From the Archives - Oct 23, 2025

“Copeland Bridge Project Well Under Way” the headline read in the March 14, 1968 BF Herald. The bridge approaches on the riverbanks had been completed by Chas. A. Power of Spokane in the fall of 1967. While crossing the Kootenai River on the ferry, onlookers could watch the barge with a large crane, “from which pile driving,” for the first two piers was being done. Hollow steel bearing pilings, 160 feet in length and 12 inches in diameter, were hammered into the river bottom, by the 70-ton truck crane working off the 50-feet square barge in the construction work on the piers.

Work was being done by Madden Construction Co. Two 10-hour shifts a day were being worked by eight-man crews. Madden put a rush on the crews expecting high water in mid-April. The reason for the rush was that the piers would have concrete slab seals below the water surface, and if high water came before the concrete cured or set, hydrostatic pressure created by high water would damage the slabs and make it necessary to start all over from scratch. A three-span welded plate girder bridge – 640 feet long – was also under construction.

The project was done under the federal-county secondary road program. Boundary County taxpayers passed a $325,000 bond issue in 1966 as the county’s share of the cost of constructing the bridge. The Remainder of the span’s total cost of $890,000 was paid by the Bureau of Public Roads.

The official opening of the new Kootenai River Bridge at Copeland was held on October 23, 1968 (57 years ago today), with a ribbon cutting held at the site. Congratulations were passed around and words were expressed about the tremendous improvement. The opening of the bridge eliminated two ferries on the Kootenai River, at Copeland and Porthill.

This is a Valley Studio photograph during the construction of the Copeland Bridge, 1968.

The Boundary County Historical Society and Museum, 7229 Main, Bonners Ferry, Idaho sponsors this column. 

Visit the museum, Thursday-Saturday 10 a.m.-3 p.m., or visit the website at boundarycountymuseum.org or the museum’s Facebook page for historical photos and stories, and to see upcoming events. The museum can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at 208-267-7720.