The Porthill-Rykerts Border Crossing connects the town of Bonners Ferry, Idaho with Creston, British Columbia on the Canada–US border. Idaho State Highway 1 on the American side joins British Columbia Highway 21 on the Canadian side, which continues north towards Creston. The Porthill-Rykerts Border Crossing is used as the American Port only; Rykerts acts as the Canadian Crossing.
Porthill is an unincorporated community in Boundary County, Idaho, United States, located at the Canada–United States border into British Columbia. It is one of only three Ports of entry for Idaho into Canada. (#3308) It is named for founder Charles Plummer Hill, as is Hillcrest Mines, now part of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. The north-flowing Kootenai River is just west of Porthill.
Initial settlement
In 1860, a boundary cairn was erected on the east bank of the Kootenai River. The former US name was Ockonook, meaning "a grassy hillside with rocks." Around 1871, David McLoughlin and family relocated south from the Kootenay Flats to Ockonook, where he built a log house, which also served as a trading post and a hostel for prospectors traveling downstream. In 1878, prospector George Wallace Hall preempted in today's Lister, British Columbia.
Steamboat era
In 1883, John C. Rykert established a Canadian customs station immediately north of the boundary to intercept steamboats and other river traffic sailing from Bonners Ferry to Kootenay Lake. Rykert was a customs officer, immigration inspector, gold commissioner's agent, and registrar of shipping.
By 1890, Mike Driscoll was proprietor of the Palace hotel at what was then known as Rykert's custom-house. To Mr. & Mrs. Richard Wood, Ockinook residents, were born children in 1891 and 1892, before the family moved to the Creston Valley in 1898.
Major Joseph I. Barnes was the US inspector of customs until the end of Benjamin Harrison's presidential term in 1893. That year, Barnes became the inaugural US postmaster at Ockonook. Charles Plummer Hill took over as the US customs officer, a position he held for 10 years.
William Roger Huscroft and family rafted down the north-flowing Kootenai River to Ockonook, crossing the border in September 1891 to settle just on the other side. The family built a log cabin across the river, which the 1894 spring flood reached, requiring towing to higher elevations as the waters rose. Consequently, the family relocated to Lister, part of which is known as Huscroft.
Prior to Miss Agnes McKay becoming the inaugural government school teacher at Ockonook in 1895, David McLoughlin taught the settlers' children from both sides of the boundary using a room in Mike Driscoll's rudimentary hotel. The McLoughlin farm residence was south of the boundary. In the mid-1890s, Clarke Quarrie was proprietor of the Boundary Line hotel.
By 1897, J.I. Barnes also ran a general store. That year, McLoughlin received a land patent for on the present site of Porthill. C.P. Hill challenged the title, but prior to a court case, Hill purchased from McLoughlin. That year, as postmaster, Hill succeeded in renaming the settlement Porthill (called Port Hill by the railroad). Hillcrest Mines, now part of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, is also named after Hill.
From 1897, the place name Bedlington was synonymous with Rykerts. Bedlington was a mining camp in the boundary vicinity. The Bedlington & Nelson (B&N) stop immediately north of the boundary initially assumed this name but had been renamed Rykerts by 1904. Over time, the Bedlington name fell into general disuse.
During the 1890s, provincial Constable Sloan was stationed at Rykerts, and beef drives from Alberta commonly came south into the US and north through Porthill.
Cemetery
In the cemetery on a hill above Porthill, the oldest burial site is for Louisa Sloop (wife of John), dated 1898. In addition to farming, resident J.E. Sloop was a merchant. In 1907, John Jacob Stitch bought part of the Sloop property. The IOOF chapter, which founded in 1901, bought an acre from Stitch in 1908 for a cemetery. The Roman Catholic Church later similarly purchased half an acre from him. On the lodge closure in 1972, the Porthill Community Cemetery Association, became the cemetery owner.