A little about Bonners Ferry:
This region was originally home to the Kootenai people. With the discovery of gold in the East Kootenays of British Columbia in 1863, thousands of prospectors from all over the West surged northward over a route that became known as the Wildhorse Trail.
Edwin Bonner, a merchant from Walla Walla, Washington, established a ferry in 1864 where the trail crossed the broad Kootenai River. In 1875, Richard Fry, and his Sinixt wife (a member of the native Salish people), Justine Su-steel Fry, leased the business, but the location retained the name of the original founder.
Before the gold rush, few visitors had come to the region; one of the first was explorer David Thompson, a cartographer for the North West Company. Thompson and four fellow fur traders arrived in 1808 to trade with the Lower Kootenais. Exhausted and famished, the local natives gave Thompson's party dried fish and moss bread. Thompson returned the next year and established a trading post on Lake Pend Oreille. He was followed in 1846 by Jesuit Priest Father DeSmet, a missionary to the Kootenai Tribe.
The Oregon question was settled by the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which established the 49th Parallel north as the boundary between the U.S.A and British North America. Government surveyors of the Boundary Commission came in 1858 to formally establish the border between the United States and British Columbia.
With mines to the north, the community of Bonners Ferry began to flourish in the 1880s as a supplier. The Norwegian-built steamer Midge began service in 1883 and operated for the next 25 years, carrying passengers and freight between Bonners Ferry and British Columbia. The Great Northern Railway was built here in 1892, followed quickly by the Spokane International and the Kootenai Valley lines.
The village of Bonners Ferry was formally established in 1893, along the south bank of the Kootenai River. Perched on stilts to avoid the inevitable spring floods, it gave every appearance of a boom town. By 1899 it had encompassed three nearby river communities, Bonnerport and Eatonville on the south side and Fry on the north side. Boundary County separated from Bonner County in 1915.
Scattered along the valley and benchland were a few ranches and homesteads. Numerous mines were developed in the nearby mountains, including the Continental Mine in the Selkirks. The lumber industry also grew rapidly.
The 1920’s saw false front wooden structures give way to brick buildings; sidewalks replaced boardwalks, and bridges replaced the ferry. Much of today’s charming Main Street dates from this initial period of solid, permanent construction. Churches and schools grew as more families settled. Dikes protected the town and farmlands from spring floods most years. Libby Dam removed the threat of flooding, but not the memories for old timers.
Moving into the 20th century, the town found its strength as a lumbering and farming community. More valley land was drained, levees constructed and farms cleared on the benches. The rich Kootenai Valley became known as the "Nile of the North.” While the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company grew to be one of the world's largest lumber mills.
Today’s Bonners Ferry retains much of the flavor of its past, while a recent revitalization project has given a facelift to the downtown area. The one thing that has never changed is the friendly, hometown attitude of its citizens.