Panels examine 'Agriculture in Boundary County'
Courtesy photo The Selkirk Mountains to the west, the Kootenai River Valley, and the Bench Land to the east.
This is the first in a series of articles from the Boundary County Museum based on the Idaho Humanities grant for Agriculture in Boundary County
The first interpretive panel has to do with the Geology of Boundary County. The Geologic features of Boundary County are the results of uplifting, faulting, and glaciation. The rugged Selkirk Mountains to the west are part of the Priest River uplift presenting an abrupt face contrast to the lowlands known as the Kootenai Valley.
The broad, low valley of the meandering Kootenai River is but a small part of the Purcell Trench which extends from Coeur d’Alene Lake to beyond the north end of Kootenay Lake in British Columbia.
To the southeast of the valley rise the Cabinet Mountains which feature glaciated high valleys surrounded by spectacular cliffs and sharp-crested ridges.
Above the river floodplain lies the Bench Land which extends northeast from Bonners Ferry in Porthill into Canada. This ancient bench has a gently rolling topography which adjoins the Purcell Mountains.
These geologic features have created landforms, water, and soils conducive to agriculture.