July 19, 1926, a special eighteen car Great Northern Railway train, called the Columbia River Historical Expedition, stopped at the depot in Bonners Ferry. The expedition began in Chicago four days earlier and finally ended in Astoria ten days later.
Eleven monuments were dedicated on the trip, including the Pathfinder Monument which was placed by the depot (later flanked with flowers inside a railroad courtyard iron fence). The 9,600 pound, seven foot square stone from The Sandstone Quarry in Minnesota, was elaborately carved with relief motifs of Indian head pennies, powder horns, teepees, arrows, and oxen pulling wagons.
The monument’s tribute to the early explorers includes David Thompson and Father DeSmet, among others. The inscription on the reverse side reads, “Down the Kootenai, thence to the Pend d’Orielle and Spokane, the railroad follows the way taken by Explorer, Trader, and Missionary, a route which from time immemorial had been the highway of the Indian.”
The Pathfinder Monument was moved from the Great Northern depot to the park by the library on August 15, 1974. It will turn 100 years old on Sunday, July 19, 2026. Plan your day to go see the monument.
Read More – Museum Musings: Bonners Ferry’s Pathfinder Monument