Bonner County Ferries by Paul H. Rechnitzer from Beautiful Bonner: The History of Bonner County, Idaho - Vol. I

Throughout time civilization has depended on the construction of roads to make accessible the resources necessary for settlement and progress. What made pioneering in what is now Bonner County different from other parts of north Idaho, is that the county is bisected by a system of two connecting rivers. As roads were cut out of the wilderness, there were unavoidable gaps created by the Clark Fork and Pend Oreille rivers.

Each gap was closed by a ferry. Without the ferryboats and the men that operated them, travel and communication would have been more difficult.

But pioneering enterprise, as always, found a solution which was to provide, for a charge, a ready and available means of crossing the rivers.

While the idea of a ferry probably preceeded the invention of the wheel, those who saw the need and filled it hastened and sustained settlement by implementing this oldest of ideas.

Ferry crossing the Pend Oreille River at Seneacquoteen in 1860. Watercolor by James Madison Alden, artist with the American Boundary Survey Commission.

In Bonner County the earliest known operating ferry began around the middle of the 1800s. One historian writes that a George Montour began his ferry at Seneacquoteen in 1858. Another says that it was Guy Haines in 1863. In either event, the crossing at Seneacquoteen was the first, as the Indians had been crossing the river at this point long before Euroamericans set their eyes on it.

The Seneacquoteen Trail, or as it was later to be known, the Wild Horse Trail, provided an important link between points in the Oregon Territory and British Columbia. This route that had been used for centuries by the Indians became essential to the early white travelers, civilian and military alike.

With the passage of time and the influx of more and more pioneers, other roads were built, such as the one north from Rathdrum through Spirit Valley to the falls. To provide access to the north bank and the country beyond, Joseph and Albeni Poirier began a ferry and river boat landing below the falls in 1891.

Not long thereafter, a new settlement came to life downstream encouraging a more desirable crossing and boat landing. The crossing at Newport, Idaho, went on to become one of the key ferryboat operations in the county, ending when it was 'bridged out' in 1927.

At Priest River it was the construction of the Great Northern Railway that prompted the need for farmers and ranchers to get to the other side of the river. The ferry, begun before the turn of the century by Joe Young and Jack Will, didn't last too long, as the clamor for a bridge was overpowering. A five-span steel bridge was opened for traffic in the fall of 1916.

The ferry at Priest River on one of its last trips across the Pend Oreille River. C. 1916.

Further upstream, George Carey started his ferry in 1892, also to make the GN more accessible. Apparently a victim of the 1918 flu epidemic, his ferry stopped when he died on the second day of January, 1919. It was not until the spring of 1921 that the Thama Ferry began where Mr. Carey had left off. In 1954, when local taxpayers told the commissioners they thought their money could be better used on a road to Priest River, the ferry was discontinued. That a milk truck had gone into the river a month before might have also influenced the decision.

At Seneacquoteen the ferry survived until March 1957, making it not only the first ferry, but also the last.

There were ferries that operated still further upstream such as Smith's, Campfield's and Baldwin's. The latter site was chosen in 1903 as the crossing point for the Spokane and Kootenai Railroad. Today this is where the Spokane International (Union Pacific) railroad bridge is now located.

Supposedly there was a ferry at Dover. The county paid for a boat and authorized the crossing but never paid a ferryman.

At Sandpoint there were two railroads and a growing community that made a river crossing increasingly important. One of the earlier proposals was for a bridge to be built on the sand spit with a ferry to cross the deeper part of the channel. That never happened because a bridge the entire distance seemed the better and ultimate solution. The result was the famous wagon bridge, so named because it was more than a simple foot bridge.

The Clark Fork ferry, circa 1915.

In eastern Bonner County it has been said the earliest crossing of the Clark Fork was at the settlement of Clark Fork. In those days the road out of Montana was only on the south side of the river. This crossing became increasingly important during the time the Northern Pacific was under construction. The ferryboat at Clark Fork was bridged out in 1918.

The other ferry over the Clark Fork River was at Cabinet, which was also a landing for river boats. This crossing was unique because it also had a suspension bridge for foot traffic. Cabinet had its own school and railroad station. There were also several settlements and a mine. Cabinet was important since it was about a mile below a gorge that made further travel up the river impossible. When ice destroyed the ferry during the winter of 1934-1935, the county discontinued the service. All that is left today is a fish hatchery, and it is brand new.

While there were all kinds of ferryboats, the ones we see in surviving photographs were either propelled by the current or powered by a gasoline engine that drove one or two paddle wheels. Each boat was essentially a shallow draft barge that was kept from drifting downstream by a cable stretched across the river. To many, a crossing on any of the ferries was considered hazardous. There were many accidental drownings.

By any standards the ferrymen were very much pioneers, each in his own way providing an invaluable service to others. They were available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, crossings being made many times under the most adverse of circumstances. They braved swift current, strong winds and all kinds of floating debris and ice. Ever changing river levels were still another part of the challenge. More than once a ferryman declined to make the trip in the interest of his passengers' well-being.

That the passing of each ferryboat was greeted with so much joy and celebration merely confirms the preoccupation with progress, so important during the early days of this century. It does seem a shame that those who served so faithfully seldom received the recognition they deserve. That not one boat survived the ferryboat era is regrettable.

Where the crossings were not bridged out as at Cabinet, Seneacquoteen and Thama, one can easily pause to take in the scene so important, for many years, to so many people. If you look hard enough, you can still see the ferry that was "always on the other side."

---

Copyright 2003-04Bonner County Historical Society Contents of this website may not be used or reproduced without the written permission of the Bonner County Historical Society.