Wild Horse Trail was a key travel route in region

Long before the white man came, there was a trail. The Indians for time immemorial had used it. The old trail started on the Spokane River, ran through the Rathdrum prairie to the shores of the Pend Oreille River. There a crossing was found called Seneacquoteen (Kalispell for Crossing), that was located across the river from present day Laclede. The Indians had used the trail for many years on their way to the plains to hunt the buffalo.

Expansion of the lucrative fur trade brought trappers and representatives of the Hudson Bay Company and the North West Company to this area of the Q’emespelu (Kalispel — “Camas eaters”). The Hudson Bay was founded on May 2, 1670 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada; its major competitor, the North West Company, headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. David Thompson, explorer, trader, and cartographer, started his work career with Hudson Bay but later switched his allegiance to the North West Company.

David Thompson and Finan MacDonald used the area around Lake Pend Oreille, and the Indian trail, in their fur trade with the local Indians. Thompson built a trading post near present day Hope, Idaho and called it the Kullyspell or Kalispell House. After a short time, he decided to abandon the house he had built on the lake, and left the area. He and his men traveled to the Spokane House that was located not too distant from the Spokane Falls. MacDonald, who had married a Pend d’Oreille woman, decided to stay in the area and it was along the old trail that he took his wife to visit her relatives.

The gold rush of 1864 at Wild Horse Creek brought thousands of miners to the area around Fort Steele in British Columbia, Canada. The miners needed tools and supplies and the closest place to buy what they needed was in Walla Walla, Washington — about 425 miles away. The trail used to get from the diggings on Wild Horse Creek to Walla Walla was called the Wild Horse Trail.

Miners leaving Walla Walla could travel one of three ways to Spokane — The Mullan Road, Texas Road, or the Kentuck Trail. The trail then went from Spokane to Rathdrum (then Westwood), across the Hoodoo Valley, and on to Seneacquoteen. The Wild Horse trail then turned east and went to Boyer’s (Mud) Slough on Lake Pend Oreille. From there, it was on to Bonners Ferry where the trail crossed the Kootenai River, followed the Moyie River Valley north, and on to the diggings at Wild Horse Creek. 

In 1864, the Kootenay gold rush brought numerous miners and supply wagons from Walla Walla to the banks of the Pend Oreille River at Seneacquoteen. There a ferry had been established to enable the miners to cross the river. The service was not free and many think that the men who ran the ferry made more money than the miners did. Here are the charges as posted in 1892 at Seneacquoteen.

Horse and Buggy — $1

Man and Horse — $1

Pack animals loaded  — $0.75

Loose animals — $0.25

Footman — $0.25

Two-horse team — $1.50

Four-horse team — $2

Sheep and Hogs — $0.12