The village center has some nice public spaces,
and a good bookstore, which is next to a placed called ‘Woody’s Gun & Pawn LLC”.
At the old brick post office, which for some reason the US Government hasn’t attempted to sell yet, I found myself engaged in an apocalyptic discussion with two women, one of whom was very worried about dying in a flood, should a catastrophic failure of the nearby dam occur. “A lot of people would die, that’s for sure. I guess you just say, ‘Well, at least it’s been a good run.'”, she shrugged.
She went on to express frustration that no government employee would tell her just how high up on the mountain she should build her homestead in order to survive such a flood, no matter how many times she inquired. “It’s a mathematical calculation, see.”
After discussing the depths of various building foundations in town, the two women decided the Post Office and the Court House were the only two buildings likely to remain standing.
About a block away from the post office and court house in any given direction and you are on the outskirts of town.
And the view from around the corner.
And heading back “downtown” towards the museum—a post for another day—you can see the clock tower of City Hall.
The Kootenai River runs through the village. Before someone named Bonner arrived and convinced the locals it would be OK for him to take over ferrying white people across the river, and before the US Canadian border haphazardly divided their land, this was Kootenai territory.
The Kootenais are very proud of the fact that they are one of the few tribes that steadfastly refused to sign a treaty with the US Government and never agreed to leave their land for reservations. In 1974, all 67 of them declared war on the US; in response to this peaceful conflict and the ensuing publicity, the US government deeded them 12.5 whole acres of their ancestral homeland. That is some kind of victory, I suppose.
The view from a bridge that replaced the bridge that replaced the ferry. (Too ugly to actually show; the original ferry replacement was quite beautiful, apparently.)
And the town’s original source of electricity, a Pelton wheel.