1899-1971

The Kootenai Valley Railroad, a subsidiary of the Great Northern, connected the main line from a spur near Bonners Ferry to the southern end of Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. Completed in 1899, its purpose was to connect with the Canadian Kaslo & Slocan Railroad and James J. Hill's steamboats on Kootenay Lake. With the closing of the Slocan silver mines, a major forest fire that burned most of the K & S, and strong competition from the Canadian Pacific Railway, Hill removed the KV's Canadian tracks.
The town of Porthill at the Canadian border became the northern termination point. The railway carried supplies, mail, and passengers from Bonners Ferry and returned with ore, logs, and agriculture products. The journey took about four hours and was often delayed by derailments or to give the crew and passengers time for some hunting or fishing. Locals nicknamed the line, "Keep Vaiting Railroad."
The railroad discontinued regular passenger service in 1914, but it continued to deliver supplies and mail to valley residents until the early 1970s. The line also transported ore from the Continental Mine in northwest Boundary County to regional smelters.
Although the railroad removed the bridges, trestle, ties and rails, remnants of the roadbed and faded advertisements painted on the rock walls are a reminder of an earlier



time.

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In the early 1900s, loggers cut huge stands of virgin timber in Boundary County. Workers lived in remote logging camps owned by the lumber companies. Logs were skidded by horses and hauled on wagons, or sleighs in the winter, to company owned railroad sidings. The railway transported flat cars of logs to area mills.

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Show me all markers in:  Bonners Ferry, ID  |  Boundary County  |  83805  |  Idaho  |  United States of America

Logging Railroads
Railroad Services
Railroad Laborers
Spokane International Railway
Great Northern Railway 1892
A Town is Born Along the Way
Semaphores
Pelton Wheel
Solving Power Problems
Electrifying Bonners Ferry

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