Exit78 Photo of the Day #128
We’ve been to Idaho’s Custer ghost town at least three times, most recently near the end of July in 2010. The first time was in 1973 when we lived in Idaho Falls while I was a student at the Naval Reactors Facility out in the southeast Idaho desert. There has been quite a bit of restoration and stabilization work with some of the few remaining buildings.
Then: Custer Town Site Interpretive Site, Salmon-Challis National Forest, National Forest Service, Custer County, Idaho, July 28, 2010 (Pentax K10D)
Custer Town Site Interpretive Site (major) – National Forest Service
Custer was founded in early 1879 by gold speculators. Economically supported by the operations of the Lucky Boy and Black mines, Custer reached its peak population of 600 in 1896. By 1910 Custer had become a ghost town. The Challis National Forest took ownership of the area in 1966, and in 1981, Custer was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Through the efforts of the Friends of Custer Museum, the site was kept open for public enjoyment. In 1990, the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation joined the Forest Service in managing Custer. This led to the establishment of the Land of the Yankee Fork Historic Area.
Free guided and self-guided walking tours are available Memorial Day – Labor Day during business hours. The School house is the museum with gifts and refreshments available at the Empire Saloon during the summer season.
(Note: I am also posting photos in a series called Photography Now & Then at Haw-Creek.com)
Series notes:
- The photos in this series are (usually) randomly selected from a batch of photos specifically “curated” for Exit78 Photo of the Day.
- Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.
