| Bonner County
Bonner County was established on February 21, 1907, with its county seat at
Sandpoint. It was named for Edwin L. Bonner, who in 1864, established a ferry on
the Kootenai River where the town of Bonners Ferry is located. The ferry became
an important site in emigrant travel between Walla Walla to the placer and
quartz mines in British Columbia. Bonner was the 22nd county created in the
state.
Return to
County Profiles Main Page, or page to next county,
Bonneville.
County statistics
County
Seat: Sandpoint
Population: 39,872
Bonner County website
Interesting
Facts
Bonner
County borders Washington state and Montana. It is 9th in population size in the
state and the 14th largest county in area. The federal government owns
approximately 44 percent of the county. The local economy strongholds are forest
products, tourism and mail-order catalog.
One of the
earliest settlements in Bonner County is Seneaquoteen, which is derived from and
Indian word meaning "crossing of the waters." It refers to an early river
crossing at that point. The settlement began as a Hudson Bay Company trading
post and served as the county seat of Kootenai County for a short time in 1864.
The name "Seneaquoteen" has also been recorded as Sineacateen, Seneaguoteen and
Seneacquoteen.
The name
"Sandpoint" comes from a journal entry in 1809 by David Thompson. He mentions a
point of sand as a location. Settlement of Sandpoint dates back to 1880.
The Green
Monarch Ridge consists of low-lying mountains extending 4 miles southeast of
Green Monarch Mountain. There is some controversy over whether the Green
Monarch mine was named for the mountain or vice versa. The latter seems to be
more likely, since a 1912 USFS map lists the mine but not the mountain or the
ridge. The name Green monarch is applicable to both the mine and the mountain
since the ore taken from the mine was green and the mountain is green from the
many trees.
Famous
Bonner County Natives and Residents
Forrest
Bird
(1921- ) is
an inventor who developed a prototype mechanical ventilator that is widely used
for acute and chronic cardiopulmonary care. The ventilator, invented in 1955,
was revised to create a ventilator for infants, the "Babybird." It is
responsible for reduced the rate of breathing-related infant mortality from 70
percent to 10 percent. He has received numerous awards for his scientific
innovations, including two Lifetime Scientific Achievement awards. He was
inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995. Originally from
Massachusetts, Bird now resides in Sagle. In 2007, he opened the Bird Aviation
and Invention Museum to showcase his inventions.
Jerry
Kramer
(1936- )
moved to Idaho in his youth and went to high school in Sandpoint. He attended
the University of Idaho on a football scholarship. He was drafted in the fourth
round of the 1958 NFL draft and became an offensive lineman and kicker for the
Green Bay Packers, where he helped the team win five NFL titles and the first
two Super Bowls during his eleven-year career (1958-1968). He was selected as an
All-Pro in 1960, 1962, 1963, 1966 and 1967. He was inducted into the Green Bay
Packers Hall of Fame in 1975.
Sarah Heath
Palin
(1964- ) is
the first woman nominated to share a Republican presidential ticket. She was
selected by John McCain as his running mate for the 2008 presidential election.
Palin, who in 2006 was the first female elected as the Governor of Alaska, was
born in Sandpoint, and graduated from the University of Idaho.
Nell
Shipman
(1892-1970), a pioneer in early film production, was born Helen Foster-Barham in
British Columbia. With her husband, Ernest Shipman, she produced the most
successful silent film in Canadian history, "Back to God's Country." She
produced several films in the 1920s at a studio she maintained in Priest Lake.
(Sources
include The Idaho Blue Book, 2005-2006; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical
Dictionary; County Profiles of Idaho.)
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