From the Archives for March 10, 2022

"I arrived in Sand Point the spring of 1891, looking for my friend Spence Smith…It took me six years to get here…my shoes were gone, one foot being wrapped in a deer hide and the other in a gunny sack…I was happy to find Spence at his tie camp…He decided to send me out on a grubstake and let me prospect."

These words are from the story of Billy Houston in “Small Towns, Big Dreams” the new book presented by the Boundary County Historical Society. Billy's story is included in the town story of Klockmann, Idaho, and his discovery of the Continental Mine. The museum has copies of “Small Towns, Big Dreams” for $25.

This week, From the Archives is featuring a painting by Bette Myers. Bette painted, from an old photograph, her rendition of Billy Houston for her series of portraits commissioned by Stan and Georgia DeHart. The portraits hung in DeHart's Drug Store for many years. When the drug store closed, Stan and Georgia donated the 40 portraits to the Boundary County Historical Society. Having little to no space to hang them in the one-room museum, the society made arrangements to display them in the downtown Safeway Store for a period of three years. Fourteen years later, the society finally had adequate wall space to display Bette Myers', "The Faces of History," collection.

The Boundary County Historical Society and Museum, 7229 Main, Bonners Ferry, sponsors this column.

Visit the museum Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and you can visit the website at www.boundarycountymuseum.org or the museum’s Facebook page for historical photos and stories, and to see upcoming events. The museum can be reached at doyouremember@meadowcrk.com or telephone at 208-267-7720. Thank you for your continued support.