This Week in History - Sept. 26, 2024

100 Years Ago 

An 80-ton Marion dredge, 80-foot boom, arrived here Tuesday and is being unloaded and hauled to the A. Klockmann ranch, eight miles north of Bonners Ferry, where it will be erected and used in the digging of ditches and construction of dikes in Mr. Klockmann's reclamation plans for about 1,200 acres of bottomland. The dredge cost $33,000. It is expected that it will be ready for use in about two or three weeks. 

Homer Van Gundy of Sandpoint, who is well known here, received a load of duck shot in his right arm last Sunday when the shotgun carried by his hunting partner, E.D. Farmin, was accidently discharged. Van Gundy was not seriously injured. 

An attempt was made to rob the Boyd Spring store and post office at Meadow Creek last Friday night by three strangers who were frightened away before they had an opportunity to secure anything of value. It is believed that the robbers came to Meadow Creek in an auto.  

50 Years Ago 

Amy Trice, Chairwoman of the Kootenai Nation, and Tribal Representative Douglas Wheaton announced this morning, Thursday, that a group of 20 Indians of The Kootenai Coalition in Montana has arrived in Bonners Ferry with "weapons."  The "weapons" are documents which would indicate that the Kootenais of this area were never included  in a treaty, Ms. Trice said. She added that the coalition has offered the local tribe its manpower and services.  The tribe continued to maintain "roadblocks" north and south of town throughout the week, but those working on the roadblocks reported that few people stopped. 

15 Years Ago 

Bonners Ferry earned a spot in the fourth annual listing of Mother Earth News "Great Places You've (Maybe) Never Heard Of." The magazine claims Bonners Ferry evolutionized from a logging town to one with an active local arts scene, a commitment to local business and the Native American Kootenai Tribe's environmental efforts as a few of the reasons to spotlight this Idaho town. 

Junior Lorena LaBarbera stepped up to the plate in Senior Erin Hiatt's absence to lead the Bonners Ferry Girls' Cross Country team to a fourth place finish at the Farragut/Super-1 Invite Saturday. 

~ Submitted by the Boundary County Museum