Florence, Idaho, Idaho County is a ghost town that once thrived during the gold rush era, drawing numerous prospectors and settlers to its bustling streets. Today, it is a haunting reminder of its vibrant past and the transient nature of boomtowns. Below is detailed information about the town.
County: Idaho County
Zip Code: Not available
Latitude / Longitude: 45.6668° N, 116.0668° W
Elevation: Approximately 6,200 feet (1,890 meters)
Time Zone: Mountain Time Zone (MTZ)
Established: 1861
Disestablished: Not available
Comments: Florence was established in 1861 after gold was discovered in the area, leading to a gold rush that attracted thousands of miners. At its peak, the town was home to over 9,000 people, making it one of the largest cities in the Idaho Territory.
The harsh winters and remote locations posed significant challenges to its residents, eventually contributing to its decline. Florence is a ghost town in Idaho County, Idaho, United States. About 14 air miles (22 km) east-northeast of present-day Riggins in remote north central Idaho at an elevation of 6,080 feet (1,850 m).
It was settled as a mining camp in the winter of 1861. Almost concurrent with its settlement, Washington Territory established Idaho County on December 20, 1861, anticipating a gold rush that brought over 9,000 residents within the first year. The town quickly became the seat of the first district court, taking place at Florence on 22 September 1862.
While the rich placer gold fields in the Florence Basin attracted thousands of prospectors and contributed to establishing Idaho Territory in 1863, the rush to Florence was short-lived. Intensive mining depleted the richest ground, and at the first census of Idaho Territory, only 575 residents remained.
By the territorial census of 1864, the population had dwindled further to 254. Despite its decline, Florence remained the county seat until 1 June 1869, when the territorial legislature moved it to the Warren’s Camp settlement of Washington. The town thrived again from 1895 to 1900, based more on lode mining.
Remains: Very little remains of Florence today. Visitors can find the remnants of old buildings, a few scattered artifacts, and the town’s cemetery. The site is primarily a historic location that offers a glimpse into the region’s mining history.
The discovery of gold around Pierce and Orofino in 1861 drew thousands of prospectors into the Clearwater River area of present-day north-central Idaho, east of Lewiston. With all the best ground claimed many newcomers began to look elsewhere.
In the late summer of 1861, a party of men headed south toward a local divide between the Clearwater River drainage and the Salmon River watershed. At that time, much of that area was still part of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. (A new treaty in June 1863 reset the reservation boundary.) Perhaps because of Indian protests, the party split at some point.
A smaller band of five reached a high mountain basin about thirty miles (50 km) south of today’s Grangeville. They found very rich placer gold along most nearby streams in August 1861.
Despite mutual promises to keep the find quiet when they returned to Elk City for supplies, word quickly got out. The camp went briefly under the name of Millersburg, but a miners’ meeting soon settled on Florence in November 1861.
That was the town’s name when the Washington territorial legislature made it the seat of Idaho County on December 20, 1861. By the time winter took hold, the camp reportedly held nearly two thousand men.
Unfortunately, the winter of 1861–1862 “proved to be one of the coldest in the history of Idaho.” No one knows how many men died from the cold, but one newspaper writer had “no doubt that at least one hundred men have perished from the cold.” Survivors told horrific stories of near-starvation, frostbite, and widespread snow blindness.
Current Status: Florence is considered a ghost town. The area is largely uninhabited, with occasional visits from tourists, historians, and ghost town enthusiasts.
Remarks: Florence’s story is a classic tale of the rise and fall of a mining town. Its remote location and severe winters made life difficult, causing many to abandon the town once the gold was depleted. Despite its short-lived prominence, Florence remains a significant part of Idaho’s rich mining history.
She serves as a symbol of the challenges faced by early settlers in the American West. Early returns seemed to justify their hopes, but the lode and placer booms were fairly short-lived. By around 1900–1905, those hopes had faded, and the town had to depend upon small-scale, essentially individual operations.
Even that ended around 1940 when the census recorded just ten people in Florence. In 1951, when Sister Alfreda Elsensohn published her history of Idaho County, the handful of Florence inhabitants no longer received local mail delivery.
It’s unclear when the last resident moved away (or passed on). Today, only a few building foundations and an overgrown cemetery remain. The Florence Basin is several miles west of the Gospel Hump Wilderness, which was designated a wilderness area in 1978.
The basin is over 4,000 vertical feet (1,220 m) above the Salmon River, five air miles (8 km) north of its confluence with French Creek. After flowing westward across the state, the river turns north at Riggins; Florence is also twelve miles (20 km) east of the river as it nears Lucile (elev. 1,650 ft (500 m)).
