Idaho Gold Dredge, ca 1912. H.T. French (see References Page). |
The book tells the story, in words and pictures, of the settlement of the mountainous regions drained by the Forks of the Boise River. It all began in 1862, so 2012 is the 150th anniversary of the first towns in the area. That looming milestone prompted Idaho City merchant Skip Myers to ask me to write a new history of the region. (The few existing books on the topic were all out of print.) Boise River Gold Country is the result.
On every page, from the Introduction (“Setting the Scene”) through all the chapters, the book contains at least one image – generally historic photographs. Overall, I used over two hundred photos to supplement and illustrate the textual material. I have included a couple comparable samples here. These are images I was unable to work into the story.
Boise Basin Gold. Found ca 2009 |
Prospectors first discovered Idaho gold in late 1860, on the tributaries of the Clearwater River in North Idaho. Hordes of miners poured into the region. However, two years later, a party led by Moses Splawn and George Grimes found gold in the Boise Basin, a mountainous area northeast of today’s Boise. These fields proved far more extensive than the earlier finds.
Thus, it was Boise River gold that “gave legs” to the creation of Idaho Territory. The first Territorial census, in September 1863, counted nearly five times as many people in the Basin as in the northern camps and towns. A year later, that imbalance had increased to nearly seven to one. Large-scale gold mining continued in Boise River gold country for almost a century. Also, at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, logging began to increase in importance. Large-scale timber harvesting surpassed mining in value after about 1955, peaking around 1980.
Setting the Scene | i |
Chapter One: Before the Golden Age | 1 |
Chapter Two: Gold Rush Creates Idaho | 7 |
Chapter Three: Cooperative Mining Replaces the Sourdough | 23 |
Chapter Four: Placer Mining Fades, Lode Mining Grows | 38 |
Chapter Five: Dredging and Hardrock Mining | 58 |
Chapter Six: Big Timber Takes an Interest | 77 |
Chapter Seven: Mining Revisited | 96 |
Chapter Eight: Recreation and Tourism | 105 |
Chapter Nine: World War, and Afterwards | 119 |
Chapter Ten: Identity TBD | 131 |
Image Sources | 138 |
Bibliography | 141 |
Fixing a Flat on Road into Idaho City. |
Great - I'm looking forward to it! Are you going to have signing events in or around Boise County? John
ReplyDeleteWe plan to "debut" the book with a signing at Donna's Place in Idaho City. Not sure if we'll do anything at the Donna's Place in Placerville. We're open to suggestions for other places in Boise County (choices seem pretty limited).
ReplyDeleteWe may be able to also set up something in Boise ... perhaps at an Idaho State Historical Society venue.