North", while the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company grew to be one of the world's largest lumber mills. Brick buildings were constructed in town, and the Libby Dam was built in 1975 to lessen the threat of serious flooding. Much of Main Street construction dates from this time.

Local information

• City of Bonners Ferry website