Old Missoula

Bonner Among Early Arrivals In West Montana in 1860s

Edward L. Bonner followed shortly after the first waves of pioneers over the Oregon trail to California, bringing with him his natural genius for commercial affairs.

He was born in New York, Aug. 18, 1834, worked for several years for A. T. Stewart & Co., and then in the original store of Lord & Taylor. There within a few years he was placed in charge of a department.

When he was 22, he took a steamer for Panama, and in 1857 landed at The Dalles in Oregon. He established his home at Walla Walla and began a ferry on the Kootenai River in Idaho known as Bonner’s Ferry.

The mining development in western Montana in the early 1860s attracted Bonner to the region and he helped establish the Bonner & Welch store at Missoula which later became the Missoula Mercantile Co. In 1873 Bonner, James H. Robertson and John A. Farnsworth opened a wholesale and retail store at Deer Lodge known as E. L. Bonner & Co. He established another wholesale and retail firm in Butte under the same name.

Receiver in 1893

Bonner also helped to develop railroad transportation in Montana by supplying capital and a contracting organization. In 1893 he was appointed receiver for the Montana properties of the Northern Pacific Railway.

In 1865 Bonner married Carrie S. Kenyon whose father was an early pioneer of California and Idaho. Five children were born to the couple. In later years they spent winter months traveling or in New York City.

At the time of his death, July 10, 1902, he was a member of the Republican National Committee from Montana.