Mary Tyson, Director of the Center for Regional History In the early years of Wood River Valley’s mining boom, many small towns sprang beyond Bellevue, Ketchum, and Hailey. Our towns survived the mining boom and bust that occurred in many parts of the West, but many of the smaller towns didn’t survive and became ghost towns. Initially, in the boom and bust, there was a fevered search for gold and running into silver in pursuit of gold was a nuisance. Then, when silver mining technology … [Read more...] about A Nearby Ghost Town: Bullion City
Mining
Ketchum’s Industrial Past: The Philadelphia Smelter
The Wood River Valley is best known today for its outdoor recreation and scenic beauty, but in the late 1800s, its mountains buzzed with industry. A newly acquired painting at the Wood River Museum of History and Culture offers a rare visual record of that era: a detailed 19th-century depiction of the Philadelphia Smelter, once located at the mouth of Warm Springs Canyon in Ketchum. The painting likely dates to the 1880s and illustrates a moment of booming silver industry in the Wood River … [Read more...] about Ketchum’s Industrial Past: The Philadelphia Smelter
Ketchum’s Industrial Past: The Philadelphia Smelter
The Wood River Valley is best known today for its outdoor recreation and scenic beauty, but in the late 1800s, its mountains buzzed with industry. A newly acquired painting at the Wood River Museum of History and Culture offers a rare visual record of that era: a detailed 19th-century depiction of the Philadelphia Smelter, once located at the mouth of Warm Springs Canyon in Ketchum. The painting likely dates to the 1880s and illustrates a moment of booming silver industry in the Wood River … [Read more...] about Ketchum’s Industrial Past: The Philadelphia Smelter
In the Mines
Vance Cunningham, Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archives Intern Long before Sun Valley opened, even before the rise of sheepherding, the largest industry in the Wood River Valley was mining. The Triumph Mine, located five miles northeast of Gimlet, was the largest. From 1884 to 1959, it produced over $39 million in metals, primarily zinc, lead, and silver ore. This photo was taken in 1938, and depicts three miners (Glen Freeman, Lyle Triple, and Paul Olson) working in the Triumph Mine. … [Read more...] about In the Mines
