Mines' closure spelled end to Panhandle Smelting and Refining Company

Smelting operation once boomed on shores of the lake

(A few years ago, Bill Temple took me to a place that was once called Panhandle. It was once home to the Panhandle Smelting and Refining Company but all that remains today are the numerous ruins of what once was someone's dream.)

The waters were quite along Lake Pend Oreille. Along the banks were great mounds of slag and train tracks could be seen that started nowhere and ended nowhere. The area was spotted with high walls and even an oven here and there. Trees and brush dominated sites where once tons of ore lay awaiting the flames of the ovens. The sound of birds replaced the sound of men working on land and on boats.

It was in March 1903 that the Kootenai County Republican announced that "ground will be broken in ten days" for the new smelting company located at Ponderay, Idaho. The plant was to be fully operational by September 1903. It would consist of 10 acres of land on the lake, with side tracks, and wagon and railway docks costing $110,000.

Add to this, a furnace building, sampler building, engine and boiler houses, ore bins, bedding yards, and all the latest machinery used to smelter copper, silver, lead and gold, made the undertaking one of major financial proportions.

The new company had chosen a site a short distance from Sandpoint on the Northern Pacific Railroad and one mile from The Great Northern, which intended to build a spur to the plant. The men behind the venture started a new town at the smelter and called it "Panhandle."

Boats were purchased to transport the ore from the mines around the lake and the company planned to build aerial tramways from the mines to the docks. The principal mines were found in the districts of Lakeview, Blacktail, Granite Creek and Trestle Creek.

The smelter planned to run constantly, both day and night, and process 300 to 350 tons of ore a day. Contracts were made with places like the Blue Bird, the Union Silver Star, the Little Jo, the Conquest Consolidated and the Bimetallic for all the ore they could produce.

The owners of the smelter had big plans but they were not to see them come to fruition. The closing of the mines in the area spelled the end of the local smelting business, and today, one must know exactly where to look to find the remains of what once was a very busy place.