Alturas County

Leduc Post Office was established in 1883 with Peter Leduc as Postmaster, who served until his death in November, 1899. It was situated about two miles north of the present site of Picabo. Early in 1900, the post office of Leduc was abolished and the post office of Picabo established with Mrs. Margaret Donahue, Postmaster. William J. Dunn is the present postmaster. Picabo is situated about 15 miles south of Bellevue. The town site plat was filed with the county recorder July 16, 1917. It has one hotel, two stores, three service stations, one grain elevator, etc.. An average of […]

In 1880 the following quartz lode mining claims near Bullion, about seven miles west of Hailey, were discovered, namely, Jay Gould, Bullion, Mayflower, May Queen, Idahoan, and others. Bullion in its heyday had over 500 men at work in the mines and its population was estimated at 700. It had two general stores, a shoe shop, a Post Office, a school house, four boarding houses, a Miners’ Union hall, a livery stable, a daily stage that made round trips to Bailey, a pipe line with hydrants and hose, a large number of dwelling houses, seven saloons, etc. The mines adjoining

At this juncture, due to the importance of railroads, a digression will be made to tell of some early railroad building in Utah and Idaho, as it profoundly affected this region. The Utah Central Railroad, which operated from Ogden to Salt Lake City was built under the direction of Brigham Young to provide transportation between the Utah capital and Ogden in connection with the newly completed Union-Central Pacific transcontinental line, which was completed and in operation into Salt Lake City early in 1871. During that period the extension of a line northward from Ogden was conceived. The railroad northward from

In 1879 Charles Black built a house on Spring Creek and moved his family there the next spring. In the same year Joseph Loving and family built a house on the ranch still known to old-timers as the “Yank Robinson” Ranch. In the same year Isaac W. Garrett located on Spring creek and filed on land that afterward be longed to John Hailey. Mr. Garrett moved his family there on July 4, 1880. He was elected to the legislature in 1880 and it was due to his efforts that a bill was enacted into law giving the citizens of Alturas

On July 20, 1884, the miners at the Minnie Moore Mine went on strike and the mine was, in consequence, closed. Several causes were stated for this move. One was that the miners did not receive their pay on pay-day; another, that the owners of the Minnie Moore had determined upon reducing the miners’ wages from $4 to $3.50 a day; and another that it was attempted to reduce all top men, blacksmiths and carpenters $1 and laborers 50 cents a day. Ten days later, the miners resumed work at the Minnie Moore, their demands having been complied with by

The Minnie Moore mine has produced lead and silver ore of greater value than any other in the district. In 1881, a half interest was sold to Henry E. Miller for $10,000.00. On the date of sale to Dent, Palmer & Co. of London, England, on February 25, 1884, with the price of silver at $1.14 an ounce and of lead at $100 a ton, the gross value of the reserves was $673,329. In this condition the mine was sold for $450,000. There is no accurate record of the value of the output for 1884 and 1885. The mine filled

Prospectors, the usual forerunners of civilization in mineralized regions, were still seeking new El Dorados. A few of them set out from Rocky Bar in 1865 and discovered and filed for record two gold quartz mining claims on what was later to be known as the Gold Belt, and which are the earliest recorded mining claims in any part of what is now within the confines of Blaine County. These were called the Big Camas and the Black Cinder, the notices of which were filed for record on September 11, 1865, and are recorded in Book 4 of Quartz Mining

Ketchum was first called Leadville. Albert Griffith was there in 1879. He left that fall but returned in April, 1880, and resided there permanently until his death. In 1879 there was only one cabin there and it was owned by David Ketchum, who lived in it. When application was made to the proper authorities for a post office by the name of Leadville, it was refused. Application was then made for a post office by the name of Ketchum and the same was granted. The name of the town was then changed to Ketchum in honor of David Ketchum. The

Galena was situated about 28 miles northwest of Ketchum and at the southern base of the Saw tooth mountains. Adjacent to this town were the Senate, Gladiator and other mines. This town at one time had a Post Office, hotel, large general store, several restaurants and saloons, livery stable, stage stable, etc. and a stage line to Hailey. Martin Barry had a shoe shop. His son, William Galena, was the first white child born in town. F. M. Willmarth, grandfather of Mrs. Lillian M. Reid of Ketchum, built the first hotel and the first livery stable. He died in 1890

But the indomitable spirit of the prospector and the pioneer was not to be deterred by any obstacles, how ever great. As there are several thousand mining locations of record, it would be not only impracticable, but tedious, to mention them all. I shall, therefore, content myself with a brief reference to some of the most important mines in various parts of what is now embraced with in Blaine County. The development of mining on Wood River began in 1879. At that time M. H. Williams, David Whitmer, Frank W. Jacobs, William Mc Wade, Sam Friend, Jimmy Gray, and a