St. Maries - Steaming with History

St. Maries - Steaming with History. . St. Maries, named by Jesuit Father Pierre DeSmet during the 1840s, sits at the confluence of the "Shadowy" St. Joe and St. Maries rivers. It was recognized as a settlement in the 1880s. Incorporated as a village in 1902, and as a city in 1913, it stayed part of Kootenai County until the formation of Benewah County on January 23, 1915. Then it became the county seat for newly created Benewah County. , During the 1880s, Monroe Dagger claimed squatters rights on property that was later destined to become St. Maries. It was then determined to actually belong to the Union Pacific Railroad - from whom Joseph Fisher purchased it before platting it in 1889. , Steamboats... . , During the early 1900s, the primary method of travel to St. Maries was by water. St. Maries attracted numerous tourists and steamboat travelers from Coeur d'Alene (photo, top center-left). There were many daily scheduled round-trips between the two communities until the construction of better road during the 1920s. , Steam Trains... . , The Milwaukee, St. Paul, Puget Sound Railroad (Milwaukee Road) operated through St. Maries from 1909 to 1980. This photo (photo, top center-right) shows at the first train through the town on May 14, 1909. , and Steam Donkeys . , A locomotive without wheels, the Willamette donkeys (photo, bottom center) were fueled by wood or oil. This generated steam to turn drums spooled with cable. The cable was used to skid logs to different locations. , (sidebar -- bottom right) Always a Logging Town . , St. Maries has alway been a logging town and is proud of the fact. As early as 1892, seven million board feet of logs were driven down the St. Joe and St. Maries rivers and floated past the city to be processed at Idaho mills. Brails are still used as a method to move logs to distant mills.