Bonner & Surrounding Area
MANY CULTURES FORGED STRONG COMMUNITIES
Welcome to Bonner and nearby communities, each built on the grit and dreams of self-made men and women. If you had walked into the Bonner School in the early 1900s, you would have heard the chatter of Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and French as well as English. The coming of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883 marked a new transportation era that brought loggers and millworkers from far-flung places to this confluence of two great rivers.
Their dreams merged in the expanses of uncut forests lining the Big Blackfoot River and the promise of a better life.
E.L. Bonner anticipated a boom in 1881 when his business (Eddy, Hammond and Company) won the lumber contract for building the railroad. By 1886, the saws of the new Bonner mill were buzzing and a company town was born. The Anaconda Company took over the mill in 1898 and remained until 1972.
Historically, residents of this area have maintained a proud independence. In 1911, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) camped across the tracks along the Clark Fork River and successfully lobbied for better housing and food. In 1942, mill employees organized a labor union. Today, the mill still prospers on the banks of the Blackfoot River. Nearby Milltown, Bonner, West Riverside and Piltzville remain small, yet spirited communities with strong ties to their heritage.
BOOM DAYS
The river is packed with logs for a distance of almost rwo miles. The mill has been been running to its utmost capacity but has scarcely made an impression yet on the millions of feet of logs to the booms and above.
-Missoulian, August 1, 1888
COMMUNITY GARDENS
"...One of the grandest sights I ever in my life was when I happened to be at Bonner one evening as the sun was going down, and there were fully a hundred men, women, and children, many of the women wearing white dresses, hoeing and caring for their gardens..."
-Kenneth Ross, former mill manager,
describing 1918 gardens on land donated by the mill
GATEWAY TO THE BLACKFOOT
From Bonner to the Blackfoot River Corridor is a stone's skip away. Take time to explore one of Montana's most highly prized recreational areas.
In SUMMER float the river, fish, camp, picnic or explore the backroads and trails. Visit nearby Garnet, Montana's best preserved ghost town (off Hwy 200) and Bonner's Two Rivers Community Park (just east of here on Hwy 10). When FALL arrives, take a scenic drive to witness the changing colors of larch and cottonwood trees. During WINTER cross country ski at Lubrecht Forest or try the slopes of nearby downhill ski areas. Watch bighorn sheep on rocky slopes close to Bonner. In the SPRING look for native wildflowers from arrow leaved balsalmroot to lupine.
From the historical marker