Searching a hillside across the Yankee Fork, three prospectors stumbled upon what would become the most famous mine on the Yankee Fork. Named after the popular military general, George Armstrong Custer, the General Custer Mine was a rich vein of ore, exposed by a snowslide. The discovery of the Custer Mine in 1876 transformed this small mining camp into a lively community and the site of the region’s most significant mining activity.
Founded in 1879, Custer flourished and what began as a tent community rapidly became a town of over 100 building lining both sides of it’s narrow main street. For 30 years, Custer experienced frenzied activity and growth as well as periods of uncertainty and decline until its final bust in 1911.
Charles Alexander Pfeiffer purchased this family home after his marriage to Ellen Louise Olson in 1890. Charles managed the Pfeiffer Store for his uncle and later worked as a gold and cleanup man at the General Custer Mill. As the family increased in size, a kitchen and bedroom were added to the family home. The roof shingles are made of flattened cans. Families in Custer were not an oddity, but certainly weren’t the norm either, as most miners and the supporting merchants were single men.
I am returning to “working” through the images from our summer trip.
The Yankee Fork gold dredge is one of the mining attractions along Idaho’s Yankee Fork River, between Bonanza City and Custer. When we first visited the area in the 1970s, it was a closed relic. Today, it has been restored to the point that tours are available for those who are interested.
Beginning in 1872, the valley floor of the Yankee Fork River was hand placered in the search for gold. Years later, tests showed that gold still remained in the deep gravels of the stream bed. In 1939, a gold dredge was purchased by the Snake River Mining Company and hauled to the Yankee Fork for assembly. Before it was shutdown in 1952, the dredge recovered more than $1,200,000 in gold from about 6,000,000 cubic yards of gravel.
Today, the dredge still sits where it stopped operation after all of the claims owned by the company had been dredged. The path taken by the dredge up the stream bed left large piles of gravel on which little grows. In a satellite image showing the dredge, the piles form rows where the dredge’s stacker belt deposited the gravel after processing.
In operation, small particles of gold and silver from naturally disintegrated ore were scooped up by the bucketline (see image on left for scale).
The dredge has a chain of 71 buckets, each wighing just over a ton. Each pin holding the chain together weighs 195 lbs. The bucket mechanism can be raised and lowered and moved left and right. It can dig 37 feet deep.
Yankee Fork Historic District, Idaho, July 28, 2010.
Bonanza City, laid out in 1877, was the Yankee Fork’s first mining camp, with pack trails converging from Ketchum, Stanley, Loon Creek and Challis. At its peak, Bonanza had over 600 residents, a rectangular grid of streets, and provided city services such as community wells.
An underground water system piped water for drinking and fire protection throughout the town. Despite this foresight, fires in 1889 and 1897 devastated portions of Bonanza. The loss of business due to the fires and the increased activity at Custer encouraged many to relocate. Today little is left of Bonanza with the exception of a few buildings and the Forest Service Guard Station constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934.
Bonanza, Idaho
Yankee Fork Historic District, July 28, 2010
The Bonanza Cemetery provides an example of the many ethnic groups attracted to the Yankee Fork. Despite the harsh living conditions, the promise of good times and prosperity brought immigrants from many countries. Cornish people, referred to as “cousin jacks,” worked for the English owners of the Custer mine. Austrian crews built roads and many Italians lived at Bayhorse. The Custer County census of 1890 indicates sizable populations of Canadian, German, English, Irish, Italian, and Swedish residents. The largest single ethnic group found in the Yankee Fork Mining District came from China. Though prejudice kept the Chinese from working at most mines, they worked unwanted placer claims, operated laundries, or worked as cooks…. most Chinese initially buried here were later disinterred by relatives and friends and returned to their homeland.
from sign at cemetery
Sego Lily, Calochortus nuttallii, the state flower of Utah.
Insect getting nectar from wild rose.
Lizzie King and her husbands on Boothill
Lizzie and Richard King lived in Bonanza where Richard worked in real estate. A heated argument with a business partner left Richard dead and Lizzie alone.
Lizzie and close friend Charles Franklin purchased the gravesite for Richard and two more next to it, presumably for themselves. Soon, Charles and Lizzie began courting and a wedding seemed eminent.
To everyone’s surprise, Lizzie married Robert Hawthorne, a newcomer to Bonanza. Six days later, both were found shot to death. Soon after, Franklin left the area for a secluded cabin near Stanley where, years later, he was discovered dead. Clutched in his hand was a locket which held the picture of Lizzie King.
Due to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Lizzie King, Bonanza residents chose to bury their loved ones elsewhere, leaving Lizzie and her husbands alone on Boothill.
from sign on Boothill
July 27, 2009 – Stanley, Idaho
Stanley is in the Salmon River Valley, quite near the Sawtooth Mountains. These photos were all in the evening after supper.
Sandhill cranes, between the campground and Stanley.
Large flock of sheep not too far from the cranes:
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