Bonners Ferry

Bonners Ferry is an Idaho historical marker in Boundary County, dedicated 2025.

US-2, milepost 503.7

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

Edwin Bonner established a ferry across the Kootenai River to transport prospectors. It gave a future town and county their names. In 1864, British Columbia’s Kootenay gold rush drew miners to Canada. Steamboats began working the river in the 1880s; railroads arrived in the 1890s. Area forests attracted lumber companies, and the fertile river valley brought farmers. Bonners Ferry—then in Bonner County—became a commercial hub. In 1915, Idaho’s legislature carved Boundary County out of Bonner County. Ironically, the county named for Ed Bonner’s ferry now lies south of here, and Bonners Ferry is the governmental seat of Boundary County.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Department of Oregon. Map of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1861 · Rocky Mountains to Puget Sound. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1911 · Priest Lake, Idaho (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1913 · Priest Lake, Idaho (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1958 · Sandpoint, Idaho (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Department of Oregon. Map of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory, 1859, covering the location of Bonners Ferry, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Department of Oregon. Map of the state of Oregon and Washington Territory, 1859, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Bonners Ferry

Historical maps covering this location

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