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About ninety rods south of the international boundary line between British Columbia and the United States, in the northern part of Ferry county, lies the town of Danville. This place has the distinction of being the first town established in the county, although until the building of the Washington & Great Northern railroad the name of the town was Nelson. It was bestowed in honor of its pioneer merchants, Peter B. and O. B. NELSON.
These gentlemen began business at this place in 1889, several years before the opening of the "North Half" of the Colville Indian reservation. A stock of goods was brought in by the brothers and as no white people were on the reservation at that period, their trade was wholly with the red men. With the opening of the reservation, the site of the present town was patented as a placer claim by William CLARK and an associate. For many years the NELSON Brothers' store was the only business enterprise in the new town, but during the winter of 1896 and 1897 quite a thriving little town had sprung up. There was a butcher shop owned by William CLARK; a saloon conducted by WOODARD & BELLOW, a hotel of which Mr. DOWNS was the landlord, and a number of eating houses. In June, 1897, Nelson was given a postoffice and P. B. NELSON became the first postmaster. For a long time this was the only ofice on the reservation and mail destined for other camps was distributed through this office.
August 9, 1897, the first paper in Ferry county - the "Reservation Record" - made its appearance. Rube HALL and Earl McCARTER were the proprietors. It was also during this year that NELSON Brothers erected a store building on the International Boundary line, the north entrance being on Canadian soil and the south opening in United States territory. The authorities becoming suspicious that goods upon which there was aduty from Canada to the United States were being sold in the south half of the store without the government receiving any emolument therefrom, ordered the store closed, and it was taken back to Nelson.
In March, 1899, the Danville townsite was platted by the Danville Mining Company, through its secretary, C. S. VOORHEES. Another townsite, known as Nelson, was platted January 13, 1902, by Thomas E. DULIN, James ROSSLOW and Sarah COOPER. From the establishment of the first store in 1895, until the construction of the Washington & Great Northern railroad in 1901, the town was known as Nelson. The railroad officials brought about the change of name to Danville owing to the fat that the town of Nelson, B. C. was also on the Great Northern system. Danville has suffered from one disastrous fire in its history. Thursday night, August 9, 1900, the large general merchandise store of NELSON Brothers was totally destroyed, involving a loss of about $20,000, covered by insurance in an amount of about one-third of the loss. The K. P. lodge suffered a loss of $500; the United States Custom House was damaged to the amount of $500.
At present, Danville has a population of about 200 people. Surrounding the town is a rich agricultural country as well as a number of good mines and promising properties. The best known mine in the vicinity is the Lucile Drefus, which has hd considerable development and has shipped some ore.
The Kettle Valley line and the Washington & Great Northern railroads each have stations in Danville and an office of the United States Customs department is located here. The Canadian Customs office is just on the other side of the line, at Carson, B. C.
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Marge Reid is proud to be the County Coordinator for Ferry County's USGenWeb Project page.