SANDPOINT — Life in Bonner County wasn’t always filled with action packed days on Lake Pend Orielle or on Schweitzer Mountain, for much of the land’s rich history; it was farmed.

It’s that history that the Bonner County Historical Society, Pend Oreille Arts Council and the University of Idaho have banded together to highlight with a new permanent exhibit. Olivia Fee, curator for the Bonner County History Museum, said the project is the result of a year-long effort between the three groups. 

“It's a broad history of farming and agriculture in Bonner County, but it also talks about how the farmers and their families lived and their lifestyle,” Fee said. "People can see a lot of farm equipment from the early 1900s, a lot of farm lifestyle items, you know, the home economics and domestic chores that also went on.” 

Fee said POAC former board President Carol Deaner had the dream of putting together an exhibit in the University of Idaho’s Agricultural Center. She said the organization approached the museum about a collaboration, and they gladly accepted. 

The year long timeline is typical for museum projects, which Fee said doesn’t make it any less difficult to get done. Fee said exhibits begin with intense research and building a timeline of important events. 

"I started the timeline off pretty much with the Homestead Act, because you want to know what brought them here?” Fee said. “It starts the late 1800s and I kind of touch all the way up into the ‘70s and ‘80s.” 

Fee said reading oral histories from people who lived at the time is her favorite part of the research because it humanizes the past. For the “Farm Life in Bonner County,” Lee said she read a story about the intensive process of doing laundry in the early era of Bonner County that stuck with her. 

Now a quote from that oral history, alongside old farm tools and numerous pictures from the nearly 100 years of farming history covered, can be found in the exhibit. Items from the museum and U of I’s collection are on display, but Lee said community members also made donations of their old equipment that is included in the exhibit as well. 

Lee said seeing an exhibit come together is always satisfying, but this one was special because of the collaborative effort by the three groups. 

“Not only do I get to kind of step back and see and feel proud of what I've done, but it's more of like a collaboration and community celebration of how we all work together to make something so awesome and beautiful happen,” Fee said. “It's just very exciting and satisfactory.” 

The new exhibit is permanent to the UI Ag Center, and Lee said visitors are welcome to explore it when the center is open.  

    A view of the exhibit in the University of Idaho Agricultural Center.