Ghost Towns of Idaho (P-Y)

County: Yuma
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Time Zone: Mountain (NO DST) (UTC-7)
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Pardee, ID

County: Atchison
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 39° 29′ 7″ N, 95° 17′ 16″ W
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Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Pardee is a ghost town in Atchison County, in the U.S. state of Kansas.
Remains: Pardee was platted in 1857, and named for Pardee Butler, a local reverend and abolitionist. A post office was established at Pardee in 1858, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1903.
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Pear Valley, ID

County: McCulloch
Zip Code: 76852
Latitude / Longitude: 31°18’37″N 99°29’38″W
Elevation: 1,581 ft (482 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST)Central (CST) (UTC-6) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Pear Valley is an unincorporated community in McCulloch County, Texas, United States.
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Current Status: According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 37 in 2000.
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Pioneerville, ID

County: Boise
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 58′ 8″ N, 115° 50′ 48″ W
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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Pioneerville is an unincorporated community located in Boise County, Idaho, United States.
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Placer Basin, ID

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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Placerville, ID

County: Boise
Zip Code: 83666
Latitude / Longitude: 43°56’36″N 115°56’47″W
Elevation: 4,324 ft (1,318 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Disestablished:
Comments: Placerville is a city in Boise County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Boise City–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Remains: Placerville received its name because of placer mining in the vicinity. The ghost town is located 17 miles east of Horseshoe Bend. The townsite was selected December 1, 1862; and by December 16 there were six cabins in the camp. By the early summer of 1863, the town had 300 buildings and a population of 5,000. At the meeting of the first legislature held in Lewiston in 1863, the citizens obtained a charter for their city. Father Mesplie, a Catholic priest, held the first church service on January 4, 1864, and in that same year, a stage line was established between the Basin and Wallula to carry Wells Fargo express. It ran every other day from Placerville and went through in four days. By July 1864, 4500 claims had been recorded in the district. Unlike the earlier northern Idaho mining areas of Florence (northeast of Riggins) and Pierce, the Boise Basin mines provided good returns over a period of many years, the peak years being 1863-66, during and immediately after the Civil War. For that reason the Boise Basin rush was significant an early Idaho settlement, bringing a substantial number of people who stayed to establish towns and providing a population base for retailing and agricultural settlement in the Boise Valley. Boise Basin had a higher percentage of families than did most mining areas, and the major towns, like Placerville and Idaho City, acquired substantial buildings, lodges, churches, schools, and post offices. Placerville was unusual in that it even had a street grid and a town square, known locally as the “plaza.” Additionally, it had an Episcopal church-which is still in use currently, thirteen saloons, seven restaurants, five butcher shops, five blacksmith shops, as well as hotels, druggists, express agents, bakeries, livery barns, carpenters, sawmills, and –attesting to the presence of women—dressmakers and a millinery shop.
Current Status: The population was 53 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Boise City–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. Only a few early buildings remain in Placerville: as was the case in most mining towns, Placerville suffered more than once from fires that burned a large part of the town. The fire that is most remembered is the 1899 fire, which practically destroyed the town. The streetscape remaining today dates mostly from the rebuilding immediately after that fire and another fire that burned several buildings ten months later. During the war years, Placerville just maintained like the rest of the nation. Wartime restrictions included a suspension of the mining industry. There was no growth — only a feeling of “things have to get better.” In the early 1970s, the upper lots were auctioned off creating what was and are now known as the “upper subdivision.” There were both permanent and vacation homes built on these lots. Then as now, there was only one business in Placerville, the city store.
Remarks: Mining in Placerville began with placer workings for gold, but miners soon turned to quartz mining as well. By 1864, a stamp mill was working in the area. Hydraulic giants were also used. By 1870, however, much of the excess population of the region had been drained off to other mining rushes and returns on claims had fallen somewhat. The population in Placerville shrank from 2500 in 1864 to 318 in 1870. By that time a good percentage of the population was Chinese, as the Chinese were allowed to work the less rewarding claims that the white miners would not touch. The Chinese also established services like laundries and restaurants. Placerville continues to survive with a few full-time residents and some part-time residents. The Village Market store has closed but Donna’s Place II is open. The tourism industry which includes among others, history seekers, hunters, and ATVs, and snowmobile recreationists also continues to add life to the small city. The incorporated city is governed by a mayor and city council which meets regularly at City Hall. The city is served by the Placerville Fire Department which has its fire station located adjacent to the city plaza and the East Boise County ambulance service. There are two city museums that are maintained by public donations and volunteers and are open weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day and by special request.

Potosi Gulch, ID

Quartzburg, ID

County: Boise
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 57′ 40″ N, 115° 59′ 18″ W
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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Quartzburg is an unincorporated community in Boise County, in the U.S. state of Idaho.
Remains: Quartzburg was a mining community. A post office was established as Quartzburg in 1874, name changed to Quartzburgh in 1894, and the post closed in 1940.
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Rankins Mill, ID

Poison Creek Stage Stop, ID

County: Owyhee
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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments: No one is living there. “It turns out that the Poison Creek building is on private property, so it’s not advisable to just go wandering around or in the building or any such as you could be cited for trespass. It’s unlikely you’d be caught, but I do know the nature of the guy that owns the property, having talked to him and got a bit of his history, and he is very antisocial (with good reason) so better safe than sorry.” ~ Bill Blohm
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Resource links to other sites about Poison Creek Stage Stop:
Owyhee County, Idaho GenWeb Project
When History Becomes Real
Bill’s Meanderings

Poison Creek Stage Station (added 1978 – – #78001089)
South of Homedale off Jump Creek Rd.,
Homedale Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or Engineer: Proud, Matt C.
Architectural Style: No Style Listed
Area of Significance: Architecture, Transportation
Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1875-1899
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Agriculture/Subsistence, Domestic, Education, Transportation
Historic Sub-function: Animal Facility, Road-Related, School, Secondary Structure, Single Dwelling
Current Function: Domestic
Current Sub-function: Single Dwelling Source: http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/id/Owyhee/state.html

Rocky Bar, ID

County: Elmore
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 41′ 21″ N, 115° 17′ 24″ W
Elevation:
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established: 1863
Disestablished: Destroyed by fire 1892
Comments: Rocky Bar is a ghost town in Elmore County, Idaho, United States. At its height in the late 19th century Rocky Bar boasted a population of over 2,500 and served as county seat of Alturas County from 1864 to 1882. It was also the original county seat of Elmore County when it was created in 1889.
Remains: Rocky Bar was founded in December 1863 soon after gold was discovered along the nearby Feather River. Within two years it became the main settlement in the area and was even considered as a possible capital for Idaho Territory.
Current Status: The town was destroyed by fire in 1892. Although it was rebuilt, afterwards it began a slow decline. Rocky Bar has not had a permanent population since the 1960s.
Remarks: Rocky Bar is located 62 miles northeast of Mountain Home.

Rockville Stage Stop, ID

County: Owyhee
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: N 43° 20′ 33.58″ W 117° 0′ 4.50″ (43.34266, -117.00125)
Elevation: 1,214 m (3,983 ft)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments:
Remains: The Stage Stop building foundation and barn foundation are all that is left due to vandals burning it down in the early 60s. Rockville Stage Stop was the stage route in the late 1800s. The stop was attacked by Indians many times and nearby is the grave and stone of the wife of the man that ran the stop who was killed by Indians. If you continue to drive on that road you will reach the Poison Creek Stage Stop that was later used as the school and is now just a two-story brick shell.
Current Status: No one is living there. From Marsing take 95 towards Jordan Valley and at Mc Bride Creek road turn right. A well-cared-for dirt road goes about 2.5 miles to a fork, turn on the right and crosses the creekbed and the foundations, and just after the creekbed.
Remarks: The following gravesites are nearby:
Mrs. Ed Holmes who died in 1889
Shirley Scott who died in 2008
Jim Hall who died in 2010
The new Rockville school (Rockville Elementary School) that was moved from Idaho to Oregon (Located at the crossroads of Succor Creek Rd & McBride Rd) (43°19’02.9″N 117°06’31.9″W / 43.317482,-117.1095436,309m)
Resource links to other sites about Rockville:
Skinner Family History
Bill’s Meanderings
Owyhee County, Idaho GenWeb Project
Rockville Stage Stop 1885-1912 in Idaho & 1912-1948 in Oregon.
Established November 12, 1885, Robert B. Young
John Upham, July 19, 1887
William Upham, August 22, 1895
Jore Hzareda, September 15, 1898
Adison P. Calvert, January 14, 1901
Lebbie Proud, June 17, 1903
Jesse L. Proud, May 9, 1908
Transferred to Mahleur County, Oregon, January 26, 1912
14 m. N. of Sheaville, Oregon
Section 6, T2S, R6E
Source: USGWwarchives.net
Former Name: The original name of Rockville was The Rocks. It was also a precinct for voting and census purposes for a short time in the 1920s but was annexed to Homedale precinct in 1928.
Geographic location: Rockville was located on McBride Creek in Succor Creek Canyon in western Owyhee County, about 2.5 miles off the ION Highway (US Hwy 95), south of Marsing, and McBride Creek Road.
Cemeteries: There is a small cemetery in Rockville.
Church Records and History: At the present time, there are no churches listed in Rockville.
Directories: A directory of the residents and businesses of Rockville in 1898 is included in A Historical, Descriptive, and Commercial Directory of Owyhee County, Idaho. A copy of the directory is in the Idaho State Archives, the Owyhee County Museum, and other Idaho libraries.[2] It is also available on microfilm through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and its many family history centers. The directory has been abstracted and is available on the Idaho GenWeb page for Rockville.
History: Originally established in the 1870s as a stage station, it was granted a post office in 1885. At its height, it had a frame house, a saloon, and other buildings, including a 19-room hotel which was built in 1903. That building included sleeping rooms and a dance hall and became a center for local activity. Rockville was abandoned in 1928 when the new road through Succor Creek Canyon to Jordan Valley bypassed it. The hotel was torn down in 1930[3].
Historical: There are no copies of Rockville newspapers in the Idaho State Archives, but newspapers of nearby towns might be of interest to those interested in Rockville.
School Records A school existed in Rockville for a few years, but nothing is known of the records of the students who attended there.
References:
1. Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940. Population. Volume 1: Number of Inhabitants. See footnotes for Owyhee County.
2. A Historical, Descriptive, and Commercial Directory of Owyhee County, Idaho. Silver City, Idaho: Press of the Owyhee Avalanche, 1898.
3. Meril Ebbers. “The Rocks,” The Bulletin, newsletter of the Owyhee County Historical Society, July 5, 2010.
Source: Familysearch.org

Roosevelt, ID

County: Kimble
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 30°29’28″N 100°03’18″W
Elevation: 1,909 ft (582 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST)Central (CST) (UTC-6) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Roosevelt is a ghost town located 16 miles west of Junction on State Highway Loop 291 in Kimble County, Texas, United States. In 1997, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 4343 was designated to acknowledge the community of Roosevelt, Texas.
Remains: The establishment of Roosevelt happened when Alice C.E. Wagoner was appointed postmistress and a post office was established on August 22, 1898. Wagoner applied for the community as a different name, but the United States Postal Service named the town Roosevelt. It is presumed that the postal service chose the name for Theodore Roosevelt, who had made headlines the month before on July 1, 1898 with his charge up San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders. Roosevelt’s 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, known as the Rough Riders, was organized and trained at San Antonio on May 9–19, 1898.
Current Status: Roosevelt was a shipping point for feed and grain for local sheep and goat farmers. Horses were bred in Roosevelt for the United States Cavalry, and also for the national polo market. In the early part of the 20th century, Roosevelt hosted polo matches.
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Roseberry, ID

County: Valley
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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Unincorporated Community
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Ruby City, ID

County: Owyhee
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 1′ 34″ N, 116° 43′ 58″ W
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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Ruby City is a ghost town in Owyhee County, Idaho, United States. The town served as the original county seat of Owyhee County from 1863 to 1867. The growth of Silver City, which was founded a mile to the south in 1864, hastened Ruby City’s demise.
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Current Status: Today only remains of the cemetery mark the town’s location.
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Ruthburg, ID

Sawtooth City, ID

County: Blaine
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 53′ 48″ N, 114° 50′ 25″ W
Elevation: 7,342 feet (2,238 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established: 1879
Disestablished:
Comments: Sawtooth City (also Sawtooth) is an unincorporated community in Blaine County, Idaho, United States. Located at 43°53’48″N 114°50’25″W (43.8965718, -114.8403490), it sits at an altitude of 7,342 feet (2,238 m), along Beaver Creek near its confluence with the Salmon River in the Sawtooth Valley of Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Sawtooth City was founded as a mining camp after a mine was opened in the area on July 2, 1878; discoveries in the Sawtooth City area grew out of discoveries to the south. Its peak was between the years 1880 and 1886. A community cemetery is located northeast of central Sawtooth City.
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Remarks: In 1975, the entire community was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district.

Seafoam Mine, ID

Shoup, ID

County: Lemhi
Zip Code: 83469
Latitude / Longitude: 45° 22′ 37″ N, 114° 16′ 37″ W
Elevation: 3,389 ft (1,033 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Shoup is an unincorporated community in Lemhi County, Idaho, United States. Shoup is located on the Salmon River 23 miles (37 km) northwest of Salmon. Shoup has a post office with ZIP code 83469.
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Remarks: Shoup was named for George L. Shoup, first governor of Idaho.

Silver City, ID

County: Owyhee
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 1′ 1″ N, 116° 43′ 59″ W
Elevation: 6,179 feet (1,883 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established: 1864
Disestablished:
Comments: Silver City is a ghost town in Owyhee County, Idaho, United States. At its height in the 1880s, it was a gold and silver mining town with a population of around 2,500 and approximately 75 businesses. Silver City served as county seat of Owyhee County from 1867 to 1934. Today, the town has about 70 standing buildings, all of which are privately owned. Many of the owners are third- or fourth-generation descendants of the original miners. There are a handful of small businesses, but no gas or service stations. The property is now owned by the Bureau of Land Management.
Remains: Silver City was founded in 1864 soon after silver was discovered at nearby War Eagle Mountain (elev. 8,065 ft (2,458 m)). The settlement grew quickly and was soon considered one of the major cities in the Idaho Territory. The first daily newspaper and telegraph office in Idaho Territory were established in Silver City. The town was also among the first places in present-day Idaho to receive electric and telephone service. The placer and quartz vein mines became depleted around the time Idaho became a state in 1890. Due in part to its extremely remote location, Silver City began a slow decline but was never completely abandoned. Small-scale mining continued off and on until World War II; the last mine to be operated all year round in Silver City was the “Potossi,” managed by Ned Williams.
Current Status: In 1972, the townsite and its environs were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, the Silver City Historic District, with a total area of 10,240 acres (41.4 km2).
Remarks: The Idaho Hotel in Silver City was restored and re-opened for tourists in 1972. It relies on the use of propane refrigerators and stoves in order to supply cold drinks and snacks or a complete meal to guests during the summer months. The rooms are fitted with indoor plumbing and furnished with antiques, making it a tourist destination.

Soldier, ID

County: Camas
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°22’13″N 114°47’30″W
Elevation: 5,115 ft (1,559 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Soldier is an unincorporated community in Camas County, Idaho, United States. The community of Soldier is 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Fairfield.
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South Mountain City, ID

Stibnite, ID

County:
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44° 53′ 52.8″ N, 115° 20′ 20.4″ W
Elevation:
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established:
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Comments: The Stibnite Mining District is one of the most historic mining districts in all of Idaho. The site is rich in minerals, including gold, silver, antimony, and tungsten. Over the last hundred years, it has been home to thousands of miners, operated by several different mining companies, and was critical to the U.S. war effort in the 1940s and 1950s.
Remains: Miners first came to Stibnite during Idaho’s gold rush days in 1899. Over the next few years, the number of miners at the site continued to grow and several operators, including United Mercury Mining Company and Bradley Mining Company, started working in the area. In 1938, miners started focusing their efforts on the Yellow Pine Pit. Miners were able to extract large quantities of gold from this area of the site. However, operations at the pit blocked fish passage and to this day fish in the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River cannot swim upstream past the site. During World War II, antimony became a mineral that was critical to the war effort. It was used to create bullets. Stibnite contained such large quantities of antimony that individuals were able to serve their country by working at the site. At one point, more than 1,500 people were working at the site. From 1941 to 1945 Stibnite mined and milled more tungsten and antimony than any other mine in the United States. During this wartime period, Stibnite produced 40 percent of the nation’s domestic supply of tungsten and 90 percent of its antimony. After World War II, operations at the site slowed down and many miners moved out of the area. Mining continued in the area sporadically from the 1970s to the late 1990s.
Current Status: Mining activity stopped at the site in 1997. However, in 2009, a new company acquired the site and started to evaluate it for future mining potential.
Remarks: Stibnite is located in the mountains of central Idaho. It is approximately 10 miles outside of Yellow Pine and 39 miles east of McCall. The Stibnite Mining District sits atop the Idaho Batholith, one of the signature features of Idaho’s unique geology. The Idaho Batholith is nearly 14,000 square miles of granite, formed from the collision of the oceanic plate and the North American plate around 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. Continental drift pushed the denser oceanic plate under the North American plate, where immense heat, pressure, and superheated water caused the rocks to melt, rise, and then slowly cool, creating the vast expanse of crystalline granite underneath most of central Idaho. Some 50 million years later, an enormous volcanic complex erupted through the granite and left behind volcanic ash, lavas, and crystalline rocks. The volcanic activity pumped hot fluids into the cracks and pores of the Idaho Batholith. These hot fluids contained gold, silver, antimony, and sulfur which, as the waters cooled, left behind minerals like pyrite, stibnite, and scheelite. The partnership of the Idaho Batholith cooling and interacting with volcanic forces, and mineral-rich fluids, created a geologic region that has captured the attention and imagination of geologists and prospectors for more than 100 years.

Strevell, ID

County: Cassia
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
Elevation: 42° 0′ 22″ N, 113° 12′ 13″ W
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Strevell is a ghost town in Idaho near the border with Utah. Location is Hwy 81just after Utah , Idaho border Hwy 42 Utah becomes Hwy 81 Idaho FR 587 Enters from east next closest Town is Naf Idaho on Yost strevell RD. 4 Miles West.
Remains:
Current Status: The town apparently started to die in 1940 after the hotel shuttered – ironically as a result of the new Highway 80 being built and bypassing the community. Today, all that’s left of Strevell are a few buildings – including that famous school house.
Remarks:

Three Creek, ID

Thunder Mountain City, ID

Twin Springs, ID

Ulysees, ID

Vienna, ID

County: Blaine
Zip Code:
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Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Vienna had over 200 buildings and 800 residents between 1879 and 1892. It even had its own newspaper, the Vienna Reporter. Today there is a forest service sign that shows where the site is.
Remains: It is rumored the site was destroyed in 1914 for unknown reasons.
Current Status: There is rubble but it is hard to find
Remarks:

Warren, ID

County: Idaho
Zip Code: 83671
Latitude / Longitude: 45.264°N 115.677°W
Elevation: 5,906 ft (1,800 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Warren is an unincorporated community in the remote north-central region of the U.S. state of Idaho, near the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.
Remains: Miners from the previous gold strikes in Pierce and Florence fanned out to the south and discovered gold in the Warren Creek area in August 1862. It led to the formation of the settlement, then in Washington Territory, making it one of the oldest settlements in present-day Idaho. With a gold mining boom in multiple regions during the Civil War, the Idaho Territory was established in 1863. Shortly after the gold discovery by Lewiston’s James Warren, the Warren’s Camp population swelled to over 2,000; the southerners called their area of the camp “Richmond” and northerners called theirs “Washington.” Washington was established as the seat of Idaho County from June 1, 1869, until voters in the June 1875 election selected Mount Idaho over Slate Creek and Washington. After the initial boom ended in 1875, Warren was known for its significant Chinese population. The boom-town population plummeted when mining declined but enjoyed a brief renaissance in the 1930s with the introduction of dredge mining in the area. During World War II, gold mining was shut down by the U.S. government in 1942. Following the war, interest in Warren was high for rare-earth metals in its by-product monazite. A modest gold mining industry remains in the area.
Current Status: The town has been threatened several times by forest fires, most recently in 1989, 2000, and 2007. Recent fires have made the Warren area a haven for more mushroom hunting. Warren currently has a full-time population of 12 to 16.
Remarks: Located within the Payette National Forest in southern Idaho County, Warren is northeast of McCall, approximately 50 miles (80 km) by vehicle and about 30 miles (50 km) by air. South of the Salmon River, the elevation is 5,906 feet (1,800 m) above sea level.

Washington Basin, ID

White Knob, ID

County: Custer
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
Elevation: 43° 53′ 59.2″ N, 114° 41′ 9.8″ W
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established: 1884
Disestablished:
Comments: White Knob, Idaho is a ghost town in Custer County, Idaho. It is situated on Mine Hill between the town of Mackay, Idaho and the White Knob Mountains in the Pioneer Mountains.
Remains: In 1879, copper was discovered in the White Knob Mountains near current day Mackay, Idaho. White Knob began as a mining town in this new Alder Creek Mining District. Both an electric locomotive and an aerial cable tramway were built from White Knob to the rail station in Mackay. The town was home to a school, a general store, and post office. The mine closed in 1928 prompting the decline of the town as more residents were living in Mackay. The school was closed in 1932.
Current Status: White Knob is listed as a ghost town on the National Historical Register. It is managed by the South Custer Historical Society and the White Knob Historical Preservation Committee of Mackay, ID, and is accessible to the public by foot, ATV, horseback, and truck. The remaining features of the current site are old road beds, restored railroad trestle, restored and derelict cabins, mill and smelter site, aerial cable tramway towers and headhouse, and grave sites. The extensive site is currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management, private individuals, mining interests, and the Salmon-Challis National Forest. A self-guided tour is accessible to the public from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Remarks: In 1999 the Mackay Historical Preservation Committee was formed and secured a $250,000 award toward preserving the White Knob and Mine Hill site. They have since reinforced the tram towers, restored the Shay Railroad Trestle, restored several buildings, and installed informative signs and markers along an established trail.

Yellow Jacket, ID

County: Valley
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude:
Elevation:
Time Zone: Mountain (MST) (UTC-7)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: In 1869 there was a rush to Yellow Jacket after Nathan Smith and his party thought they had found a rich gold strike. It was later discovered that one of the prostpectors had “salted” the area with some California gold. This made Yellow Jacket appear not as rich as it was first thought to be. Later, when most of the prospectors were disapponted and leaving, there was a rich quartz lode that was found and would bring in millions of dollars in gold. Despite the remote location of Yellow Jacket, a thirty stamp mill was packed into the area. Just a few years later, additional investments doubled its size and made the stamp mill one of Idaho’s largest. Investors decided to build an aerial tramway to ease production costs, but packing in the eight thousand feet of cable that was needed was not an easy task. Using the backs of twenty mules, the cable was laid out in the streets of Challis, and the challenge of moving the cable began. Even with all the difficulties of moving the cable to Yellow Jacket, it did eventually make it. In 1888, John G. Morrison and his nephews the Steen brothers acquired a controlling interest in the mine. Within four years, the family extracted 4800 ounces of gold. They sold the property in 1892, but the Steen family reacquired Yellow Jacket decades later. The Steen family spent years trying to make the mine profitable again and finally was able to yield another round of mineral wealth. Today the family says mining is done and the focus is now on preserving the historic remnants of the 19th-century gold camp.
Remains: Some cabins still remain and the five-story hotel.
Current Status:
Remarks:

Paradise, ID