Bayview Historical Society BAYVIEW, ID

dedicated to preserving the history of Bayview, Lakeview and other locations on Lake Pend Oreille

Pen d'Oreille City History

The lifespan of Pen d'Oreille City was short but important in the early development of north Idaho.  Situated in a tiny, sheltered bay at the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille it served as a supply point for miners heading to the newly discovered gold fields along Wild Horse Creek in British Columbia and at Last Chance Gulch in Helena, Montana, starting in 1866.

Simeon Reed, then president of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, Portland, Oregon, saw tremendous promise in getting the jump on supplying these two newly discovered mining camps.  He was the brunt of many jokes in Walla Walla when he proposed bringing goods up the Columbia past Wallulla some 50 miles to White Bluffs, in what was then Washington Territory.  Walla Walla held the market on being the point where supply trains headed north along the Mullan Road or other early trails heading into Idaho and Montana.  Reed felt if he could send goods by wagon from White Bluffs to Lake Pend Oreille, they could then travel north by steamer to access the existing Wild Horse Trail into British Columbia.  He also planned to his steamers travel up the Clark Fork River carrying miners and supplies into Montana.  He knew that the newly completed Mullan Road was closed much of the year due to snow and poor trail conditions and impassable to anything but pack animals much of the time.  It made perfect sense to him that steamers on Lake Pend Oreille could operate many more weeks of the year. The White Bluffs Road from White Bluffs on the Columbia to Pen d'Oreille City opened in 1866.

The Oregon Steam Navigation Company formed a subsidiary for the purpose of this project.  It was called the Oregon and Montana Transportation Company.  One of its five board of directors, Zenas Moody, was chosen to direct the endeavor.  He came north to oversee the building of the first of three steamers, which was called the Mary Moody after his wife Mary.  It was built on the Pend Oreille River at Seneaquoteen Crossing in 1866.  Her engine and boiler, cannibalized from the steamer Col. Wright, were hauled by David and Mrs. Coone from White Bluffs to Seneaquoteen by a 10-mule team.  A base camp was established at Pen d'Oreille City and soon a hotel, general store, saloon and several small homes were built.  Trips up the lake began in the spring of '66.  Two additional steamers were built on the Clark Fork River - one for the trip from above Cabinet Landing to Thompson Falls and the other for the ride from Thompson Falls to the Jocko River.

Moody left the lake by 1868, returning to Oregon and leaving affairs in the hands of an agent.  The gold fields in B.C. and Helena, being very lucrative, attracted all sorts of supply lines and soon business from Pen d'Oreille City fell off.  The Mary Moody continued to operate on the lake into the late 1870s and was used to transport survey crews to Hope and Sandpoint when the Northern Pacific rail lines were being determined.  Moody served a term as governor of Oregon from 1882-87.

The protected harbor in Buttonhook Bay became known as Steamboat Landing in the 1880s and continued to serve as a supply point for homesteaders, since the wagon trail from Westwood (later Rathdrum) came there.  Now it is part of Farragut State Park and a favorite spot for boaters.

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