This Week in History — June 29, 2023

100 Years Ago

Announcement is made this week that a new Masonic Temple, to cost $12,000 and to be the finest of its kind in North Idaho, will be built over the First National Bank. Martin Estlund has been awarded the contract, and it is expected the building will be completed within 60 days.

The bridge crew of the Illinois Steel Bridge Company, which has been working on the new Moyie Bridge for the past three months, has completed the structure.

The Cynide Mining Company is completing the instillation of the plant on its property in the Buckhorn district and the work of putting in a dam near Eileen for their power plant which was halted some time ago by high water in the Moyie River, will be resumed and rushed to an early completion.

50 Years Ago

Four timber fires broke out in Boundary County as a result of lightning strikes during last Friday night’s storm, according to a report from George Kalb, dispatcher for the Bonners Ferry Ranger District.

The Sears Merchant Store in downtown Bonners Ferry will have a new owner, effective July 1. Perry Ashworth, former operator of Ashworth Cedar Products, is purchasing the business from Colin Chisholm, who plans to leave Bonners Ferry

An election was held Friday, June 15, by the South Hill Water and Sewer District for the purpose of voting on the question of constructing a water and domestic sewer system and issuing bonds for the payment of same. The proposal passed 80 to 31.

15 Years Ago

Papa Byrd’s Bistro in Bonners Ferry, formerly known as Hometown Pizza, will hold its grand opening Saturday, June 28, in the Bonners Ferry city parking lot. Owned by Mark Truesdell and his niece Tracy Truesdell, Papa Byrd’s was named after Mark’s late brother, Eric, whose nickname was Byrd.

A new cross-border tourism development initiative has named the International Selkirk Loop, which includes Bonners Ferry, as one of the Top Ten Destinations in the northern Rockies.

Tom and Robin Merrifield unsuspectingly ran into Rob Kent in front of “It’s a Small World” in Disneyland on the busiest day of the year. It really is a small world.

— Submitted by the Boundary County Museum