Ferry County is rich in a history inextricably connected to its present. Highlights of the journey include:
     1807: First trading post is established on the Columbia River.
     1811: David Thompson, a fur trader, explorer and surveyor, writes about the area now included in Ferry County during his trip down the Columbia River to the sea.
     1840s: Canada and the United States establish the international boundary at its present location. The Army establishes a military post at Pinkney City, which became the county seat of Stevens County and included present-day Stevens, Ferry and Spokane counties.
     1853: President Millard Filmore signs a bill creating the Washington Territory, which includes today's State of Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana.
     1857: A large tract of land, mostly mountainous and including all of modern Ferry County is set aside and called the Colville Indian Reservation.
     1865: First fur traders come to the Colville Indian Reservation from the Hudson's Bay Company.
     1872: Colville Indian Reservation is created by executive order of President U.S. Grant. Less than a month later, another executive order reduces the size of the reservation and moves it to the west side of the Columbia River.
     1883: Gen. William T. Sherman makes an inspection tour - probably over Deer Creek Boulder Pass instead of Sherman Pass, which is named for him.
     1885: Chief Joseph and his people are moved to the Colville Indian Reservation.
     1890s: The gold rush brings many prospectors and settlers into the area.
     1892: North half of the Colville Indian Reservation is purchased by the United States for $1.5 million.
     1893-94: First government surveyors establish range and township boundaries.
     1894: Ranald MacDonald, the first man to teach English language in Japan, dies and is buried in northern Ferry County.
     1896: The north half of the Colville Indian Reservation opens for mining claims. First claim is staked on Eureka Creek just north of present Republic.
     1897: The town of Nelson is designated the first post office on the Colville Reservation. Its name is later changed to Danville. Also that year Patrick H. Walsh erects the first sawmill in Ferry County,
     1898: Republic's first streets and lots are platted and in two months the population increases by 2,000. A franchise is granted for building the area's first railroad.
     1899: Ferry County separates from Stevens County and is named for Elisha P. Ferry, Washington's first governor. Later that year half the Eureka's businesses are destroyed by fire.
     1900: The Gold Rush peaks and Eureka changes its name to Republic for of one of its largest mines. The North Half of the Colville Indian Reservation, now Ferry County, is opened to homesteaders by presidential proclamation. Restrictions on logging are lifted and many small sawmills appear. Two rival railroad companies construct lines in a race to reach the Republic's gold fields. The local line was known as the "Hot Air Line" because of its shaky financing and premature, exaggerated publicity.
     1903: The Ansorge Hotel is built next to the Great Northern Railway in Curlew.
     1904: Chief Joseph dies in Nespelem, Okanogan County.
     1907: Colville National Forest is established by President Theodore Roosevelt.
     1908: The Curlew bridge, built by William Oliver, opens. Two prior bridges were destroyed by floods.
     1919: The "Hot Air Line" railroad goes bankrupt and closes. Small towns along the route sink into obscurity.
     1933: Construction of Grand Coulee Dam begins. While constructing the dam and filling Lake Roosevelt reservoir provides jobs, electricity and irrigation projects, it also floods hundreds of archaeological sites and forces Keller and Inchelium to move to higher ground.
     1964: Curlew Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center is built on the site of an old Air Force radar base.
     1997: Colville Confederated Tribes celebrate the 125th anniversary of the reservation's creation.
     1998: Flood waters wash out state and county roads in late May. Later that year Knob Hill Mine at the head of Eureka Gulch closes after operating continuously since 1902.
     2003: One of the area's largest employers, Vaagen Brothers Lumber, closes in the spring then catches fire in November.
     2004: Kinross Gold Corp. announces plans to purchase and operate the Crown Jewel gold mining project at Buckhorn Mountain in Okanogan County. Gold is to be milled in Ferry County.
     2007: The Kettle Falls International Railroad removes train tracks between Torboy and Danville ending rail service in the county.