In 1963, a small ski resort opened on Schweitzer Mountain near Sandpoint, Idaho. Today the thriving resort is considered one of the best ski venues in the country and is a major attraction for visitors and locals alike.
December 13, 2013 will be the unveiling of our newest exhibit, “From Rope-Tow to Stella: 50 Years of Schweitzer.” Come on over to the Bonner County Museum between 10 and 4 and view our collection of vintage ski memorabilia representing 50 years of snowy fun! Admission is free that day, and you’ll also receive a 10% discount throughout the Museum Shop, to help you check off the rest of your Christmas shopping list.
(Pssst! There will also be a very special Holiday Soiree for BCHS members only! If you’re a member, watch your e-mail or mailbox for details. Also, remember that the Museum will be closed Nov. 28-29 for Thanksgiving and Dec. 24-Jan. 1 for Christmas and the New Year.)
2013 Holiday Hours
The Museum will be closed Thursday 11/28 and Friday 11/29 in observance of Thanksgiving.
The Museum will also be closed Tuesday 12/24/2013 thru Wednesday 1/1/2014 in observance of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Thanks to everyone who helped us reach our goal of 250 “likes” on Facebook! Congratulations go to Anna Protsman, winner of our $50 gift certificate to Trinity at City Beach.Be sure to visit our Facebook page for up-to-the-minute news and discussions.
Visit the Bonner County Historical Society on Facebook! Like our page and be entered in a drawing to win a fabulous gift certificate from Trinity at City Beach!
If you’re visiting in and around the Sandpoint area this summer, stop by and tour the Museum and see what’s new, and shop for souvenirs in our newly refurbished Museum Shop. We’re located in Lakeview Park (611 S. Ella) in Sandpoint, open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 4.
On a hot July night in 1923, a shopkeeper in Hope, Idaho, lay dead on the floor after a robbery gone awry. The pursuit and investigation of the suspected killers cracked open a sensational two-month crime spree that spattered blood all across the Inland Northwest and mystified the authorities. In the end, one man would face the hangman’s noose.
In this true crime story, Dale Selle painstakingly researched the life of one of the most notorious outlaws in Pacific Northwest history. Along with his sidekicks, Mike Donnelly’s life of crime and punishment crossed four states and spanned more than forty years. He left a trail of robbery, shootings, and murder and would stop at nothing to evade capture.
Pick up your copy of HUNTED today at the Bonner County Museum. You can also mail a request to the Bonner County History Museum, 611 S. Ella, Sandpoint, ID 83864, or phone 208-263-2344 to order with a credit card.
HUNTED by Dale Selle
220 pages, paper
ISBN: 978-0-9850554-0-0
$18.00 (includes tax).
Shipping: $6.00 for the first book, $1.00 each additional book.
Published by the Bonner County Historical Society
The International Space Station orbits Earth at a typical altitude of 400 km, with an orbital period of 91 minutes. A viewer looking straight down from ISS can see a field of view corresponding to a medium-sized U.S.state.
John L. Phillips, Ph.D., NASA Astronaut (retired)
John L. Phillips, Ph.D., will give a free presentation this Saturday, February 4, at 1:00 PM at the Sandpoint Community Hall. He will show images featuring the Earth-observation catalog of International Space Station Expedition 11 from April to October of 2005. Characteristic views of land, oceans, the atmosphere, and the night sky will be shown. Phillips will discuss the fallacies and realities of viewing man-made objects from Earth orbit. Highlights will include hurricanes and typhoons of summer 2005, images of regions that are remote but visually striking, and charismatic views of northern Idaho and the Inland Northwest.
Dr. Phillips holds a Ph.D. in space physics from UCLA. He served in the U.S. Navy as a pilot and worked as a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was principal investigator for the plasma experiment on the Ulysses spacecraft as it flew over the poles of the Sun. He has authored over 150 scientific publications.
In 1996 Dr. Phillips was selected by NASA as an astronaut. He has flown into space three times: in 2001 aboard STS-100, space shuttle Endeavour; in 2005 on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a six-month stay on the International Space Station; in 2009 on STS-119, space shuttle Discovery. He was assigned in 2009 as the NASA Chair Professor at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, teaching classes on the space environment. Dr. Phillips retired from NASA in 2011 and now lives in northern Idaho.
The presentation is being sponsored by the Coeur du Deluge Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute, the Bonner County Historical Museum, and the City of Sandpoint.
The “Big Burn” of 1910 was a massive forest fire that devastated large portions of northern Idaho and western Montana. Not only did the fire create a great loss of marketable timber that was the economic basis of the region, it burned towns, took many lives, and left hundreds of families burned out of their homes and farms. Local communities that were especially affected by the fires and where dozens of families were left without a home or livelihood were Cabinet, Sagle, and Priest River.
Thomas Krainz, PhD - Associate Professor of History, DePaul University
On Thursday, December 8, Thomas Krainz will speak about how communities in this region cared for refugees from the fires. While Krainz will focus especially on how Missoula and Spokane responded to the crisis, he is also researching the scope of the refugee situation in Bonner County and the way in which local communities helped those displaced by the fires.
Krainz is an associate professor of history at DePaul University in Chicago and the author of Delivering Aid: Implementing Progressive Era Welfare in the American West. He is currently conducting research for a book on how local communities, including state and federal agencies, responded to refugees in the American West in the early twentieth century. The massive 1910 forest fire known as the “Big Burn” is one of the case studies he is using to understand how receiving communities cared for refugees.
On December 8, Krainz will speak at 1:00 pm at the Sandpoint Community Hall. That evening, he will speak at 6:00 pm at the Sagle Senior Center at 650 Monarch Road in Sagle. Both presentations are free and open to the public.
The presentations are sponsored by the Bonner County Historical Society & Museum. Co-sponsors of the event are the Idaho Humanities Council, DePaul University, City of Sandpoint, Sagle Senior Center, and the Co-Op Country Store.
For additional information, call the Museum at 263-2344.
Sandpoint- Area businesses and residents are invited to join the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce from 5:00pm – 6:30pm, Wednesday June 29 for a Business After Hours of networking and “exploring Inland Northwest” history.
"Canoes For The Journey: David Thompson at Boat Encampment in 1811"
Hosted by the Bonner County Historical Museum, “Explore Your History” will be the theme for the evening’s get together. The museum is commemorating the 200th anniversary of the fur trader David Thompson’s historic journey from the Canadian Rockies to the Pacific Ocean, allowing him to make the first complete map of the Columbia River drainage.
Come see the exhibit “Canoes for the Journey: David Thompson at Boat Encampment in 1811” which includes a full-size replica of the canoe that Thompson designed for his historic journey. The museum will be serving wine, delicious appetizers, and desserts cooked in traditional outdoor dutch ovens. Look through the museum for answers to trivia questions. Correct answers will earn chances to win several outdoor themed door prizes.
For more information, please contact the Bonner County Historical Society at 208 263-2344 or bcmuseum(AT)frontier.com.
