| Silver Valley | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Upper Silver Valley atMullan in 1909 | |
| Length | 40 mi (64 km) |
| Geography | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Idaho |
| Counties | |
| Population centers | |
| Borders on | |
| Coordinates | 47°31′37″N116°03′07″W / 47.527°N 116.052°W /47.527; -116.052 |
 | |
TheSilver Valley is a region in thenorthwestUnited States, in theCoeur d'Alene Mountains innorthernIdaho. It is noted for its mining heritage, dating back to the 1880s.[1]
Silver Valley is a narrow valley about 40 miles (64 km) in length, east of the city ofCoeur d'Alene. The South Fork of theCoeur d'Alene River flows through the valley andInterstate 90 traverses the valley betweenFourth of July Pass to the west andLookout Pass on theMontana border.
Several towns are located in the valley, all inShoshone County. These include (from west to east)Pinehurst,Smelterville,Kellogg,Wardner,Osburn,Silverton,Wallace, andMullan. The Silver Valley has also been referred to as theCoeur d'Alene Valley and theCoeur d'Alene Mining District.
The Coeur d'Alene (Silver Valley) Mining District is located inProterozoicmetasediments. The mined portion of thestratigraphic column in the Silver Valley, known as the Belt series, can be divided into six main formations, three of which have upper and lower parts. These are, from oldest to youngest: thePrichard Formation (lower and upper),Burke Formation,Revett Formation,St. Regis Formation (lower and upper),Wallace Formation (lower and upper), andStriped Peak Formation. Of these, all but the Striped Peak are ore-bearing.[2] All six of these formations are primarily composed ofquartzite andargillite. Somelimestone anddolomite also occur in the Wallace and Prichard, and a smaller amount of carbonate occurs in the St. Regis. Ripple marks and mud cracks occur throughout the series. Together, these imply a shallow marine depositional environment.[3]
The mining district occurs along the intersection of two major regional structural features. A largeanticline extends through the district, running in a north-northwesterly direction.[3] The Lewis and Clark line – a series ofstrike-slip faults running across thePacific Northwest – crosses this anticline, generally trending in an east-west direction. Within this mining district, the major structure of the lineament is the Osburn fault, which runs directly through the district’s most successful silver belts. Its 16-mile (27 km) displacement divides the district into two distinct parts, the southern Page Galena Belt, and the northern Golconda Lucky Friday Belt.[4]
Three mainminerals make up most of theore production in the Silver Valley.Galena (PbS orlead(II) sulfide) is the most important ore mineral found in the Coeur d’Alene District veins. Galena is present inveins throughout the district.Sphalerite ((Zn,Fe)S) is the second most important ore mineral, present in at least small amounts in most veins. The sphalerite is an important source of zinc throughout the ore belts. The third most abundant ore mineral istetrahedrite (Cu,Fe)12Sb4S13. However, the tetrahedrite is responsible for the majority of the silver produced by the Silver Valley, as it is the tetrahedrite interspersed in the galena of the district that makes it soargentiferous.[4]
A party of twelve miners led by Elias Davidson Pierce found gold inOrofino Creek, a tributary of theClearwater River, in 1860.[5] The ensuing gold rush continued through 1875 before slowing. Among the prospectors who came north seeking gold in theCoeur d'Alene Mountains was Andrew J. Prichard, who found gold in the alluvial sands ofa creek near present-dayMurray, Idaho in 1883.[6] Later in the year, prospectors entered present dayBurke Canyon seeking placer gold along Canyon Creek.
Miners and prospectors came to the region after gold and silver deposits were found in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains and theNorthern Pacific Railroad came to the region in 1883.[7] In the 1890s,two significant miners' uprisings took place in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, where the workers struggled with high risk and low pay. In 1892, the union's discovery of alabor spy in their midst, in the person ofCharlie Siringo, a sometime cowboy andPinkerton agent, resulted ina labor strike that developed into a shooting war between miners and the company inBurke Canyon. When themine owners planned to reduce wages of some workers to offset increased operating costs, the miners declared a strike against the reduction of wages and the increase in work hours and demanded a "living wage"[8] be paid to every man working underground – the common laborer as well as the skilled in a stand forindustrial unionism.[9] To restore order to the state of rebellion inShoshone County, GovernorN. B. Willey declaredmartial law and sent federal troops to arrest and detain the union miners, but not before dozens of casualties including six deaths and the destruction of the Frisco Mill.[9] A similarlabor confrontation in 1899 took place after the union was launching an organizing drive of the few mines not yet fully unionized,[10] where miners working in theBunker Hill and Sullivan mines were receiving fifty cents to a dollar less per day than other miners.[11] With no success in the effort, on April 29, 250 union members seized a train inBurke at gunpoint, according to the engineer, Levi "Al" Hutton.[12] At each stop through Burke Canyon, more miners climbed aboard what was dubbed the "Dynamite Express" toward the site of the $250,000 Bunker Hill mine nearWardner; the miners then carried 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of dynamite into the mill and completely destroyed it.[13] The crowd also burned down the company office, the boarding house, and the home of the mine manager. Like in the 1892 strike, martial law was declared by GovernorFrank Steunenberg and wholesale arrests and mass incarcerations were done to bring back order.[9]
By 1903, Burke Canyon was the most developed mining region in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains and was home to seven dividend-paying mines: the Gem of the Mountains, Frisco, Mammoth, Standard, Hecla, Tiger-Poorman andHercules mines.[6] Other mines soon began production throughout the Coeur d'Alene mining district, including theBunker Hill Mine (1886), Star-Morning Mine (1887),Sunshine Mine (1890), Galena Mine (1922) andLucky Friday Mine (1942).
A devastating wildfire swept through the area in August 1910 as lightning- and human-caused fires, fanned by strong winds and dry conditions, consumed three million acres and damaged or destroyed Wallace, Kellogg, Osburn, Burke and Murray.[14] During the fire,Ed Pulaski, aU.S. Forest Service ranger led a crew of forty-five men intoan abandoned prospect mine near Wallace, saving thirty-nine lives.
AfterWWII the district included 34concentrating mills and 24 mines. The largest operations included Bunker Hill, Sunshine, Day, Federal and Hecla.[15]
Although miners were originally lured to the general area by the promise ofgold, the primary metals mined in the valley weresilver,zinc, andlead. The total quantities produced are impressive: over a billion ounces of silver, 3 million tons of zinc, and 8 million tons of lead totalling over $6 billion in value, ranking the valley among the top ten mining districts in world history.[16] During the 1970s, nearly half of the nation's silver production came from the Silver Valley. After nearly a century of vigorousmining andsmelting activity, operations were severely curtailed in the early 1980s, resulting in massiveunemployment and a significant loss of population. In addition to the economic difficulties, the valley has been saddled withsignificant environmental challenges.[1][17]
Adisaster at the Sunshine Mine on the day shift on the morning of May 2, 1972 resulted in thecarbon monoxide poisoning deaths of 91 men. The mine was closed for seven months after the fire, one of the worst mining disasters in American history, and the worst disaster in Idaho history.
While some mining operations remain, the Silver Valley has focused its future upon recreational tourism and light manufacturing. The nearest major population center is the city ofSpokane, Washington, which is 70 miles (110 km) west along I-90. The growing recreational city ofCoeur d'Alene is halfway in between. The extensive restoration efforts can be seen in the return of thetundra swans. Restoration means returning an area to its healthy natural habitat.[18]
The Idaho Geological Survey lists several active and inactive mines in the Silver Valley:[19]
There are twoalpineski areas in the Silver Valley, both easily accessible fromI-90.Lookout Pass is at the east end of the valley on theMontana border adjacent to the freeway.Silver Mountain is thirty miles west, accessed from theKellogg city limits by the world's longest single-stage passengergondola, a quarter mile (400 m) from the highway.
Bicycling is fast becoming a key recreational pursuit for both locals and tourists in the Silver Valley, with trails and paths ranging from easy to extreme. In addition to the challenging lift-served mountain-bike trails at Silver Mountain, there are two new major bike paths in the vicinity that use old railroad grades.[20]
Lookout Pass ski area is also a primary staging area for the uniqueRoute of The Hiawatha rail-trail, which begins in Montana and runs downhill through tunnels and over trestles to the North Fork of the St. Joe River, 15 miles (24 km) away. The trail is named for theOlympian Hiawatha passenger trains of theMilwaukee Roadrailroad, on whose abandoned tracks, trestles, and tunnels the gravel trail rests. One of the tunnels (Taft) is over 1.6 miles (2.6 km) in length. When completed, the Route of The Hiawatha will stretch fromSt. Regis, Montana to the very remotePearson, Idaho, several miles north ofAvery, (equidistantly south ofMullan).
The other trail is theTrail of the Coeur d'Alenes, completed in 2004. The paved bike path runs more than 72 miles (115 km), starting from Mullan in the east. It follows the South Fork of theCoeur d'Alene River down through the Silver Valley to the south end ofLake Coeur d'Alene, passing over a historic bridge, then up toPlummer in northwestBenewah County. The bike trail uses old right-of-way from theUnion Pacific railroad.
.jpg)