By: Bob Gunter
"Busy Village of Colburn" was how the North
Idaho News saw the Colburn area in 1905.
There was a sawmill, shingle mill, a general merchandise store, a schoolhouse, a strong Odd Fellows lodge, a good hotel, a post office, and farms and ranches that dotted the country side. A railroad survey team was in the area studying how the Great Northern line could be improved between Colburn and Pack River.
Colburn is located about nine miles north of Sandpoint and was named after Jean Baptiste d'Armour de Courberon (known as Big John Colburn) a French Canadian who was employed by the Great Northern Railroad. The area's growth was mainly due to the railroad and the lumber industry. Harry E. Brown purchased the old lumber mill in Colburn in 1920 and in 1928 the Brown Timber Company mill was in full operation. Colburn had a population of about 300 and the mill employed 60 men.
One disaster after another struck the little town until today there is not much left that indicates where it stood. The Great Northern Railroad depot was closed in 1935. It was in 1952 that the Odd Fellows lodge closed its doors. As in many of the communities of the time fire after fire destroyed buildings. In Colburn the school burned twice and was rebuilt. Fire claimed Tibbett's Lodge in 1969 and in 1988 the Norway Lodge was torn down.
As if to put the finishing touch on removing any evidence of a small town, two things happened: The lumber mill closed its doors and the Idaho Department of Transportation bought homes and businesses in order to make room for a bigger Highway 95. Seeing the handwriting on the wall as far as their little town was concerned a group in the community hosted what was called "The Colburn Wake." Residents and former residents gathered to mourn the loss of their town and to share stories of times gone by.
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