Bonners Ferry, ID - The Falcon, The Snowman, & Condorman Share a Beaver High Five

Welcome to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, "Idaho's Most Friendly Town."  The town is located in Boundary County, ID, and shares its northern border with British Columbia, Canada.  When gold was discovered in the East Kootenays in British Columbia in 1863, the surge of prospectors caused Edwin Bonner to establish a ferry where the Wildhorse Trail crossed the Kootenai River in 1864.   When the town was officially established in 1893, it retained the name of the original owner of the ferry.   Mining and lumber fed the towns early economy.  When the valley was drained in the early 1900s, the fertile farmland it created earned the area the nickname "Nile of the North".  In 1974, the Kootenai Tribe, the original inhabitants of the area, declared war in the United States and required travelers to pay a toll to use the main highway into town.  The money collected was used to care for elderly members of the tribe.  Ultimately the US government provided a 10.5 acre land grant to be used as the Kootenai Reservation to settle the dispute.  The town was once called home by American spy, Christopher John Boyce, and silent film actress, Claire Du Brey.  We hope you enjoy our trip through this neat little town.Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov