city, seat (1915) of Boundary county, northern Idaho, U.S. Located 27 miles (43 km) south of the Canadian border on the Kootenai River, the city developed around a trading post and ferry established in the early 1870s by pioneer Edwin Bonner. A Great Northern Railroad line connected the city to eastern Washington in 1892. The following year a fire destroyed much of the city, but it was promptly rebuilt. Bonners Ferry became an important timber shipping centre in the 1920s and remains so. Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge lies 5 miles (8 km) west of downtown. Inc. 1899. Pop. (1990) 2,193; (2000) 2,515.