This month’s theme:The Gold Rush

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March, 2005

From theProspector

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On July 3rd in the year 1890Idaho was admitted to theunion as the nation’s 43rd

state. At that time about 89,000people had settled in Idaho. Just 30years before, around 1860, thepopulation was less than 10,000.That means that the population morethan doubled every ten years from1860-1890. A lot of peoplecame toIdaho in such a short time. Nearlyhalf of the towns that we can travelto in Idaho, like Boise andLewiston, were established duringthose years. So what did Idaho

have that brought so many peoplein such a short time? Well, gold,of course! The unique thing aboutIdaho’s gold rush is that most ofthe miners came from areaswhere gold had already beendiscovered, like California,Oregon, Washington and Ne-vada.

Gold was first discoveredon the Clearwater River in 1860and on the Salmon River about ayear later. At this time Idahowasn’t even a state yet. In fact,

The Gold RushThe Gold RushThe Gold RushThe Gold RushThe Gold Rush

Howdy Prospector!

Well, spring is on its way.The snow is melting, the days aregetting longer, the bird s aresinging, and my mule is gettingrestless. You see, spring meansthat prospecting season is aroundthe corner. It’s our favorite timeof year. Soon the mule and I willbe knee- deep in a mountainstream, panning for gold.

In between packingsupplies and checking our claim,we thought this would be a goodmonth to tell you the story aboutthe Idaho gold rush. You know,I’m not the only one around herewho caught gold fever. In thelate 1800’s almost everyone hadit. In fact gold is what broughtlots of folks to Idaho. Thosenuggets helped make us a state.

So sit back, relax, andenjoy this month’s story of thegold rush.

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Idaho would be named a territorybefore it would be granted state-hood. The gold rush that came afterthis first discovery of gold played animportant part in these events.News of the exciting discoverytraveled quickly and caused astampede of some 10,000 minersinto the area. They were all hopingto strike it rich or hit “pay dirt” asthey used to say. Unfortunately,most found little or no gold. Someleft the area to look for richeselsewhere, but many settled in Idahoand became shopkeepers or farmersin order to earn aliving.

Not morethan a year later,in 1861, somelucky miners didstrike it rich whenthey discoveredgold in the BoiseRiver Basin. Theytold some of theirfriends, who toldsome of theirfriends, and in notime at all minerswere flooding intothe area we now call southwesternIdaho. The area became a goldrush hot spot and the settlersbrought with them a bit of the “WildWest” that we’ve seen in moviesand read about in books. In just 5years nearly $24,000,000 worth ofgold would be found in the BoiseBasin mining area. Gold seemed tobe everywhere. Once, when minerswere digging for much- neededwater, they found gold instead. Itwas during this time that Idaho City,originally called Bannock City,

became the largest and biggest cityin the northwest..

All of these new settlers ledto a large enough population to getthe United States government tooutline and name Idaho as a terri-tory. This act of Congress wassigned into law by PresidentAbraham Lincoln in 1863. Thecapital of the territory was Lewistonbecause most of the settlers werecoming to the northern part of theterritory. Boise would be named thecapitol city about a year later. At

first Idaho territory included most ofWyoming and Montana, which werenot states yet.

The Idaho Territory was ahuge area with several NativeAmerican tribes and lots of forestsand wild animals. This causedproblems because the area was solarge that it was hard to manage. Inaddition, the Native Americans were

not very happy about all the settlersmoving onto their lands. Manybattles and small wars were foughtduring this time and sadly, manyNative Americans and settlers werekilled.

After Idaho became aterritory the gold rush frenzy sloweddown because not as much goldwas being found in the mines. Then,in 1880, when a large deposit ofgold was discovered on the Coeurd’Alene River another huge wave ofgold seekers rushed into the terri-tory. Since the Northern Pacific and

the Oregon Short LineRailroads had builttracks stretching acrossthe Idaho territory,miners were able totravel faster and inlarger groups than in theearly gold rush days.The population grewvery fast as goldseekers, for the secondtime, poured intoIdaho. In 1890 theUnited States Congressand President BenjaminHarrison named Idaho

the 43rd state in the Union.A lot of people came to

Idaho just to find gold, but most ofthem liked the mountains and therivers and decided to stay and workand raise families. There are stillsome gold mines in Idaho, but mostof the mines that were built between1860 and 1890 have been shutdown or turned into really neattourist attractions. As for the mining“boomtowns” that were startedduring this time, most are still aroundbut the people have found otherways to earn a living besidesmining.

A crowd on the Streets of Idaho City

by Glen Newkirk

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The Fun Page

Help Lucky Noah Find His Mule

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Next Month’s Activities

Well, we’ve told you all weknow about gold mining,but we need your help

so that we can learn more. Pickfrom one of the activities below ormake up your own gold rush projectand send it in to our Prospectorheadquarters. We’ll take some ofyour best work and printit in next month’s maga-zine. Remember toinclude your name, theschool where you’refrom, and the name ofyour prospector chapter.We can’t wait to seewhat you send in!

Striking it Rich: Goldmining was a toughprofession. Althoughmost people didn’t makemuch money, a fewprospectors got fabulously rich.Pretend you are one of those luckygold miners. What would you dowith your new-found wealth? Drawus a picture or write a short storytelling us how you spent your riches.Remember though, this is the late1800’s. No fair buying things thatare only available today.

A Better Mining Machine: Placerminers had a lot of different tools tochoose from. Gold pans, sluices,cradle rockers, hydraulic giants, anddredges could all be used to extractgold from rivers and rocks. Canyou build a better mining machine?

Put on your inventor’s cap and drawus a picture of a new machine thateasily finds and extracts gold.

Ghost Town: Many early Idahogold mining towns had a boom andthen a bust. People rushed to thetown when gold was discovered,but when the mining dried up,

everybody left. Throughout thestate, these ghost towns still stand.Sometimes there are a few spookyold buildings, sometimes there’snothing left but a pile of rubble and aboarded up mine shaft. Have youever been to a ghost town or do youknow of a famous ghost town near

where you live? Give therest of the Prospectors ashort report on where thetown is located, whatyou’d see if you werethere, and some history ifyou know it. We can’twait to see what you findout!

Send in your work byApril 13th to:

Prospector ClubLucky NoahIdaho State Historical Museum610 North Julia Davis Drive

Boise, ID 83702

Or email it to us atkzwolfer@ishs.state.id.us.

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