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HomeMy Public PortalAboutRoosevelt, Idahoi .- U I DAU-: Fi f ty- Eighth:. -Year _No. 5 B, 0 I S E IDAHO : S U N,D A Y .,. M Jl,; So much ascertained,; several par - ties slipped out of Boise, outfitted for a j Pen Pictures of Mad Rush From a few weeks' prospecting .trip, and , vanished into the tumbled` peaks of All ;Parts of Nation for Into- the Salmon river country, with the first snows these returned,' bringing rior of Idaho When Stories of many samples of quartz, porphyry and .even lava capping, almost all of y_ Fabulous' Wealth. Were Scat' which showed paying gold contentss under the tests of the assayers. These tered Abroad. scouts also brought the inform ation'@ 1r that the flank of Thunder mountain °s was blanketed 'with the legally lo- ; w •:, r ` Gated claims <.oi -tile• original discov- 8!:�F . �: a[.,...•� erers. �,.. authentic Account of Stampede, Then Came First Bush. Tlie.forbiddino canyon oE'Holy Terror ra Through the ensuing winter prepay - the Awful Fate of Many Who orlon neat on apace, and with the The stage setting was absolutely of =the .mounts.`e,4 unique. Nothing was wanting to con money, and then. opening of spring party after party firm the promise of wealth untold ;to a' Chinauvai!'s cha Dared, the Drowning of the took the new. trail to the north. lip be garnered. No instance recorded.in 'Promised land;` iii the Payette river into Long valley, the textbooks or hard -won knowledge the�fr'ails,-Lollon, City of Roosevelt, and the across the Big creek divide, over of experience cast a shadow of doubt into the' earl of`f Johnson creek and through the grassy on the seeming Golconda, and Thun : and there perish. c Collapse of the Boom. glades of Trappers' flat, the way soon der mountain, in the final outcome, r rDan�,c, 5ti was beaten lain 'b the passing feet P Y P was the graveyard of more technical ' of men and horses. Many of the ad- reputations than any 10 such fields be "'ti4infer Sailed 1p, venturers were -returned Klondikers, fore exploited. �:;•: the'storms of'OcG? r,k,_4L°ILCoLII F. CAMPBELL. who christened the unnamed peaks The experts sampled, led, asses ed ;-arid still �'croivded, L11 and passes' with titles borrowed from computed, and on their estimate's :of' scarce, ,game non Tn the year 1883 pracdcaUy the the far northern gold Yields. Chilkoot enure population of what was ore by the millions of tons. in sight. o stalk... t'everg.;i Pop pass, Dawson, White Horse and oth- j •who had staked hi be extracted, the reserve of :`capita[ , • -, then the territory of Idaho was ers today stand as evidence of the o1 some tower. • thawed and dollars flowed from.. all drawn into` a stampede to the similarity the;'new field bore to the' ; to protect List sources by the tents and hundreds. of 73oise basin,.-',%i-here rich strikes topography of the arctic bonanza. ; 'signed his titL•; of placer Old had been reported, thousands, to reap the promised incre- in :t{t:oi rush afrt Nothing that the short summer di the 20 years that followed, this seent. lust a this time the east"had s -inept .-- .caoin'uq __ closed contradicted the claims of the seen the climax of the steel boom, and small district, a nilles from the finders; every ledge and exposed dyke many "ateel millionaires," flushed iiigness. .:: territorial capital, Boise, pro- Accidents er,rT,7 fielded evidence of the sought -for with easy money, were looking .for; iiieir tol ditced between $150,000,000 and - -metal. It appeared that the entire $200,000,000. in wir t circumference of Thunder mountain more worlds to conquer, and from' the �e;'x•as Chp? i gar goldn a Pittsburg especially the ws rYO= sF,pir,.. f welcome replenishrncnt of the na- g P y golden, tide: - -�• was a treasurchou�e of waiting gold, flowed westward. kriowii' as `'inouite bon's treasury, depleted by the and this was all that was needed to demands of the Civil scar —and Born. where: dispersed, fire the- ready train of expectation City of R.00secelt . •. ., � . did. more than ever ]ms been pop- I in the minds of the gold- seekers, the wat pr, 'plug ularly credited to the state in most credulous and optimistic of the The Talley of the Monumental, at' iklute: alcohol, aa� maintaining the credit of the gov- I the - foot of Thunder mountain,- ot- �'gup.aq _K.ni;e ; vel human race. fered the only ossible,site for a camp, list- ti bile crnment in the stresses of the P days of reconstruction after the Gold Hunters Choke the Trails. and here sprang up a town, at first of obl'.ious coils(.,. conflict. Early in the second summer the I tents, later of log and frame houses, victims, to ,p;neukii n which tvas named after the president' or; some. of till I This history must be borne in mind rush was on in earnest. The trails of the day, whose strenuous -nature 'that'awePt the Grit z considering the facts of the rush were choked with the flood of miners, appealed to these pioneers of.-the: f 1900 to the wilds of interior Idaho prospectors, - gamblers, tenderfeet and mountains. After the naming- of the '.n CO1•pses camp, some .imaginative, soul discov- �FollowiiT� (lne!,i'u ered.that a cliff:overhanging the set ]lest opf%vd d-1 ouni U tlement had been carved .by e-eather into,a passable likeness _when' bodies of t`TO. viewed from a` certain 'angle 40 he lance juslitic i t}��- great American. This co[ncidence.xas romalns :btc6 to f� taken•as an omen of the.succesa of the cost oi, 50 r ,nisi •,. ; rlt ' '. I camp, though the final. event can hard" ryeight ; e.,y., lfylr ,l ly be said to reflect new luster on the where, t4eir M r. 77 V mlifter- night, -Billy Campbell T-.-Jovial, popular, g.thorough *mountaineer, left a a�'ry'ad- "slip MN the.crowd* t thi commissary s p� Q ped into ';his a kiis to cower the scant halt-mil,-Araight. uO.the`g .1 his �V ca'8in. Ai' never. re'acKe­d there,:. al- -thou ;he had _covered . die '-traJt`-In all.yKe4i:4ers. for two year s. _ Vut into the n1ght'and the sno:. -`vknished • oin human' man' kndwl�ir edje. - -Search'by -hundreds of me4 f Ii "' t' no days- tfio rough no V� li'h s g test hint of ..his fite7, minute -combing'. 6f.'.the couhtij;� When:'M6 snow: was gone "disclosed no trace-z-he . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . was never heard of agaiti'.," M The third :year I ear of their, bo;m ithe .�.:i state legislature appropriated' $40.00 road, u 0 0 toward buildin g a wagon d( into the ew� . district. 'Mining 'companies and others interested in the development of . the region contributed a likej started. Th amount and work .was sare 61 route covered more - 'than. 100 miles of the roughest mountain co'L',ntry of . the A state, and. to expand the sum at hand to coveritbe needs, the engineers fol-I lowed the line o1 least resistance in napping the course.-v.f 4hel road, avoiding .:difficult construction with- li4nd tered their out regard to-the convenience-of the! �s'wif thout even traffic that was to use it vans( ering' from Chlled..by Courtesy Road. 86n ne saw the 'ecepi five defiles result was' . a series . of h eart- 60un itain" mazes breaking climbs :to the summit of jerab; 11Y.- ridges, 'succeeded 'by • nerve - racking � none o*6d:._ "descents into the. canons beyond,. but no . e the less they succeeded In build- :k the e,c.raze And Ing What by .western courtesy '�passjdi f4dund d the " camp as EL road',for the ;s6niount 'stipulated, food `was aided by a.. .further - colitributidii,"04 4n't j, and danger 10;000 by�'.the'mining companies. ­Aia a n a� ma y slope ', In two summers the road was com- L J rri o1 ' t he e ple'ted to•the foot of Thunder moun- ::and main. d.re . d tain, but long before this-the com- thdt winter re-, pleted' portion had been _put to use. �tthij I -herit'a�ges ' tha - t Tifousands' of tons of riviterl1l was griow Vshde' nsili k moved along'Ahe route as' fast as a section was--vacated by the- builders, ,b "m: aiding took all ;portable articles'-being picked up W.-lac ck offood by pack trains at the terminus 'and 'taint ratiis:' there carried on Into the wilderness. e'r beverage Seen of Feverish Activit'Y'...' ".- concocted une i-j ulce, `rafix "The Transfer," as the pofintwhere ppen ras jjiajb'_ the discharged their freight •it: is Influijide and the otir-footed "carriers' took It [ke't'.10tai-death up.was"known,' was . for two yeais a ping --.'the more scene 9? of feverish activity. Machinery if'Ab.ts use, fell; and supplies of all kinds were' un- ' lipo otted fever loaded . from the cavernous 'wagons! typ46_ e_ epidemics and piled upon the ground; in lieu of IntE ter, warehousing. , Sweating pack- ' beitter ersolaihia th'eA6ads upon their beasts n Pc ?Guud. -ind vanished: hito 'the -depths. of the -lnf6 er the`. car- '17odds"' '166 ins •-for., the distant E.t ishiii d3 f the &k it the L4 ZI h ti n '.was '�(?4 � �,!%O!Pkers­ ccup (Orm r qt. p=ace. AV s jtaken by the Second ..sectm tI'HUNDER RAINBO !on P_u .1 -Flo •In theie;,nst ances- ant,ii•c 10 a ,.ravel t In Ruc3eielG ­City QLiiet Reigns Above the Buried 7 ERHAPS in' the 'slime at, the .bottom, still-A6- the"bottles.emptied on the'night the owners-4, ollowing a quarre,, cut a'deck of cardsl dete sn"ewhich of the two should Oal7c but.empty-ha.n&", e4, the ".'6w; -, ft� ir'sh . * " A' .,had': cost' ip. of prop'erty-t At:,had'-.166st' $50.000" hanging on the -turn of a' lithographed pasteboard,' 'the winner,- - his dark • face unmoved by- fortune- I set out - champagne for 'the witnesses,' so'long -d3 a'lw' U'. could stagger to the bar to drink. Possibly some�V'4q,e, in the mud remain the once gayly painted discs thdt, served as markers in the-historic poker game in which $50,000 changed hands in the course of a'night's play. But' to all this the rainbow is indifferent. Less than nothing to hi n, is the fact that ,al - ,vo,U7, 4: seeks. the cool depths for, rest, 3000 of the human race once dreamed and toiled and reveled. The millions that were away here are to him less than the hovering - insect. The ripples, spread and die;. the. fore's"finainii- ga'th ers''up his. -reivs, and pass-6s, on; the: buck turns again his.. browsing. • Thunder Mountain is once more ui onq .y-'-'-' , of a thousand peaks of the Idaho hiiis.'unnoted save for; histoi its. past .. ft: , c : 0 , tipc • i _41ij 1� new- III ger.. 0. winterj .0. In NO.Titer. The slope c t4._1 -bt ls"a-butfidss'of -Thundo- 11 adjourned in re ' llef, 'attgr slopes, where 1t recefye'sl.t in L the uari-that in futuri 'kinter"winN -ihd 9 � 9 1 of - the" - �*s Ida 1-pi Pe ."more kierful with that llii.lm' melting contraptlon". fell.into impassability and he ,full ifiry gild ".and ing;`-rapidly In a single % J- 7 A:a�T . ej I., q l �M. ;: mlifter- night, -Billy Campbell T-.-Jovial, popular, g.thorough *mountaineer, left a a�'ry'ad- "slip MN the.crowd* t thi commissary s p� Q ped into ';his a kiis to cower the scant halt-mil,-Araight. uO.the`g .1 his �V ca'8in. Ai' never. re'acKe­d there,:. al- -thou ;he had _covered . die '-traJt`-In all.yKe4i:4ers. for two year s. _ Vut into the n1ght'and the sno:. -`vknished • oin human' man' kndwl�ir edje. - -Search'by -hundreds of me4 f Ii "' t' no days- tfio rough no V� li'h s g test hint of ..his fite7, minute -combing'. 6f.'.the couhtij;� When:'M6 snow: was gone "disclosed no trace-z-he . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . was never heard of agaiti'.," M The third :year I ear of their, bo;m ithe .�.:i state legislature appropriated' $40.00 road, u 0 0 toward buildin g a wagon d( into the ew� . district. 'Mining 'companies and others interested in the development of . the region contributed a likej started. Th amount and work .was sare 61 route covered more - 'than. 100 miles of the roughest mountain co'L',ntry of . the A state, and. to expand the sum at hand to coveritbe needs, the engineers fol-I lowed the line o1 least resistance in napping the course.-v.f 4hel road, avoiding .:difficult construction with- li4nd tered their out regard to-the convenience-of the! �s'wif thout even traffic that was to use it vans( ering' from Chlled..by Courtesy Road. 86n ne saw the 'ecepi five defiles result was' . a series . of h eart- 60un itain" mazes breaking climbs :to the summit of jerab; 11Y.- ridges, 'succeeded 'by • nerve - racking � none o*6d:._ "descents into the. canons beyond,. but no . e the less they succeeded In build- :k the e,c.raze And Ing What by .western courtesy '�passjdi f4dund d the " camp as EL road',for the ;s6niount 'stipulated, food `was aided by a.. .further - colitributidii,"04 4n't j, and danger 10;000 by�'.the'mining companies. ­Aia a n a� ma y slope ', In two summers the road was com- L J rri o1 ' t he e ple'ted to•the foot of Thunder moun- ::and main. d.re . d tain, but long before this-the com- thdt winter re-, pleted' portion had been _put to use. �tthij I -herit'a�ges ' tha - t Tifousands' of tons of riviterl1l was griow Vshde' nsili k moved along'Ahe route as' fast as a section was--vacated by the- builders, ,b "m: aiding took all ;portable articles'-being picked up W.-lac ck offood by pack trains at the terminus 'and 'taint ratiis:' there carried on Into the wilderness. e'r beverage Seen of Feverish Activit'Y'...' ".- concocted une i-j ulce, `rafix "The Transfer," as the pofintwhere ppen ras jjiajb'_ the discharged their freight •it: is Influijide and the otir-footed "carriers' took It [ke't'.10tai-death up.was"known,' was . for two yeais a ping --.'the more scene 9? of feverish activity. Machinery if'Ab.ts use, fell; and supplies of all kinds were' un- ' lipo otted fever loaded . from the cavernous 'wagons! typ46_ e_ epidemics and piled upon the ground; in lieu of IntE ter, warehousing. , Sweating pack- ' beitter ersolaihia th'eA6ads upon their beasts n Pc ?Guud. -ind vanished: hito 'the -depths. of the -lnf6 er the`. car- '17odds"' '166 ins •-for., the distant E.t ishiii d3 f the &k it the L4 ZI h ti n '.was '�(?4 � �,!%O!Pkers­ ccup (Orm r qt. p=ace. AV s jtaken by the Second ..sectm tI'HUNDER RAINBO !on P_u .1 -Flo •In theie;,nst ances- ant,ii•c 10 a ,.ravel t In Ruc3eielG ­City QLiiet Reigns Above the Buried 7 ERHAPS in' the 'slime at, the .bottom, still-A6- the"bottles.emptied on the'night the owners-4, ollowing a quarre,, cut a'deck of cardsl dete sn"ewhich of the two should Oal7c but.empty-ha.n&", e4, the ".'6w; -, ft� ir'sh . * " A' .,had': cost' ip. of prop'erty-t At:,had'-.166st' $50.000" hanging on the -turn of a' lithographed pasteboard,' 'the winner,- - his dark • face unmoved by- fortune- I set out - champagne for 'the witnesses,' so'long -d3 a'lw' U'. could stagger to the bar to drink. Possibly some�V'4q,e, in the mud remain the once gayly painted discs thdt, served as markers in the-historic poker game in which $50,000 changed hands in the course of a'night's play. But' to all this the rainbow is indifferent. Less than nothing to hi n, is the fact that ,al - ,vo,U7, 4: seeks. the cool depths for, rest, 3000 of the human race once dreamed and toiled and reveled. The millions that were away here are to him less than the hovering - insect. The ripples, spread and die;. the. fore's"finainii- ga'th ers''up his. -reivs, and pass-6s, on; the: buck turns again his.. browsing. • Thunder Mountain is once more ui onq .y-'-'-' , of a thousand peaks of the Idaho hiiis.'unnoted save for; histoi its. past .. ft: , c : 0 , tipc • i _41ij 1� new- III ger.. 0. winterj .0. In NO.Titer. The slope c t4._1 -bt ls"a-butfidss'of -Thundo- 11 adjourned in re ' llef, 'attgr slopes, where 1t recefye'sl.t in L the uari-that in futuri 'kinter"winN -ihd 9 � 9 1 of - the" - �*s Ida 1-pi Pe ."more kierful with that llii.lm' melting contraptlon". fell.into impassability and he ,full ifiry gild ".and ing;`-rapidly In a single 176 Stibniters 'Bring Souvenire From Roosevelt 'Laka Stibnite Miner August 1, 1945 Volume III Number 39 Roney and Vern. Jteynold.s, bra red the depths of the fe.aous Roose- velt Labe July Fourth and cams ups A th trophies envied by .&!1 wbo saw them. T1-- moneta y value was n_i ill but c:; eauve:^ni.rs of early dams they left nothing to be desired. Where the men went down the grater eras only about seven feet deep and according to them an iceberg; couldn't have been colder. They stew an old. dresser and pulled out a draver and found three old fashioner. liquor bottles., These vvald have to be seen to be appreciated as there probably has not been. ay. like these for math" yea2s. One han on ono side a sad face Frith the word. "before" above it and on the other side the gentleman has a broad emi.le and "after" above it, Another is a womam's body Mans head and dressed in old time unmentionables. The third, when turned on its side, has the figure of en elephant, but when ste- ntii.ng the elephant is not visible. All are of fine frosted 71ass. The slide rr f.ch made Roosevelt Lake was in the eprin,� of 1908 a-nd the dreseer with the bottles has been in the lake nine that time. The story of the :lake, taken from on earlier issue of the Miner, is in another part of this paper. 0 169 Thunder Mountain Tales Cascade News Novembez 1, 1946 Volu= XXX Number 24 "If Irvin S. Cobb had spent a few months at the Thunder Mount- min gold rush, the world would have had a best- oeller," eaid 11. D. Timm of Dixon, Calif., who stopped off in poise recently after paying; one of his cnntal visits to the ghost towns of central Idaho where he "r;ot in" on the excitement of that sera as an assayer. With his old partner, Charle3 i eff- -- alco nisi a Californian. he used to cczw back every summer, but this time Ti= cams alone as Neff was not able to make the trip. They both Miear they "left their hearts in Idaho." Timm is wall over a six - footer fall of vi mor and looks like a congressman. which he was, having served in the eighth seenion of the legislature t-^om Idaho County. He is full of tales of that lusty mining camp where 11,0300 claims were staked. out and at least 209,000 people had come in at various times dr-ing its hey -day, among them a number of well-L== Boise people. DMMY BUYS MI1M. At the turn of the century Col. Dewey had bou it thin mine which came to bear his name. Bert Hauck was suuperint!ndent of t.3 Dewey; Frank Johnesse of the Fa.irvi.ew. T'_runder Mountain City and Roosevelt were typier.l boom towns after thn ,Cold ctr ±.ke. R0000valt boasted a pion o in every saloon --- before it was finished off with a land,lide and a flood. The pianos are still down there under water. Becid.es being an s.nsayex amdi mining engineer Timm often bad to double as an undertaker in the remote spot where thy; nicet +.ee cf life had to dispensed Faith, CLU TER C? 04VES . "!Chem is a cluster of &:ayes in the old watery and ale- -g Monumental Creep," said ha. $!Originally they yore Marked but tir..a and weather have effra,ced. the ;paint long ago, Not to m7 kno�rjedge has them been a. imitten rec=d of those men.." Ei hopes to got e, marker put up with these tames, by the ems s ad dnii5ztcrs of pionc era. Not only can he ftraish r s, but also obituaries. moat cf them shed ,pith thei.+ boots ,on. On a.least one occu-;ion the- rix.°Lral ser- vices were held in a saloon, with the fiance ball girls e.i.n� and a your col.ler-a maxi in camp i'preachixgg' the eerms,n# At least t;,ro were victims of sinew siid�es; aso= shed of mount- ain fever •--- and some met violent deaths. Some wrero lu.rtLicxo -.in, come pathetic. This one, of Ncd, was both; here it is aB :isrm told it: `r Like Old Uncle Ned who had laid down do ahovel and da hoc, this aged Chinaman was too d9orepit to work at placer mtning any more so he get into the habit of dropping in at the white -men's camp every <` ay and standing axougnd waiting for a bit of grub, "Old Ned" as he was called,, Lived i n a Little cabin near the grads that went to Zk City, "Smokey" hie nrnd pal, vas his cabin mate, Both of these queued Chinamen were an black as the vul s of their tumble downs shack, When Smokey died. r C�',I;: TER MIS w As old Peed chattered the news to hle uahits friends La nemp, W, 1711 D. Timms had visions of a Chinese fur3ra]. he had seen in San Praneiseo, where the departed spirit was tendered food and fireworks, co he went to the Chinese laundrymen to solicit their help in giving Smc''ey a proper burial, He met with rebuff.') Q`,'No -nol Mim belong totInother ton 1 We have nothing to do with himlN" "To urging that they take care of Old Ned they said the sane. But at long last they consented to help. "You brir.—we keep," said they. Timm insisted that one of them accompany the white :_3n to the cabin with an official invitation -- ^o Box Sing gent along," -NM FORGOTTL" �?---- ('Old Ned, forgotten, had trud ed up the hill alone that ni&,ht, forlorn, and probably hungry, When the men arrived at the miserable cabin they started a fire in the cracked cook stove with the green wood which lay beside it --all that the old Chinaman had—and told Ned that they would return the next day with a box coffin for his friend. � "no leave me here!"' he whimper 3, looking fearfully at the G=otesque figure stretched across the other bunk, but Box Sing hushed him with harsh word3.)) 6t"I was determined that Smokey should have a correct deremonial,-'If) said Timm„ '01 located some fireworks 1•:�ft from thi Fourth of duly- - some firecracke-s and ally rockets. Tharo zhc^,,1d have been come "devil chasers" --red squares of paper full of holes that are supposed to delay the evil spirits w110 get caught in them as they didn't have nearly enour4i holds. Food being scarce, we took only a can Of eard.ines. SUPPERS ALL NIMT ((`'When w;e arrived at the cabin we saw Old IT-ad had suffered all night. Box. Sing lit the punka, I fastened the pinwheels to the door and he scattered the contents of the enrdi.ne can in the box before 174" Smokey wax laid Inside. As we started. +old tied betas to weep, t''d21 saws fool! "' ermxled Box Sits &f emd the olds maml va3. quiet, At the tap of the bill we t= ed erA &.ot aft` 'th6 :fire fork* rhi.oh ode Nevi so happy th:.'t he co trIly smiledl# rrr -OThse Chinese of they rival tcrS dAd take the old. maw {fir but they put hi to work eawirg wrocsd. no he died within a couple of weeks. I hel -e& to lay him cvay toed to vea-11 off some o-�, tha smoke extra grits thap had rade him- sa black during his 161 r r' THUNDER MOUNTAIN Cascade News - - -- history of Roosevelt Lake Vol. XXX ,.. .' A$t.;.3!,,195 #15 Thunder Mountain Tales Vol. XXX November 1, 1946 #24 Big Bill Timm. Pioneer of Thunder Mountain Visits Here Vol. XXXV January 13, 1950 #24 Payette Lakes Star--- - Know Your Idaho - Thunder Mountain Area Quiet Vol. XXXV January 19, 1930 #52 Stibnite Miner--- - Stibniters B= Souvenirs From Roosevelt Lake Vol. III August 1, 1943 A5 162 History of Roosevelt Lake Cascade News August 3. 1945 Yolumn XXX Number 15 In 1896 gold was discovered on Thunder Mountain by the Caawell brothers, Lou, Dan, Ben, and Court. They placer mined the country until about 1900 on the Golden Reef claim in the Dewey Reef. The-I! results of their cleanups here, and the amount of gold increasing each year, caused the mine to gain adequate attention and in 1900 Col. De*: =ey, who had recently made a fortrrs in the Silver City district, optioned the property and paid the brothers $100,000.00 for it, in one check. Indidentaily, this was oneoof the largest checks ever written for minim, property. The printing of the check in the Statesman was one of the causes for a great number of people rushing into the district in 1901. In the meantime, several other properties, including the Sunazyside, H.Y. Climax and the Standard mines had been discovered and were being exploitecL and developed. The entire district probably had around 400 mere employed. FOUNDING OF THE TOWN Since the mines were high up on the mountain, with no location for a town, the natural place was down on monumental Creek, about two miles below the mines. The town was named after Theodore Roosevelt, who was then leading his Roue Riders in the Spanish - American Waif. The torn grew rapiclyby the influx of fortune seekers from 1901 on millions of dollars of stock was sold and there was lot of wildcatting and speculationg going one By 1903 seven thousand people were getting M i.l from the post office. Roosevelt consisted of 14 saloone, two or three hotels, numerous eating places and seven or eight stores. They 163 also had a four -room froma school house at the upperend of town. PIVMV-11NUCH The Tlh�ander Mountain News was started in the latter part of October, 1901, with Clarence E. Eddy and Samuel F. Hunt as Editors, Owners, ad. Proprietors. Several of the ads in the December 3rd issue ars quite note- worthy of the times. Some of them are as follows: The .Big Amusement Hall, with the accompanying verse, 'Tis here the lusty hosts of lift, May find a respite from strife, With song and music, mirth and wine And all the fun of 149r It really is the roaring wonder Of all the far wide land of Thunder. Various saloons advertise the "finest case and bottled g+ooda, Old Bourbon and McBryer whiskiei and the finest wines and cordials." The Log Cabin :`as famous because it was "the only place you could get a highball." The Temperance House at Trapper's Flat, 30 miles from Roosevelt, carried this slogan: °'e keep no whiskey, beer or g4.n, Wo had no chance to -have it In; When spring returns and roads are dry, We figure on a Pall supply. From the Packers' Hest at Knox another way staion, cones this poems Ttue Papkers' Rest In the wooly west 1;3 at the town of Rand All. 164 Of gin and beer and Bug Juice here None but the best we handle. Came drop your tools. And leave your wagon, gO-itoh your vales and Get a Jag on. BOOM' HILL The grave yard sprang up rapidly with 40 graves adorning the hillside. At the present time there are only about seven markers that can be seen, with just a few names on them that can be made out, Most of the graves were marled with racks and were terraced up the side of the hill. THE ROAD TO ROOSEVELT The population up to 1905 was growing rapidly with new ones coming in all the time to see what was going on, with 1500 people residing in the town of Roosevelt. The road from Thunder City was finished in 1904 and the mail service made its first trip in December, 1904, with E.Pe Stickuey being; awardd the contract to carry the mail. It waa the highest paid, per mile, mail route in the United States at that time. They didn't have much trouble with holdups as the express com- pany insured the gold. Daily stages were run all winter in 19050 These stages rolayed from wary stations all along tbi line. About every twelve miles and sometimes every eight miles. There were eight or nine stage drivers for the total distance of 76 miles. r It took three days to come from Thunder City pr six days from Emmett,, on the stage. The way stations along the road were O'brien's Station, this side of Monumental Summit, Intermediate Station, hale 165 Hill Station, Riordan Creek Stations (which had a large hq*91 and barn), Twin Bridges, quite a settlement ( ), Kraut Creek Station, Knox, Johnson • Creek Station, (apt the foot of Dig Creeds Sur nit on the Cascade side), and Scott Palley Station. The freight was hauled from E=stt with rates at about seven cents a pound, all the machinery and 4eavy equipment being packed in by mule teams. One Gratory crusher coat the Su=yside mines $10,000, at the rate of $1.00 a pound. It took two ,months to bring this enormous piece of machinery.in. THE SLIDE About 1907 the higher grade ore near the surface was worked out. Both the Sunnyside and Dewey mines closed in 1907. People began to drift out of the country and the houses and establishments at Roosevelt had closed temporarily for the v inter. Probably not more than 75 or 80 people stared through the winter of 1907 and the spring of 1908. That winter and spring had a very heavy snow fall and it remained until late in June. There wan seven feet of snow at the Dewey mine on the first of June tout year. A hot spell took the entire seven feet in one week, causing a heavy runoff. This saturated the soft top soil on the west side of the mountain over an area of six or seven hundred acres, causi ~z:., this mass of material to start flowing down Mule Creek. The main maza#,eatimated at one - quarter cubic mile started to slide on June 7th, ,about 3 A.M. Tile Watchman at the Dewey mine went down to Roosevelt early the next day and warned the peoplo what had haspr Head and what was going to happen. However, the inhabitants of Roosevelt thought it would stop before it dammed up the main Monumental Creek and before it should • flood the town. For that reason, no one paid any attention to him or to oche= that came down to warn them. They felt confident that 166 f . the main stream was so high that it would take care of any slide that carne down as fast as it ivvived. Late in the afternoon of the 7th, some of the residents got up ambition enough to take a look at the mass, which by that time was moving at the rate of eight.faet per minute, as some of them timed its The valley or canyon which it came was boavily timbered with spruce and fir trees, which the slide twisted and ground up in the maid. It finally dawned on the residents of the townAvxibg the evening of the 7th that it was really going to be serious so they took all the dynamite that was stored and placed ik; in the back of the slide at the lower end of town and thought they would set..it off when the time came and make a channel for tho.creek to cut through. Some say this dynamite was covered so deep by the slime that they couldn't even hear the report. They started moving their personal belongings that evening to higher ground but'sincae a good many of the owners were away and their hoagies locked up a great- deal of the merchandise was lost in the various buildings. i'he slide dammed up Monumental Creek about 9 p.m. on the 7th and by 2 a.m.. of the 8th, water was 10 feet deep in the Main Street. In fact, it was deep enough that the funAture could be moved directly out of second story buildings onto rafts before morning. One piano, owned by the postmistress, and deputy recorder of Idaho County, was moved from the second story of one of the buildings onto a ieft, floated to higher groundl later hauled to Thunder City and still later (in 1926) sold to the school at Yellow Pine and is still in use:. Mrs T.J. Wayland, the owner of the piano, was the school, superintendent. of Valley County for a goad many years. Bill Flint, the town soak, lived in the upper portion of town and didn't wake up to the fact that a4ything was going on until the • morning of the 8th. The only thing he thought of saving, v= a kegrof iz Whiskey which he rolled up Main Street in two feet of water... I- L-1 0" 167 A lot of the residents saw they couldn't move all their be- in time, so they took strands of wire and tied to their cabins and wagons and rare these up on the side of the valley and tied them to trees-.in order that they would 10m1 how to gat back to them. Hundreds of these wires were tied to rocks and trees but nothing of any value was salvaged® Very few tesidents st d- .%fter'.thei.sILda WA thid:,finiahed the lifel "of the town. The water originally covered about 90 percent of the town, but the creek is gradually cutting a channel through the dam, with the lake filling up with sediment and is now about 15 or 20 feet deep in the deepest part. Several store buildings toward the upper end of town that the water didn't reach, were left fully stcsked and taken care of by a wa Lehman up to the ,spring of 1915, when he died. This watchman was an exiled member of a royal Go.-man family, dubbed "Bisr rk." At the time of his death the keys of the stores were given to one of the ranchers and the stocks were depleted within two weeks. The school hour:: on the upper end of the creek was torn down in 1920 and moved to the McCoy ranch where they built their house from it. Everywhere can be seen various parts of furniture floating in the lake such as a leg off a piano, or a piece of hardwood furniture, or a pair of barroom doors. Parts of the upper stories that were abotrs the watervere taken up by the beaver, and practically everyonge had a colony of beaver in them. These buildings that were protruding above the ice were all burnsrd in the winter of 1934. About the only things that were sal- vaged were a couple of pianos by the watchman. One had been a 168 f • . valuable Baby Grand# but when salvaged ins quits worthless. One story that is told* vhicgh could be trae p is s1 follows s It seems there wan supposed to be 30 oases of Scotch whitkey of the old timers woull have drained the lake if they than t this 30 cases of whiskey to b' at the bottom of ito co therefore# the story does not merit belief. Roosevelt Y,ake is located about 14 or 15 Wdues from Stibnite and is snored in from November until late in June or Ju1.y. 173 Big Bill Timm, Pioneer of Thunder Mountain, Visits.Herre Cascade News January 13,1950; Volu*rn XXXV Number 24 "Big Bill" Timm, one of the survivors of the historic Thunder Mountain gold rush days was in Cascade this week on his way to Califor- is for the winter. He also visited his old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Pete Peterson of Yellow Pine during his stay here. Mr. Timm has a summer cabin on Big Creek at the mouth of Beaver Creek, across the stream from the forest road. He has deviced a all ferry on which to cross to his cabin, and has experimented with a "pogo pole" to propel himself across the stream. Mr. Timm has devoted much of the season arranging for the pur- cjlase of a bronze plaque to be placed on the site of the historic cemetery near Roosevelt lakR where 13 of the Thunder Mountain dead are known to be buried. He commented that one of his big moments was the day when 25 members of the Stibnite Rod and Gun Club coined forces to help clear the debris from the cemetery site and erect an iron pipe fence with two strands of cable to inclose the graves. Another thrill he counted as one of his greatest was the a.ir trip he took in Ed LeMoss' plane from Stibnite over Thunder Mountain. Territory was traversed in a matter of minutes which had taken days and creeks in the old days by pack train. 174 .Know Your Idaho Fayette Lakes Star January 190 1950 Volumn XXXI 2dumzber 52 TIIIX?MER NIOUWAINf LM, 01EU Along the Noddle Fork of th5 Salmon River is the Thunder Moun- tain district, one of Id=.sho l s most Inaccessible and xnma=' ,c.11e ax*as . The region waa named for the ramblings of drat la,ndslide.3 that came down the mountain sides during the days of the gold _?ekera, and it was one o.' these .slides that wrote fir . s to Rousevalt, +one of the towxzs that sprang Sap them. In the early mining 1-nys, the 'Thunder Mountain district, boast- ed two unusual toums. Roosevelt and Thunder City, with a population of nearly 5,000. Roosevelt itself had many substantial buO dinars, including a post office and, laundry, acid every ealoon haA a piano in spite of the mountainc, ?- trails and the fact that everything; had to be fn.ighted in on the backo of mules. The Sam of Znporia, William Alter. White of Kia.neas, ootJd editor brought a dramati.o moment to Roosevelt whezi he inhased a fo=uer govenor of Y.ansaa into Idaho. The governor was caught & d k-illed vitb a companion known an Hot -root. The editor declared that Ror::evelt Baas a 111- og tovn with one etreat and no sodiety." Shortly after Whitere visit, a cepricioue mounta1n delivcy -ed upon!,Roosevelt in one blow a landslide while di =ed the c=yon and a 1--k3 that covered the town. .All. of the residents eceapedy glad to save their lives. Ons wom ^", hmrever. r cod aird cursed the flee - .ng males of th.3 town because they wrou:id not go back to her bawdy 175 house and rescue a piano for her. Today only the roof of • house or two point above the lake level to nar_c the site of Roodevelt. Thunder City fared a little better, although it was spared the landslide and flood. The gold soon gave out, and the toNm of severe winters, fabulous fortunes end great numbers of saloons has van- ished piece by piece off the landscape. And today, the Thunder Mountain area is very, very quiet. Spawninggrounds Gold brings gamblers, ladies of night .. . If you were to acquire the spirit of a hawk, if you could possibly borrow his keen senses and his perfect form for flight, then you could spread your silent wings and lift out of this valley; catch the April wind and soar toward the direction of the rising sun. One hour of this directed flight will bring you over Idaho's primitive area. Feather the winds but stay stationary; take a good look below at God's masterpiece. Our creator took special care in sculpturing this awesome land. That prominent mountain over there, the one partially oliscurred by white -laced clouds, she is an extremely attractive mountain. Her invisible arms seem, to reach out to your spellbound spirit and pull you close to her bosom. The Indian people called that mountain Tome -up- yaggi. Tome -up means clouds, while Yaggi means crying, for land of the Crying Clouds. To the native American this mountain was sacred; strange mystical forces tantalized and perplexed the minds of mortal man. It was almost as though highly evolved spirits dwelled in heights of the crying clouds mountain and mortals could only look upon her as a free beautiful spirit never to be possessed. In 1896 gold was discovered in the bosom of this mystical mountain. By 1902 a flood of humans, mules, horses and mining equipment flashed through trails and over hills to the land of the crying clouds the miners called Thunder Mountain. At the base of this mountain, a town was thrown together which was referred to as Roaring Roosevelt, in honor of Teddy Roosevelt, president of our nation at that time. Prospectors told of eerie experiences and strange feelings when thunder storms hovered their great black masses over that mountain. At first the boiling black clouds just hung there giving an atmosphere of dark, quiet doom. The stillness was slightly intruded upon by a light breeze blowing yet stronger, and climaxing into immense gusts of strong winds. When the thunder spoke, it cracked sounds of terrific magnitude, a succession of explosions echoed and reechoed until the earth began to tremble beneath one's feet. No living thing ignored the wrath of the storms, and a man was so impressed by the awesome turbulence that he questioned his very existence. By August of 1903, six saloons were doing a thriving business in the Thunder Mountain boom town of Roosevelt. Pack strings brought in . several groups of ladies, who set up a tent red light district that serviced 3,000 miners in the Roosevelt area. Men from all walks of life populated the area - -some were highly educated, by Jeff Fee some came . from the east and others were simply drifters looking for adventure. But most came for the lust of gold. William Allen White, a publisher of the Kansas City Star, visited Roosevelt during its heyday. In an article which he sent back to his paper he described the town as a mile -long street of shacks with a mile -long street of shacky people. When the paper reached Roosevelt, White was tied to his horse backwards and sent back down the train. To some journalists and historians, the Thunder Mountain boom was the biggest farce ever to be printed in the annuals of historic mining. Robert Bailey, a historian who witnessed the Thunder Mountain boom, wrote: "Thunder Mountain provided mining sharks with a splendid opportunity to locate ground and sell millions of dollars worth of stock on the strength of the purported rich strikes which had been made, only to leave the stock buyers holding, as their only assets, pieces of prettily lithographed paper. Town lots, too, in the town of Roosevelt were sold to outsiders." Only a total of $350,000 was taken out of the Thunder Mountain district, and 90 per cent of that came from one mine called the Dewey. Crafty gamblers, saloon owners, ladies of the night, land sharks and other merchants lived comfortably off prospectors trying to find a rich claim. There were no rich claims, and never had been. By 1907 the town was practically empty, only a dozen or so people remained. Thousands of dollars were wasted, tons of equipment had been packed into Roosevelt, but never used. Many human and animal lives had been lost by freezing, avalanches, drowning, falling from high trails and numerous other accidents. The spring of 1908 gave rise to a strange occurrence. The clouds of Thunder Mountain began to cry. They cried and sobbed for days while the soil above Roosevelt became saturated. A great mass of earth gave way at the base of the mountain. Rock, soil and debris rushed down the slopes and sealed off the valley just below the town. The earth from the sacred mountain formed its own natural dam. A creek which once flowed freely through old Roaring Roosevelt came to a halt at the foot of the dam and slowly began to rise. The occupants had plenty of time to pack their belongings and leave. They watched their town slowly being entombed by the great depth of rising waters. The town is now beneath a lake called Roosevelt Lake in the land of the Crying Clouds. Yesterdays ]X� Boomtown of Roosevelt was center' of Thunder Mountain mining district By ARTHUR A. HART During the entire early ex- While these were often dec- As a consequence, there Director citement, centering around orated with bandsaw "ginger- weren't many people around Idaho Historical Museum Roosevelt, only about $350,000 bread," in other towns, those to see the mud slide which ' worth of gold was taken out, a t Rooseveit were pretty blocked Monumental Creek While a number of Idaho mostly from the Dewey Mine. plain. _ and started the gradual build - towns have been removed By the time the Dewey ing of a lake that would even - from the map by dam - build- Mine suspended operations in Although some pretty fan- tually drown out the town. ing and the resultant flooding 1907, the town of Roosevelt tastic tales have been told Although the slide took of the valleys in which they had just about outlived its about the demise of Roose- place on May 30, 1909, it was lay, the mining town " of glory days. velt, suggesting catastrophic many weeks before the town Roosevelt is unique. In its avalanches of mud that liter - was inundated. Those who case, the flooding was entirely Founded in the fall of 1902, ally stopped the saloon piano- bothered had plenty of time to unplanned and unwanted. this largest of the Thunder player in mid -tune, the truth get their belongings out, but Roosevelt, (named for Theo- Mountain camps was still a is a lot less blood - curdling. the buildings themselves were dore Roosevelt, president at pretty primitive place. At When the rain - logged mud doomed to a lingering and the time of its founding), was first it was a tent town, then on the hillsides below town melancholy end. the boom -town center of the a log town, and by 1907 was began to slide in the spring of ! For over twenty years, the Thunder Mountain mining dis- still mostly logs, although 1909, most of the small btildings of Roosevelt that trict. Thunder Mountain was sawed lumber was in evi- re- maining population of Roose- w e r e still intact floated -the one of Idaho's biggest gold dence on the fronts of some of velt was still in the low around' lake:raduaTly rushes. the commercial buildings at country for the winter. they fell apart, and only float least. With mining activity at a I ing boards marked this lake It was also the last such T h e s e were the typical virtual standstill, there wasn't as different from other moun- rush. Fortune seekers from 'false gable" stores of West- much reason to winter there tain lakes. all over the country arrived in ern towns, their real gable- (in the heart of what is today the region in 1902, attracted ends hidden behind a rec- Idaho's Primitive Area) if it Down under the water, by tales of a "mountain of tangular facade designed to could be avoided. there are probably still a few gold," which in the event make them look bigger than derelict buildings more or less turned out to be a thin skin they were. __i:;: ; ;;:::: ; >,;::; >:::;; >; >: ><:.:,:.:,v:«;:;.« >::,<:;,::. intact — buildings firmly enough anchored that they I didn't float as the water rose. Today, Roosevelt Lake is receding. Possibly the waters of Monumental Creek will again flow free someday, ex- posing the remains of Idaho's A few years later, a watery grave marked the gold -rush site of Roosevelt AZ TAKEN JUST PRIOR to dedication ceremonies at Roosevelt on Sept. 9, 1950, this photograph shows, from left to right, Robert McCrea, son of the late Dan McCrea, holding the plaque; his daughter, Lorie, and late Dan Dan McCrea, a pioneer of the back country, and Robin (Sandy) McCrea, son of Robert. The late Bill Timm one-time assayer at this remote camp, and John Nickelson, now of Nevada, were responslblt "fbr interesting people in this project. iTroublous Times in Early Day Camps By EARL WILLSON These photographs, one of them taken about the time when Idaho was a territory and the law was enforced by United States marshals, shows an actu- al double killing that took place in Coeur d'Alene between a mar- shal and two characters presum- ably connected with the mining war of 1892 when the striking miners and mobs got out of hand and martial law was de- clared, and troops moved_ into the area. Those were troublous times in the camps and mines around the time of Governor Norman Willys administration, and that later resulted in the assassina- tion of ex- Governor Steunen- berger on Dec. 30, 1905 by the late Harry Orchard —a paid kill- er who was hired by the lead- ers of the Western Federation of Miners — the leaders, Hay- wood and Pettibone. In 1890, Idaho had graudated from a wild and reckless terri- tory into a state where the vast and far flung mining regions made it one of the richest pro- ducers of metals in the entire nation, as well as a state where Mother Nature had included, for good measure, a terrain so large and secluded that many wild denizens fled from the prairies and lowlands because of the pressure of civilization, up into the high altitudes to join forces with the mountain sheep and i goats where the snowcapped pinnacles towered above the at Thunder Mo _►taiia in 1904. The inscriptions marilcmg the interment ,f J. S. Bicknell are quite legible today. �) �,2 'lush meadow and the numerous es of shimmering blue water t had replaced the one time empty volcanic crater and made of it a place of beauty amidst dense undergrowth and heavily timbered forests. i Monumental Creek All these things combined to make an inticing background, and a foundation for a mining town on unstable terrain where the movement was almost im- perceptible by man, yet eventu- ally proved to be a threat to the wild and hectic mining town that took root in this remote wilderness. Luckily though, fate had seemingly decreed that the village be deserted when a flash flood assisted that slowly mov- ing mass of earth which eventu- ally darned Monumental Creek, and in turn inundated the town of Roosevelt and made of it a lake that today ripples over this once thriving mining com- munity that took root and mush- roomed into a place that housed the various enterprises typical of that era and the isolated re- gion that fostered the many known vices as entertainment for a population that otherwise would not stay. This was Thunder Mountain, and Roosevelt was one of the many mining camps to dot the terrain all over Idaho, and that made of the state just another "melting pot" for the fortune hunter, vice ring or the decent citizen - -- All molded into that something that the entire popu- lation had in common in this lonely region, especially during that first winter of complete i s o l a t i o n —A companionship that, for the moment, was a necessity regardless of class or creed. It was for the ones who came into this far off region full of hope that some of the gold could be taken home, but instead they found a last resting place; in "boot hill" and years later some people who did not forget, had gathered together to reacti- vate the place of eternal rest i in a region where Mother Na- ture's many unusual quirks still endeavor to change the sur- rounding terrain, while old Thunder Mountain and her in- ner rumbling continue to plague the Indian even as it did before the white man so unwisely an- i chored a town here. Mining Communities Idaho, although first a terri- tory and then a state, composed of more mountains by far than all the agricultural possibilities, nevertheless was a beehive of activities around Idaho City, Sil- ver City, Dela.mar, Ruby City and Fairview. Most of t h e s e mining communities contribut- ing much wealth into Boise and the entire valley, while from Centerville, Pioneerville, Quartz - berg and Banner more miners and their full "pokes" of gold contributed a never ending source of wealth to Boise's le- gitimate business places as well as the numerous saloons, gam- bling casinos and the "redlight" district — all a necessary part of that era. Now Ghost Towns Today most of those wild min- ,ing towns are only ghostly rQ- minders of a source of the cleanest money on earth, freshly mined from the placer diggings or taken from the bowels Hof the earth and the quartz deposit. All these are reminders of those rough and rugged individuals who pioneered the state of Ida- ho and established the solid foundation on-which -our mod- ern era is now anchored. Depicted in the accompanying i photographs, little need be said, about those who pioneered Ida- ho's remote areas, and the prim- itive - existence and isolation that nevertheless did not keep them from stampeding ` inta these places in search of gold, but instead ended in the many "boot hill" cemeteries all over the state to remind us of their sacrifice toward the building of foundations for which, other- wise, we might not have today. In illustrating the pioneer cemetery at Thunder Mountain, because of its extreme isolation, it a 1 s o is remindful of the lengths to which people used to exert their physical energy and capabilities toward constructing the many places of business, and then their use of the horse or mule back transportation then necessary to stock t h e s e various business enterprises. An illustration of this was clearly recounted recently by Jake Ullman whom the late Mose Alexander put in charge of moving the entire stock of drygoods into his store at Roose- velt'via the pack animal. It's in- deed interesting too, when this character, who is still living in Boise, recounts the many civic activities that took place in that snowed -in village of swarming humanity that first winter, and perhaps kept them from going P off the deep end before spring when the entire population could set their feet on b a r e ground again. Laughable too, are the stories he told about the late Bill Tamm and his many antics played on the "lady pop- ulation" to make laughs during that long winter. Boise and the entire valley's residents have reason to be proud of their pioneer heritage so rustically depicted in the many ancient landmarks that, in their hey -day, contributed the newly mined wealth that actual- ly made the city grow and pros- per around Fort Boise and ad- cent to the Old Oregon Trail. tock raising and rich agricul- tural possibilities to come later. This is what we, of Idaho, are now celebrating as appropriate- ly as possible in this Territorial Centennial year of 1963. '714,/7/ � `4 •��VS. • �\ `'fit+ VIC- ILI The famous Mule Creek slide, which caused Monumental Creek to flood the Dewey Mine. ( Photo reproduced from "Idaho Yesterdays, Vol. 8, No. Roosevelt, broke off here, just below a Thunder Mountain ridge crest at q) First cabin built in the Thunder Mountain District background are situated at the mouth of Mule in 1896 by the Caswell brothers, foreground, has Creek, just north of Roosevelt Lake. (Star -News recently collapsed. It and larger structure in Photo - 1971) Gj' /J -mar- A,,Iv,:- If the proposed Wilderness Act meets final Congressional ap- proval during or before 1974, the Monumental Creek drainage may possibly become further isolated by exclusion of all vehicular traffic, according to a provision of the Act. Roosevelt Lake itself is destined for probable future natural demise, as each year the stream channel cuts itself deeper through what was once, repor- tedly, a mud blockade "up to 100 feet deep ". Today, scuba divers soon discover that a deep layer of silt has already covered a major portion of what were once two- story log structures on the main street of Roosevelt. Backpackers and hunters on horseback will doubtless in future years find only the stream itself, swollen with melting snow until late summer, crystalline pure, and silently unrevealing of its past colorful history. Perhaps the story of Roosevelt is one of the most unique chapters in Idaho history. Certainly our state's heritage is reflected in its present mirrored surface. Within a span of six short years, from 1901 to 1907, when the Dewey and Sunnyside Mines closed down, a saga was born and died. Final burial came, literally, two years later. To quote a few lines of an article published in "The Idaho Story, Vol. II" - "Roosevelt's wickedness is forever hidden. Her gaiety is hushed. Her only voice is the beat of water against a remote shoreline. Water is her grave and her peace." Note: If anyone reading this article has what they believe to be authentic data concerning Thunder Mountain or Roosevelt, we would be happy to hear about it. Written history on the subject is com- parable scanty, and time will soon swallow whatever might remain of value to future generations. For instance, Neal Boydstun told us once that his father, W. E. Boyd - stun, freighted out the Roosevelt power plant for the first McCall facility on Lake Fork Creek. This primitive headstone in the Roosevelt Cemetery along Monumental Creek reads "J. S. Bicknell - Died Sept. 8, 1904 - Aged 84 years." We do not know Mr. Bicknell's personal history in relation to the Thunder Mountain boom, but the fact that he was even there at that age is cause for won- derment. (Star -News Photo 1971) Three years ago all of this stamp mill, a short distance above Roosevelt Lake on Monumental Creek, was still standing intact. Apparently the elements have finally taken their toll on a historic landmark of the gold rush era. ( Star -News Photo - 1971) followed by unseasonably warm temperatures and ensuing heavy run -off, probably was a major contributing factor to the slide, which originated at the Dewey Mine. One description says that "between 600 and 700 acres of sodden earth broke loose and slithered downhill, reaching Monumental Creek in a matter of hours ". It was actually probably several days before the town of Roosevelt, named for either 9116/7/ President Theodore or his daughter Alice (reports conflict on this point), became Roosevelt Lake as the creek waters, backed up by the huge dam, slowly reached a depth of twenty or more feet over several acres. Rooftops disappeared beneath the depths, and, as the remaining residents departed with whatever they could manage to carry or pack out, beaver took over as inhabitants of the inundated settlement. Ac- cording to Yellow Pine historian, the late Earl Willson, some fur- nishings, including a hardwood bar, pianos and barrels of liquor, were saved, and no lives lost, when the El Dorado met its dramatic untimely end. The popular Western author Zane Grey has, to date, produced the best fictionalized account of the era and its episodes in his novel "Thunder Mountain", and perhaps the best historical records are f Not really premature, this U.S.F.S. sign on Congressional designation. Another agency sign Monumental Summit has been there for years, just south of Roosevelt Lake cautions prohibition of dating back to the time when the term "Wilderness motorized trail vehicles in the Idaho Primitive Area" didn't refer to the currently proposed Area. found in Sister Alfreda M. Elsensohn's "Pioneer Days in Idaho County, Vol. I ", Robert G. Bailey's —River of No Return ", and Earl Willson's "Thunder Mountain Tome -up" (illustrated) the latter published for the 1963 Idaho Territorial Centennial by Caxton Printers, Ltd. of Caldwell. A Thunder Mountain prospector himself, Mr. Bailey later became a prominent historian of the Salmon River, and Sister Elsensohn researched her extensive material exhaustively from available newspaper files. In addition, later - day miner Robert J. McRae set down his own account of Roosevelt's history, which was published in the August 1, 1945 issue of "The Stibnite Miner ". He was the son of another Thunder Mountain pioneer, Daniel C. McRae, who initially located claims in 1897 and developed the Sunnyside properties, and both of the late gentlement were closely associated with area mining ac- tivities up to the 1950's. The Star - News is also fortunate to own a few copies of "The Thunder Mountain News ", found in a musty corner of its old Cascade building a few years ago. Monumental Creek heads on the north face of 8500 -foot Monumental Summit, a southern gateway to the present Idaho Primitive Area and proposed Idaho Wilderness Area. Thunder Mountain and the ad- jacent high elevations are annual popular destinations of early - season big game hunters, and the creek is inhabited by a few native whitefish, trout, and Chinook salmon in season. Roosevelt Lake, at a slightly over 6,000 foot elevation, has receded considerably from its original size, with much evidence of shoreline silting and channel shifting. Loose lava rock along its east and west sides sometimes rolls, making the original source of the name "Thunder Mountain ", credited to Indians, self - explanatory. Apparently the earth's geological framework is none too secure, whether from extensive tunneling by miners or natural cause, and the occasional clear -sky "thunder ", interrupting the valley's almost haunting stillness, is one of its greatest sources of appeal. This reprint of the front page of an early -century hander Mountain News is a fitting tribute to Vallev ounty history, as it joins the nation in celebration of s 200th birthday. This weekly newspaper, for which each letter was and -set in the historical mining community of toosevelt, reflects the hardships and courage of gold - eekers in the area, where, at over 6,000 feet levation, the snow was still several feet deep on March 11, 1905. Roosevelt died on June 7, 1909, when a massive rock and mud slide from above blocked Monumental Creek and formed the present Roosevelt Lake, covering the town under several feet of water. However, remains of some of the original log buildings still remain visible under the crystal-clear water - a true reflection of our nation's heritage. ,..may„•. .y if Roosevelt as it looked in 1908, before the flood. Thunder Mountain Story ", 1962.) ( Photo reproduced from Willson, Earl, "The Roosevelt Lake, looking northward, and showing rainbow is evident in the mineralized rock adjacent the washed rock shoreline which is gradually taking to the lake and Monumental Creek. over original larger lake area. Every hue of the PG- 1 Ur �L I DrtND Mining Town Drowned Out By ARTHUR A. HART Director Idaho Historical Museum While a number of Idaho towns have been removed from the map by dam- build- ing and the resultant flooding of the valleys in which they lay, the mining town of Roosevelt is unique. In its case, the flooding was entirely unplanned and unwanted. . ('- Roosevelt Jnam�d for Theo dore Roosevelt tpresident at the time of its founding), was the boom -town center of the Thunder Mountain mining dis- trict. Thunder Mountain was one of Idaho's biggest gold rushes. It was also the last such rush. Fortune seekers from all over the country arrived in the region in 1902, attracted by tales of a "mountain of gold," which in the event turned out to be a thin skin indeed. (— During the entire early ex citement, centering aroun Roosevelt, only about $350,00 worth of gold was taken out, nostly from_LhaiD CZQy Mine. By the time the Dewey Mine suspended operations in 1907, the town of Roosevelt had just about outlived its glory days. Founded in the fall of 1902, this largest of the Thunder Mountain camps was still a pretty primitive place. At first it was a tent town, then a log town, and by 1907 was still mostly logs, although sawed lumber was in evi- dence on the fronts of some of the commercial buildings at least. T h e s e were the typical "false gable" stores of West- ern towns, their real gable - ends hidden behind a rec- tangular facade designed to make them look bigger than they were. While these were often dec- orated with bandsaw "ginger- bread," in other towns, those S F& 77e5 m ,9 1-4 I- f 7 t ry -7 X a t Roosevelt were pretty plain. Although some pretty fan- tastic tales have been told about the demise of Roose- velt, suggesting catastrophic avalanches of mud that liter- ally stopped the saloon piano - player in mid -tune, the truth is a lot less blood - curdling. When the rain - logged mud on the hillsides below town began to slide in the spring of 1909, most of the small re- maining population of Roose- velt was still in the ' low country for the winter. With mining activity at a virtual standstill, there wasn't much reason to winter there (in the heart of what is today Idaho's Primitive Area), if it could be avoided. As a consequence, there weren't many people around to see the mud slide which blocked Monumental Creek and started the gradual build- ing of a lake that would even- tually drown out the town. Although the slide took place on May 30, 1909, it was many weeks before the town was inundated. Those who bothered had plenty of time to get their belongings out, but the buildings themselves were doomed to a lingering and melancholy end. For over twenty years, the buildings of Roosevelt that w e r e still intact floated around the lake. Gradually they fell apart, and only float- ing boards marked this lake as different from other moun- tain lakes. D o w n under the water, there are probably still a few derelict buildings more or less intact — buildings firmly enough anchored that they didn't float as the water rose. Today, Roosevelt Lake is receding. Possibly the waters of Monumental Creek will again flow free someday, ex- posing the remains of Idaho's soggiest ghost town. Idaho Statesman 1/17/1972 Boomtown of Roosevelt was center of Thunder Mountain mining district A few years later, a watery grave marked the gold-rush site of Roosevelt History Of Roosevelt Lake (as told by Bob Me'•3ae, a long -time resident of the Thunder Mciuntain• country). mass of 'haterial to start flowing In 1395 Gold was discovered n Thunder Mountain by -the Cas- :,ell brothers, Lou, Dan, Ben and ;ourt. They -placer mined the ountry until about 1900 on the :olden Rest claim in the Dewey tccf. The results of their clean - ips here, and the amount of ;old increasing each year, caused he mine to gain adequate at- ention and in 1900 Col. Dewey, vhe. had recently made a fortune n the Silver City district, op- iored the pr.r ?erty and paid the )rcffiers $100,000.00 for it, in one ,heck. Incidentally, this was. one )f the largest checks ever writ - .en for mining property. The nintin g of this check in the Statesman was one of the causes 'or a •great number of ;people ushing into the district in 1901. 'n the meantime, several other )roperties, including the Sunny - dde, H. Y. Climax and the Stand - ard mines had been discovered and were being exploited and de- ieloped. The entire district ;robably had around 400 men em_- Aoyed. ?ours ling of the Town Since the _mine3 were high up .n the mountain, with no location, or a town, the natural place was [own on Monumental Creek; a- )out two miles below the mines. The town was named after :heodore Roosevelt, who was hen leading his [Rough Riders in he Spanish- American War. The own grew ; a :idly by the influx if fortune scelcers from 1901 on nillions of of stf�;k was old and thsrz was lot of wild - atting and speculating .going on, V 1903 seven thousand people vere getting mail from the post )ffice. Roosevelt consisted of 14 aloons, two or three hotels, iumerous eating .places and seven >r eight stores. They also had 1 four -room, frame school house it the upper end of town. ,'ewspapers The Thunder Mountain News vas started in the latter -part of Dctober, 1904, with Clarence E. :ddy and Sam°ael F. Hunt as Ed- tors, Owners and Proprietors. Several of the ads in the De- ember 3rd issue are quite note - vorthy of the times. Some of hem are as follows: The Big amusement Hall, with the ac- ompanying verse, ris here the lusty hosts of life lay find a respite from strife, Vith song and music, mirth and wine ind all the fur, of '49, t really is the roaring wonder )f all thR fai wide land of Thun- d er. Various saloons advertise "finest case and bottled .gc Old Bourbon and McBryer w tries and the finest wines cordials." The Log Cabin famous because it was "th r place you could get a highb The Temperance House Trapper's Flat, 30 miles f Roosevelt, carried this slogan We keep no whiskey, beer -gin, We had no chance to have it in; When spring returns and• roads are dry, We figurq on a full supply. From the Packers' Rest at Knox, another way station, comes this poem: The Packers' Rest In the wooly west Is at the town of Randall, Of .gin and beer and Bing juice here ROOSEVELT LAKE Continued from page one Both the Sunnyside and Dewey mines -closed in 1907. People be-1 �gan to drift out of the country and the 'houses and establishments at Roosevelt had closed tempor- arily, for the winter. Probably not -more than 75 or 80 .people stayed through the winter or M 1907 and the spring of 1908. That - winter and spring had a very Jfl ,eavy snow fall and it remained ]until late in June, There was seven feet of snow at the Dewey ;¢nine on the first of June that year. A :hot spell took the entire seven • d et 'n one week cauins a heav None but the best we handle, e a g YI runoff, This saturated the soft, Come drop your tools, .ton soil on the west side of the And leave your wagon, mountain, over an area of -six or Unhitch your mules and 6evin hundred acres, causing this Get a jag on. mass of 'haterial to start flowing Boot Hill down Mule Creek. The main The •grave (yard sprang ,up rap- mass, estimated at one - quarter idly -with 40 graves adorning the 'cu.bic mile started, to slide on hillside. At the present time June 7th, about 3 a. m. The there are only about seven mark- 'Wat'ctiman at the Dewey arsine ers that can be seen., with just 'Vent down to Roosevelt early the a few names on them that can next day and warned the peoule bd .made out. Most of the graves rwbat had happened and what was were marked with rocks and werr lgoing to happen. However, the terraced up the side of the hill. inhabitants of Roosevelt thought The Road -to Roosevelt it would stop before it dammed The .population up to 1905 was nap the main Monumental Creek and before it should, flood the growing rapidly with new ones ccrr n.b in the time t;i twvn. For that reason, •no. one ! as sec paid any attention to -him or to what was going on, with 1500 'others that came down to warn people residing in the town of Roosevelt. The road from Thun -, der. City was finished in 1904 them. They felt confident that and the mail service made its first trip in December, 1904, with the main stream was so high that E. P. Stickuey being awarded it would take care of any slide the contract to carry the mail. that came down as fast as it ar- It I.vas the highest paid, per mile, rived. Late in the afternoon of mail route in the United States the 7th, some of the residents got at that time. up ambition enough to take a look They didn't have rriulch trouble at the mass, which by that time wit-11 holdups as the express com- was moving at the rate of eight any insured the gold. Daily feet minute, as sbme of them stapes were run all winter in timed it. The valley or canyon 1905. These stages relayed from which it came was heavily tim- ,wa,v stations all along the' line bered with spruce -and fir trees. About every twelve miles and which the slide twisted and -sometimes every eight miles. 'ground up in the mud. It finally There were eight or nine stage dawned on the residents of the drivers for the total distance of town diuring the evening of the 76 miles. 7th that it. was really going to It took three days to come from be serious so they took all the Thunder City or six days from dynamite that was stored and Emmett, on the stage. The way placed it in the back of the slide stations along the road -were 0'- at the lower end of town and brien's Station this sied of Monu -1 thought they would set it off mental i3rummit, Intermediate Sta- When the time came and snake tion, Mule Hill Station, Riordan a •charnel for the creek to cut h. Creek Station, (which had a throvtgh. Some say this dynamite ,was -covered so deep by the slime large hotel and barn), Twin that they couldn't even hear tha i Bridges, (quite a. settlement), report. They started moving Trout Creek Station, Knox, John- their personal belongings that e.v- son Creek Station, (at the foot of ening to higher ground but since I Big Creek Summit on the Cos a good many of the owners were c.ade side), and Scott Valley Sta- alway and their homes locked up, tion. The freight was hauled 8•ro:r, i a .great deal of the merchandise vas lost in, the various buildings. Emmett with rates at about seven The slide •erched Monumental cents a pound -all the, machinery •be moved ;directly out of sec( story buildings onto rafts bet morning. One piano, owned the postmistress, and dep recorder of Idaho County, i moved from the second stork one of the ,buildings onto a i .floated to higher ground, 1; :hauled. to Thunder City and later (in 1926) sold to the scl at Yellow Pine and is still in Mrs. T. J. Virayland, the owner the piano, was the school sul intendent of Valley County fc good many years. Bill Flint, the town_•F ,ak, li in the upper portion 1 own didn't wake up to _ fact mything was going on until -horning of the 8th. The < !ping -he thought of saving w, ' -e.g of whiskey which -he rullec 11.1,11n Street in two feet of w;: A lot of the residents saw t - ouldn't move all their belo ngs in time, so they took stra of wire and tied to their cal ,.,.nd wagons and ran .these up "he side of the valley and them to trees in order that t would know how to get bacla them. Hundreds of these w i ere tied to rocks -and trees nothing of any value was 'vaged. Very few residents stayed a the slide and this finished life of the town. Aftermath of the Slide The water originally cove about 90 per cent of the town, the creek is gradually cuttin; channel through the dram, V the lake filling up with sedin- and is now about 15 or 20 deep in the deepest ;part. Several store buildings tow the upper end of town that :water didn't reach; were left L stocked and taken care of b; watchman up to the spring 1915, when he died. This wat man was an exiled .member c royal German family, dub. r'Bism -ark.' At' the time of death the keys of the stores w ¢iven to one of the ranchers ; the stocks were depleted wit two weeks. The school house on the up end of the creek was torn do in 1920 and moved to the Me( ranch where they built their he from ft.-- - Everywhere can be seen v; ious parts of furniture float in the lake such as "a leg ofd Piano, or a piece of hardwc fi_irniture, or a pair cf •barro( doors. Parts of the Upper star that were above the water we taken up by the beaver, a: practically everyone had a a ony of beaver in them. These buildings that were pr truding above the ice 1w-ere a burned in the w,irtter of 193 About the only things that we: Creek bout 9 ,p. m. on the 7th salvaged were a couple of pi -an( and eavv vPn:uimmnant hairs _ _.. by the watcl i > ?a�iiRn" ivil' �h5a bec ant Heavy equnpment `be.lnd and -by 2 a. m. of the 8th, water the packed in by mule teams. One was 10 feet deep in the Main I a valuable Baby Grand, but who gods. Gratory crusher cost the Sion- salvaged was quite worthless. iS'treet, In fact, it was deep e- his- nyside inine $19,000, at-the rate nough that the furniture could and of $1.00 a pound. It tool, two was months to bring this enormous )nly piece of machinery in. all." The Slide at LAibout 1907 the higher grade ore rom .near the surface was worked crit. or) (Continued on Page 4) JOHNSON FLYING -- ERVICE 76 BOX 9?S M c C A L L RM UMM VOL. 9- NUMBER 39- THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1976 PRICE 15 CENTS VALLEY COUNTY IDAHO This reprint of the front page of an early-century hunder Mountain News is a fitting tribute to Vallev ounty history, as it joins the nation in celebration of s 200th birthday. This weekly newspaper, for which each letter was and -set in the historical mining community of toosevelt, reflects the hardships and courage of gold - eekers in the area, where, at over 6,000 feet levation, the snow was still several feet deep on March 11, 1905. Roosevelt died on June 7, 1909, when a massive rock and mud slide from above blocked Monumental Creek and formed the present Roosevelt Lake, covering the town under several feet of water. However, remains of some of the original log buildings still remain visible under the crystal -clear water - a true reflection of our nation's heritage. VOLUTAE 1. R005EVELT, IDAHO, MARCH 11, 1905. NUMBER 13. RAINBOW MO U N TA I N view, the Rainbim Gold Mining Company's property, the Main William Armstrong Killed and Bald Eagle Froup, the Em- press group, the Rush and Whit - aker property, and the Gold King. A Great Depository of Mineral Wealth In the Fairview mine about pioneer Miner Met Instant Death s thousand feet of tiunnelliug was Its Wonderous Color Effect driven. The location of the work By Accidental Explosion at and Marvelous Beauty. is such that no great depth was obtained but nevertheleVs the re- the Dewey 11ine. sults were,such ap warrant furth- er development and doubtless the If Rainbow :Mountain were not svenite dyke which is easily trace- work will soon be resumed. The William Armstrong was killed Supt, E. L. Abbot and were brief a great mineral deposit giving able for several thousand feet, group is situated on the verge of Monday evening between 7 and 8 but impressive. No meaningless promise of vast wealth buried be- and the out -crop in places stands the town, The property was o'clock while working in a drift at ritual -was used but Mr. Abbot's neath its rugged surface and se- twenty feet high. located in 1900, the Dewey mine. remarks were fraught with more curel locked within its solid walls Y On the west side of this dyke Y The Harrisburg g oap, situated , (aeorge D. Smith, acting meaning than anything else ever of natural masoner it nevertbe- Y� is the honolite dyke which is p Y on the southeast slope and operat- coroner, and a jury of six said on a similar occasion in less, from a scenic standpoint, parallel to and nearly as exten- by the Rainbow (:'-old Mining men from the Sunn side mine Roosevelt. y would be a mort valuable adjunct live as the syenite; this dyke has Co. c Cwas located in 1� ►U3., Over d in , Mr. Hasbrook, foreman; D. A. A double mail quartet furnish - to this district. given a values in free old at g P g 400 feet of tunnel has been driven Baxter, of the Dewey, as clerk, ed music which was appropriate This mot ntain which is one of several different points, the most and a large amount of iron sul- found in the -inquest held at the and very well rendered: -It con - the highest points in Idaho, stand- prominent of which is the saddle phates has been unearthed, The � last sampling would teem to indi- trine, that the deceased 'went into sisted of A. L. Morgwn and Jas. ing 10020 feet above the level of between Sugar creek and Botha Cate that the company has a mine LeRoy, tenors; Walter 1Zut- the tunnel at the usual time of the Y> > Rut- the sea, is also one of the bast de- creek. This is the sorce of the and it is expected that extensive ledge and Patrick L nch 2nd night shift and that previous to g Y i fined and boldest peaks in this placer that was found. in Sugar g operations will be pushed this going to work he had been in- tenors; Allen Graham, Chas. part of the country. It is a creek as long ago as 1886: formed by Mr. Carlson, another Neff, O. Laing and Mr. Hasbrook, gig °antic mass which towers It is not generally known that season. The Main group v.nd the Bald miner that there was a charge of bases. ' against the sky in defiant, clean- quite an excitement occurred a+ Eagle were icated by J. At the rave. the. BeTQicfl �Yt►a dynamite in the face which missed, 8 cut profile. It is situated two that time —near) twent ears Y Y group _ ,� �` . - �, , ., ..... .._.. o... f3rP —ir1 mif '9 parinnce, a -r4Nw— r" eli eit%� "" - - -. VOLUtAE I. ROOSEVELT, IDAHO, MY\RCH 11, 1905. 1101113ER 13. RAINBOW MOUNTAIN view, the Rainbt,w Gold Mining Company's prolorty, the Main William Armstrong Killed and Bald Eagle soup, the Em- press group, the Rush and Whit - aker property, and the Gold King. AGreat Depository of Mineral Wealth In the Fairview mine abut a pioneer Miner Met Instant Death thousand feet of tunnelling was Its Wonderous Color Effect driven. The location of the worm By Accidental Explosion at and Marvelous Beauty. is such that no groat depth was the Dewey 11ine. obtained but nevertheless the re- sults were•auch as, warrant furth- er development and doubtless the If Rainbow Mountain were not svenite dyke which is easily trace- work will soon be resumed. The William Armstrong was killed Supt, E. L. Abbot and were brief a great mineral deposit giving able for several thousand feet, group is situated on the verge of Monday evening between 7 and 8 but impressive. No meaningless promise of vast wealth buried be- and the out -crop in places stands the town. The property was o'clock while working in a drift at ritual -was used but Mr. Abbot's neath its rugged surface and se- twenty feet high. located in 190. the Dewey mine. remarks were fraught with more surely linked within its solid walls On the west side of this dyke Y The group, situated George D. Smith, acting meaning than anything else ever g Y g of natural masonery, it neverthe- is the phonolite dyke which is southeast st sl on the southeast slur�e and uperat- coroner, and a jury of six said on a similar occasion in less, from a scenic standpoint, parallel to and nearly as exten- by the sated �n Cold Mining men from the Sunnyside mine, Roosevelt. would be a mwt. valuable adjunct sive as the svenite; this dyke has Cwas located in 1.)03. , Over Co. Mr. Hasbrook, foreman; D. A. A double mail quartet furnish - to this district. given u values in free old at g P g 400 feet of tunnel has been driven Baxter, of the Dewey, as clerk, ed music which was appropriate This mountain which is one of several different points, the most and a large amount of iron sul- found in the -inquest held at the and very well rendered., -It con - the highest points in Idaho, -tand. -above prominent of which is the saddle phates has been unearthed, The last sampling woukf seem to indi- mine, that the deceased 'went into sisted of A. L. Morgan and Jas. ing 10020 feet the level of between Sugar creek and Botha sate that I be company has a mine the tunnel at the usual time of the LeRoy, 1st tenors; Walter Rut- the sea, is also one of the best de- creek. This is the sorce of the and it is expected that extensive night shift and that previous to ledge and Patrick Lynch; 2nd fined and boldest peaks in this placer that was found. in Sugar operations will be pushed this going to work he had been in- tonors; Allen Graham, Chas. part of the country. It is a creek as long ago as 1886, formed b Mr. Carlson another y � Neff O. Lain and Mr. Hasbrook g ,. a gg °antic mass which towers It is not generally known that season. The Main group -.ad the Bald miner that there was a charge of ' bases. .. against the sky in defiant, clean- quite an excitement occurred at Eagle group were mated by J. dynamite in the face which massed At the rave the eexvicQ % out profile. It is situated two p - little that time —near) twenty ears Y Y )' :�mift= C•, 4 + +kvle.X ._ia. � ...``t�'�_ �.. _�re in mitrey'a par!nnca, . „ = Fock *ed holc. AV Thee, by ilia quartet. , Then h ) 3 q nudes from Roosevelt, a isgo .slid befotb 'Thu*ticr a foot tunnel w s 'driven on the about ae rn-.Q came t$e remarks of -Mr. Abbot. youth of west and is a prominent tain had even a name; but the Main. At the face of the tunnel Mullen, a miner working in a He said: land mark plainly visible from a gold was found by prospectors a depth of 18 inches is lined for p g level 20 feet lower and directly « I have- been called upon to great distance, and at many looking only for placer : and dis- every foot. The mountain at underneath Armstrong heard a make a few remarks in honor of points, even in this mountainous appointed, they turned their backs point is so precepitate that it . Mullen thought nothing of shothis ° our departed brother, William section. on the rich ore deposites which is difficult and dangerous to walk the occurrance at the time but - Armstrong; which is a little out of y suggestive Its name is trul of lay within a rifle shut. along its side. The tunnel, which about 9 o'clock, noticing that the ordinary for me on an occa- its appearance. The east side of This small placer, which exists was headed for the main dyke, Armstrong's hammer was silent sion of this kind. I have known the peak, above timberline, is today as it did then, was found on has n,,t reached it but on the sur- and remembering the shot, he be- the deceased for over twenty streaked with substances of bril- Sugar creek nearly two miles face assays were taken from $3.50 came worried and went up into years: I have minded with him, Its name is truly suauestive of la within a rifle shot. about o clock, no icing tnat ea Y along its side. The tunnel, which the ordinary for me on an occa- its appearance. The east bide of This small placer, which exists Armstrong's hammer was silent I , was headed for the main dyke, and remembering the shot, he be- eion of this kind. I have known the peak, above timberline, is today as it did then, was found on has not reached it but on the stir the deceased for over twenty streaked with substances of bril- Sugar creek nearly two miles face assays were taken from $3.50 came worried and went up into years; I have minded with him liant hue which in the sunlight from the base of Rainbow Moun- the Cannel above where he found Y ' o ' to $7.00 per ton. The dyke is both at the toils of labor and in give a most remarkable color tain, and is doubtless caused by over 100 feet wide. Armstrong dead, the body having been thrown across a wheelbarraw the halls of pleasure; and I never effect. Jubt what these substances the slide rock of porphyry an ,1 The Empress group is owned knew him to do a dishonorable are is problematical, as no careful phonolite, which became oxidised and controlled h Y the ZOt standing some twelve feet from h ( :en- act to any one. He has gone the analysis has et been made; but and decomposed. the face of the tunnel. His y y p tury Company. Several hundred road that many a poor miner the opinion of those best inform- The placer which was not found feet of tunnel, it is said, have de- watch which was broken had stop - working under g•ound to earn his ed is that this wonderful coloring to be rich could not be profitably veloped a very promising outlook. ped at five minutes past seven. daily living has gone before, and is caused by action of the ele- worked owing to the impractrca- This group is situated not far According to the findings of many a one will go again. It is ments on the different minerals bility of getting water supply. from the 20th Century sawrrrill. the jury, no blame is attached e- our duty to honorably pay our as they become exposed by eros- The slide rock which is of great The Rush and Whitaker prop- anyone even the remotest act-last respects to the one we will ion and other powerful agencies. depth, caused by incessant snow erty, consisting of eight claims, gees. It is a well known fact meet no more on this earth. May The timberline is about 350 feet slides would not hold water which is situated on the north slope of that miners accustomed to hand- his soul rest in peace!" from the summit. At the base of must be brought by flume nearly the mountain and extends to its ling dynamite become careless, . After Mr. Abbot's remarks the the mountain is a fairly 900l two miles. very summit ' Two tunnels have often jeopardizing their own lives quartet sang, "Jesus Lover of growth of trees which de- A reasonable theory is, that the been .run on this proporty, one as well as those of others with the My Soul." The 23rd Psalm was minisbes toward the top until it placer gold of Yellow Pine Basin forty feet in length, the ether deadly explosive. Just how the read then "God Be with You finally ends with ascrubby growth comes from this point, the bottom thirty feet. Gold values as high accident occurred will never be Till We Meet again" was sung by of matted dwarfs. of Sugar creek being of such for- as $40 per ton have been found. known but it is probable that Mr. the quartet. The casket was Within a radius of two miles mation as not to allow the gold to It is base ore, principally in iron Armstrong was attempting to re- lowered into the grave and the from its summit considerable sys- lodge, and being light gold, it is bnlpbates. move the powder from the hole, services closed with "Rock of tematic work has been done in swept down to the East Fork and The Gold King mine, operated either with a miner's spoon or by Ages " the Rainbow country, and persist- there deposited in the broad by a Joplin, Mo., company. has drilling it out. In either event a William Armstrong has finished ant and tireless prospectors have meadows of the Basin. tunnelled over 400 feet. On the concussion might occur which his hard part in lifer drama; his succeeded in establishing the fact Rainbow Mountain is not de- surface they get good assays, the would discharge the powerful ex- toils are over and his body has that the Rainbow Mountain con- pendent alone on its gold values, equal of which they have not plosive. been tenderly laid to rest. tains vast and apparantly illimita- other metals having been found thus far got in the tunnel, but After the inquest on Tuesday The Erie Mine. ble deposites of mineralized ore. there in what would seem to be this is 'so plainly due to a "fault" forenoon the body was brought to The values are to be found in paying quantities : cynabar for in the formation that full opera- Roosevelt for burial. Mr. Arm- Sam Bell, contractor for the the eruptive rocks such as por- instance is found below the erup- tions will be continued. strong was well known in the Thunder Mountain Pearl Mining phyry, syenite and phonolite which Live rocks. Mining on Rainbow Mountain camp as an industrious and honest & Milling Co. at the Erie mine, exists in large dykes holding a Rainbow Mountain is nearly all is slow and consequently expen- man and leaves many friends to re- spent Sunday in town. Mr. Bell northeast and southwest course located from its summit to its sive. The formation is mostly gret his ' sad and untimely end. says he is working five men in with small dykes of lava and ba- base though comparatively little base and the flinty rock seems not No other funeral in Roosevelt was two shifts on the main drift and salt parallelling these real work has been done to develop to have been much disturbed ever attended by as large a num- crosscut; he is in what seems to Minerals 'that exist in these the claims. since nature first placed it there ; ber of people. be a porphyry slightly mixed with dykes seem to lie in the iron py- Six properties, within what but the development work which All places of business closed quartz, and that the result of the rites, which by extensive develop- might be termed the Rainbow, has been done surely indicates during the ceremonies and fully work. this winter has been most ment work would undoubtedly slope, have received considerable large deposites of low grade ore, 200 people followed the body to satisfactory. He says the gold is and it is safe to predict that with - appear in large quantities. attentien and have had some sys- in a very few years Rainbow will the grave where the services took entirely free and that the rock in This ore lives principally in the tematic development: the Fair- be adding to the world's wealth. place. They were in charge of any part of the tunnel face .pans. 1�/ -M,/ pawninggrounds Slide finishes Roosevelt by Jeff Fee This week's column is a continuation of last week's column entitled Mysterious Roosevelt. For those of you not able to read last week's column, it centered around Bob McRae's account of the history of Roosevelt Lake. Bob was a long time resident of the town of Roosevelt. "The slide dammed up Monumental Ck. about 9 p.m. on the 7th and by 2 a.m. of the 8th, water was 10 feet deep in the Main Street. In fact, it was deep enough that the furniture could be moved directly out of second -story buildings onto rafts before morning. "One piano, owned by the postmistress and deputy recorder of Idaho County, was moved from the second story of one of the buildings onto a raft, floated to higher ground, later hauled to Thunder City and still later (in 1926) sold to the school at Yellow Pine and is still in use. Mrs. J.T. Wayland, the owner of the piano, was the school superintendent of Valley County for a good many years. "Bill Flint, the town soakf lived in the upper portion of town and didn't wake up to the fact that anything was going on until the morning of the 8th. The only thing he thought of saving was a keg of whiskey which he rolled up Main Street in two feet of water. "A lot of the residents saw they couldn't move all their belongings in time, so they took strands of wire and tied to their cabins and wagons and ran these up on the side of the valley and tied them to trees in order that they would know how to get back to them. Hundreds of these wires were tied to rocks and trees but nothing of any value was salvaged. "Very few residents stayed after the slide and this finished the life of the town. "The water originally covered about 90 per cent of the town, but the creek is gradually cutting a channel through the dam, with the lake filling up with sediment and is now about 15 or 20 feet deep in the deepest part. "Several store buildings towards the upper end of town that the water didn't reach were left fully stocked and taken care of by a watchman up to the spring of 1915, when he died. This watchman was an exiled member of a royal German family, dubbed `Bismark.' At the time of his death the keys of the stores were given to one of the ranchers and the stocks were depleted within two weeks. I�T �c1 7? C cc, tc Y , N `s (-or "ca Proy- 'e cZ`t r , 1s FOOSr T Roosevelt was located on Thtrider Moumtain at hionuM ental Creek about 14 or 1j miles from Stibnite. In 1896 gold was discovered by 41ie Caswell. Brothers, Low, Pan, Ben, and Court. In 1901 Col. W*H. Dewey bout the Caswell's Golden Reef claim for 4100,000 in cash. Soon there were about 2,000 claims staked in the area. Some claim that the town was named for Theodore Roose- velt and others claim it was named for his dau{ iter, duce Roosevelt. There were seven or ei &;t stores, a barber shop, seven saloons winch later increased to 14, an undeter:uined number of "bawc%y houses ", andby 1903 three hotels were added to the ra=id growing town. ,he " 'h=dcr i•Iou► Lain News" Was established the latter part of October 1904. Clarenca H. Eddy and Samuel F. hurt were the editors and owners of the news,,aper. 7,000 peopi a were 1--eceivinC their mail at the Roosevelt Post GIMce. _oot Hiil s cyan ; u, just about as q zickly as the town, with 40 e=aves. There are only seven grave markers now vis.lJie. Soze of the mines were ` he Dewey, the Suiuwside, tide Wisdom, the atand_,,rd, and Twentieth Century r..; nes. ro=d 1501 to 1904 suPplies s=ere carried by pack strings from Thundler City to Roosevelt. I:. 1u4 the rounder o sntain Road was completed from rr: �r:der City. It took approximately three days to come frcm 6'� -tn �oander City and six days from sett on the sgage. The way s Ha,ion from Roosevelt were the O'Brien's Staticn, the Inter- mediate Station, the 11ule Hill Station, the Riordan Creek Station which had.a large hotel and a barn,ths Twin Bridges, the Trout Creek Station at the foot of Bi.g Creek Slumnit on the west side, and the Scott Valley :;cation. December 10.04, E.P. Stickuev wan tea 4*;,.�_j tract to ca the hi g e.s 1, at that time % (717 9 a1ccaa 1-l"'Sfortc.0-L pr62�' C Pay _Q 4 C- Freight was hauled from Emmett at the rates of about seven cents a pound. Machinery and heavy equipment were packed up the mountain by mule teams. One of the most memorable packers during that era was a Basque by the rmze of Jesus Uriquides. Col. Dewey hired Tirgaides to pack a stamp mill up to his mizie at Roosevelt. The steel stems of the stamp mill weighed almost a ton each. The normal load for a mule to pack is about 400 pounds and the stems were slung between two gales. On the switchbacks it Bras impossible for the mules to .are the turn, P,rquides solved the problem by br:i.;ing up more Wales at each switchback, carrying; supports.. The .sup- ports were then placed under the load, then a pair of mules were Utchod to the load:and heaved in the opposite direct- ion. TIis procedure t:as repeated at each switzback. Un. -uides bras paid ton centz w pound for the frci kiting and the..7mles were given extra rations of ikv. After finally reach3r.E; Roosevelt with the sump mill, the only comment 1%.1ratr Urquides would make about the feat was, "1 thank God, that he gave us mules." :n 1907 the 11ogher grade of ore was worked oat and the Dewey and vurr-rside mine, shut down their operations. People began to drift out of the country, homes and businesses were closed and boarded up. Luring the winter and spring of 1907 and 1903 about 75 or $0 people stayea in the town. At the last part of I%ay and the first of June there was seven feet of snow on the ground. A hot spell took off the full seven feet in one week. This saturated the top soil on the west side of the mountain and 600 or 700 acres started to slip down Mule Cree'c. The main mass was about a quarter cubic mile and started to slide at about 4 o'clock a.m. June 7th at the rate of eight feet per minute. The remaining residents thought the slide would stop before it damed up Monumental +L'reek. Dynamite had been set to be blowan up in an emergency. But by the time it was needed it was wat and buried in read. 012? 12? Thunder Mountain Restaurant LC l i GC i Cc-f� t C / 5 I'd- c: / r t7 This failure started the residents to begin moving their be- longir4s. . About 9 o'clock p.m. on the 7th the slide dammed up Monumental Creek. By 2 o'clock a.m. of the 8th water was about ten foot deep in the town's main street. Rafts were able to be used to move fvzTdturo from the second stories of the buildings. After the slide, water originally covered 9Q;o of the towm. she lake is now 15' or 20 feat deep. In the winter of 1931 all the buildings that were seen protruding above the ice were bunt. The town of Roosevelt was born, grew up fast and lived a full and adventurous life. Iaybe it was destined to die a fast death. BIBBICCRAPAY Beckoning the�Bold,, by Rafe Gibbs, Pages 180 -181. Cascade News, August 39 1945• The idaho Sto , by the ;Idaho Poets And Writers Guild; "The Town That Conmii.ttted Suicide ", by,. IZit1i Barette, . P gaff- 221 -227. PinreAr 1t t* AL Irsho C by Sister He Alfreda E1 -i: Vol. 1v Fags 227. Idaho Encycloordia, by Vardis Fieher, Page 1130 j c;m Pro/e ITS' 41 INW, t� sm mul F "k 'RIM 4P 4'd ftodt A07 N ie ME 1p Ilk. �`1Yi INS 40 00: AM(, '94CA L Mc Cc-6( 1415(cl-I cc-C ��o�.Q c�` f --i'7� Bolleco van lose -el cloy to 8ccr t: tan, Ths ton sta ved in abVit j7he onl. V evvidr-= s t V'th t_Biloa of COT%.Wood, Brlieco existed V =- a gill, 3�. d : 'R° bo°es of CqU P=nt, Which chow t Qy ... tioua pla st icr gals establi nt �hjS is the coy i efo aioa "`ghat s ccr b the to tom Belleco. lie don't Iaaw when, Where t came abut, but On-17 that it did e st - Sp a ?'ffl ounds had visions or '�ru '•� xa. 7 �9 T f wm. ��i funeral y x r by Roxarrina AHen "If Irvin S. Cobb had spent a few months at the Thunder Mountain golf] rush, the world would have had a bestseller," said W. D. Timm on one of his annual visits to the ghost towns in 1946, W. D. Timm was an assayer and mining engineer for that era and was involved in much of the mining activities in' the Thunder Mountain area. In 1950 Timm saw a dream come true when a bronze plaque was erected at the old Thunder Mountain cemetery. The plaque was inscribed with t1he known names of the historical cemetery. Mr. Timm presided at most of the burials and gave a brief history of each man, Mentioned were two men murdered on Mule Creek, both buried in the same grave. A prospector was found dead f; om a heart attack near the mouth of Monumental Crec°l: and was buried at that site. On at least one occasion a funeral was held in a saloon, dance hall girls sang, and a young college man "preached" the sermon. Two w.-re victims of snow slides, some died of mountain fever, and some met violent deaths. Some were ab'surb, some pathetic. This one, of Ned, was both, as tc!d by Timm in a story which appeared in The Cascade News, Nov. 1, 1946: " Like Old Uncle Ned who had laid down de shovel and de hoe, this aged Chinaman was too decrepit to work at placer mining any more so he got into the habit of dropping in at the white men's camp day and standing.around waiting for a bit of grub. "Old Ned" as he was called, lived in a little cabin near the grade that went to Elk City. "Smokey" his aged pal, was his cabin mate. Both 'of these queued Chinamen were as black as the walls of their tumble down shack, Then Smokey died. "As old Ned chattered the news to his white friends in camp, W.D. Timm had visions of a Chinese funeral he had seen in Sari Francisco, where the departed spirit was tendered food and fireworks, so he went to the Chinese laundrymen to solicit; their help in giving Smokey a proper burial. Ile met with rebuff. "'No -no! Him belong to 'nother tong! We have nothing to do with him!' "To urging that they take care of Old Ned, they said the same. But at long last they consented to help 'You bring - -- we keep,' said they. Timm insisted that one of them accompany the white men to the cabin with an official invitation - so Box Sing went along. "Old Ned, forgotten,had trudged up the hill along that night, forlorn, and probably hungry. When the men arrived at the miserable cabin they started a fire in the cracked cook. stove with the green wood which lay beside it - -all that the old Chinaman had -- and told Ned that they would return the next day with a box coffin for his friend, 'No leave me here!' he whimpered, looking fearfully at the grotesque figure stretched across the other bunk, but Box Sing hushed him with harsh words. "I was determined that Smokey should have a correct ceremonial,' said Timm. 'I located some fireworks left from the Fourth of July - some firecrackers and sky rockets. There should have been some "devil chasers' -- red squares of paper full of holes that are supposed to delay the evil spht its who loet caught in them as they didn't have nearly enough holes. Food being scarce, we took only a can of sardines,' "When we arrived at the cabin, we saw Old Ned had suffered all night. Box Sing lit the punks, I fastened the pinwheels to the door and he scattered the contents of the sardine can in the box before Smokey was laid inside. As we started, Old Ned began to weep. 'All same fool!' snarled Box Sing, and the old man was quiet. At the top of the hill we t.urncd and shot off the fireworks which made Ned so happy that he actually smiled,' ...The Chinese of the rival tong did tape the old man in, but they put him to work sawing wood, So he died within a couple of weeks. I helped to lay him away - -tried to wash off some of the smoke and grime that had made him so black during his life- time. "' 29 v BRONZE P U • -�` ROS11T "� EINErtERY �D�DICATEQ SATUt�DAY Oner:oi tha most colorful eveaie in the'history o; this: area was the dedication of the bronze plaque at the, old •Thunder Mountain ceme- tery •the afternoon of Sept. 9. The ceremony, which began at s p. m., • ,drew a crowd of about: 3b persons.. 'Names of'teii.of the thirteen men buried , there are inscribed on the newly installed plaque, and Napier Edwards, veteran of the Mack coun- try, says he :bdlieves he. has records - of; the'. three names missing from` the list. Johnny Nicholson of Stibnite was master of ceremonies, and., Bill Timm,. lone sui -Avor of the Thunder mountain gold rush days, was prig- cipal- speaker, . Mr.. Timm, • who presided at , the ' funerals of' most of the men who are buried there, gave a brief his- tort' of each . man. Mention was made of several other men who,are bL Fled, in that ; vicinity outside the Roosevelt cemetery. die mentioned; two men who were murdered on i Mule creek .between Roosevelt and 1, the ,, Dewey mine--both buried in the same gave., Another prospector, who died of a heart attack was Sound near'the mouth of Moaumen- tal creek and buried there. The old j Taylor ranch was the burying place l of , a young son of the Taylor 'fam- �ily � who died of spotted fever 20 years ago. A stone pier marks the grave of another prospector. It is (located Qn the point above the con- fluence of, Mule creek and Monu- �me4tal"creek: ' A wreath of pine boughs and col - orful Oregon grape foliage was placed in the cemefsery by Bill Timm as ; a part of: the ritual. Placing of the historical marker Is the culmination of much effort on; tlie� part of Big Bill Timm and members of the Stibnite Rid and Gun club. • Many. individuals from the Cascade. ages and other places contributed funds, to help defray the expense of the marker, Roosevelt Lake, looking northward, and showing the washed rock shoreline which is gradually taking over original larger lake area. Every hue of the rainbow is evident in the mineralized rock adjacent to the lake and Monumental Creek. r' -9 f: be ,moved •directly out of second story butildi.ngs onto rafts before morning. One piano, owned by the ' postmistress, and deputy recorder of Idaho County, iwas: moved , from the second story of one of the ,buildings onto a raft, floated to higher ground, later hauled- to Thunder City and . still later (in 1926) sold to the school- - I at Yellow Pine and is still in use. Mrs. T. J. Wayland, the owner of the piano, was the school super- intendent of Valley County for .a good many years. Bill Flint, tne town s, )ak, lived in the =upper portion own and -lidn't wake up to r --- l�� that anything was going on until the -corning' of the 8th. The only *.ping he khought of saving was a ' -eg of whiskey which -he rolled up ^?ain Street in two feet of water. ,A lot of the residents. saw they -ouldn't move all " their belong - ngs in time, so they took strands of wire -and tied to their cabins ,_,nd wagons and ran these up on "he side of the valley and tied Them to trees in order that they '•would know how to get back to t them.. Hundreds of these wires lwere tied to rocks and trees but ? nothing of any value was sal - vaged. Very few residents stayed after the slide and this finished the life of the town. Aftermath of the Slide The water originally covered about 90 per cent of the town, but the creek is gradually cutting a channel through the dam, with the lake filling up with sediment and is now about 15 or 20 feet leep in the deepest apart. Several store buildings toward ie upper end of town that the ' ater didn't reach,-were left fully ,eked and taken ' care of by a tchman up to the spring of 5, when;. he died. This watch - Was an exiled member of a °rm+an family, dub,", "Ze time of o� / , Roosevelt ended life in watery grave BY BEVERLY INGRAHAM For The Star -News ' L3 .7 "Every spectator looked. The vast slope was waving like a sea. And on the instant a groaning, straining rumble came from the depths. Far up, a whole bare ridge began to slide. 'Avalanche!' 'A slide - a slide!' 'Thunder Mountain!'" Zane Grey wrote these words in a romanticized tale of the Thunder Mountain mining region after he visited there in the early 1930s. His book, "Thunder Mountain," was very popular if not, perhaps, en- tirely accurate. The Thunder Mountain area east of Long Valley was opened up in 1896, several years after the North Idaho, Boise Basin and Warren gold rushes subsided. In 1901, Colonel W.H. Dewey, a renowned en- trepreneur of Idaho City, Silver City and Nampa fame, bought the Golden Reef claim for $100,000 in �4 r; 1 FOOTNOTES ...... ............................... - ... ......... To History cash. Following Dewey's lead, more than 2,000 other claims were soon staked in the area. The town of Roosevelt, named either for Theodore Roosevelt or his daughter, Alice, sprang into exis- tence. It was located on Thunder Mountain at Monumental Creek, about 15 miles from Stibnite. By 1904, Roosevelt had several stores, 14 saloons, three hotels and a newspaper, "The Thunder Moun- tain News." At the time, 7,000 people received mail at the Roo- sevelt post office. By 1904, the Thunder Mountain Road was completed from Thunder City in Long Valley to Roosevelt. It took three days by stage to make the trip with stops at seven way stations on the route. At least one of these, the Riordan Creek station, had a large hotel and barn. Roosevelt prospered until the higher -grade ore was depleted and the Dewey and Sunnyside mines shut down operations in 1907. People began leaving the town of Roosevelt, and in the winter of 1907 -08 there were only about 75 residents left. A late spring kept the winter snows on the ground until June of 1908. Then in one week, a hot spell melted the seven feet of snow, saturating the soil. On June 7, 1908, a massive landslide occurred on Mule Creek. It slipped slowly down the mountain until it reached the valley floor and damned up Monumental Creek below the town. A few hours later the water was about 10 feet deep in Roosevelt. Residents had time to get out most of their belongings, including a pi- ano, which eventually ended up in the Yellow Pine School. The lake is now 15 to 20 feet deep covering most of the old townsite of Roosevelt. Like so many other gold camps, the town of Roosevelt lived hectically for a few years and then died, but this time death was due to drowning. (Beverly Ingraham is a Long Valley resident who has extensive experience in historical research and preservation.) Roosevelt By Gunnar Cratchet Columnist ROOSEVELT — Though it took a few days for the hangovers to wear off, no one got lost in the snow and froze to death, and the annual Bar & Grilled Cheese's New 'Year's Party and Imbibing Debacle came off with nary a permanent injury. The turnout wasn't quite what Large Marge would have liked, considering he'd brought in a touring band, Larry KosteJecki and his Prancin' Polka Sextet, to entertain the masses. Sybil and Her Bodacious Cow- boys, the sometimes house band at the B &GC had ducked out and was to play New Year's Eve at some frothy way station up New Meadows way. Some of those who showed for the big evening figured by the name that it was something akin to female mud - wrestling — the winter's getting long already out here. While there was some disappointment when they found out that sextet simply indicated how many players there were in the band, all ended up having a decent time. Course, some also thought sextet meant that the band's play list consisted of only six songs. Larry and his band, of course, knew more than six polkas, but after liberal amounts of New Year's cheer, some of those polkas started sounding a lot alike. A- one -a, an -a- two -a, and people were hop - stepping in double time. Larry and his crew were on the first leg of their first tour west of Minnesota, and hadn't snagged a New Year's booking when the Boise book- ing agent called Large Marge on the back - country radio and got them into the B &GC. Weee - haaaa! Getting the band in to town proved to be one of the major challenges of the week. With our roads mostly snowed shut, there were only a couple of options: flying and snowmobiles. Since the bad weather made flying pretty iffy, snowmobiling seemed the answer. Larry and his merry band were able to get as far as Warm Lake, and by virtue of near perfect timing, they were met on arrival by a group of 10 entertainment - hungry snowmachiners from Roosevelt. Coming from Wisconsin as they did, Larry and his band were familiar with snow machines, and that helped. Prepared for them not having suitable snowmobiling clothing, our trans- portation crew had gathered up extra snow- suits, helmets and boots. Ten machines were thought to be suffi- cient, and would have been except for the tu- ba one of the band was packing. A key in- strument in a polka band, that tuba, and it couldn't be left behind. It slid nicely on that big bell behind Phil Coffee's sled, though it did pick up a ding or two. The tuba player, introduced as Melody B. Sharpe — though she went by Mel and was actually Melody Kostelecki, Larry's on- ly daughter who changed her name to be more marketable — was about the prettiest tuba player anyone in Roosevelt could ever recall seeing. Course, not a lot of our folks could ever recall seeing a tuba player before, period. The school supposedly has a tuba available for its music program, but no one's seen it for years. Besides, tuba teachers are about as hard to come by out here as a stop light. It's one of those instruments that just hasn't attracted a very big following in Roo- sevelt. Usually, the tuba parts in the band's music is re- written for a trombone or saxo- phone. Jake Sturges about fell over himself in volunteering to carry Ms. Sharpe on his sled back to town. Motorhead that he is, Sturges has the fastest sled around, and he was showing off big time as he made it to town a full half -hour ahead of everyone else. And Mel was holding on tight when they got to town. Well, Mel's affect on the single fellows in town was amazing. You'd think some of them never saw a woman tuba player before. And when she started hammering out the Beer Barrel Polka — a natural favorite of the B &GC crowd — the roof about came down. She stole the show. At midnight, the line for New Year's kisses was long as everyone wanted a shot at Mel's well - developed puck- er. Sturges must have gone through the line a half -dozen times, and surprisingly, Mel didn't seem to mind. With a new appreciation for the polka, and for the tuba, our transport crew loaded up Larry and his band for the trip out on New Year's Day, and Mel's tuba was cra- dled gently in a trailer Sturges borrowed. Even though he was a football addict, Sturges had no problem sacrificing parr of his New Year's fix to -carry Mel back out. It took a few minutes to break the li- plock the two had on each other as they said their farewells. But that done, they roared off in different directions. Mel on the road for a show in Parma that evening. And Sturges? "If I hoary, I can catch the last bit of the Cotton Bowl and the Citrus Bowl, all of the Rose Bowl, and then the whole Sugar Bowl" he said checking his wristwatch before climbing on his sled and zooming off.. 1/r CM .3131 / X.3 Happenings- Roosevelt By Gunnar Cratchet' Columnist ROOSEVELT — Now we all know how the Flood Crick got its name. We've got a lot of ex- perts in sand- bagging around here. And there's also some who could be working a lot harder around here, but they're, well, they're sand- baggin'. Yup, the water's have been rising and falling like those coastal tides, only on a once -per- day cycle, and when the water rises, it's rises. Fortunately, most of the old - timers around here have long re- membered what the Flood Crick can do when fueled by a heavy snowpack, something we've had this year for the first time in a long time. They've always ad- vised folks who moved to town to avoid building down in the flood plain, even though it's been years since there was enough wa- ter coming off the hills to over- flow the banks as'it did last week. There was 'so much water in town following the rains and warm temperatures last week that one of our local river runners de- cided he'd make Second Street history. Dennis McLeod, who's been making his winter home in Roo- sevelt — "as nice a place to win- ter over as there is anywhere," he says — is one of those profes- sional river guides, a member of that lucky fraternity who spend their summer days catering to the whims of those with enough money to pay for some thrills on one of our many wbitewater rivers. He gets to do it and get paid for it. During winter, here - pairs equipment, and plans an ex- pedition or two for his free time in the summer. But one thing about Dennis that most folks don't understand is his still unfulfilled quest to be the first to descend down some river or another. Problem is, most every river he's ever boated has already felt the paddle of another before him. In fact, every one he's ever done. But he spends his winters pouring over maps and writing letters to friends trying to find that one still -unrun river that he could be the first to success- fully navigate. Says that John Wesley Powell guy, first down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, is his ultimate idol. He's one of them crazy kayakers and he couldn't wait to dip his paddle in the gully wash- er that developed last week on Second Street. It's right at the up- per end of that street that you can walk off — and, it's a definite uphiller — into miles and miles of high mountain wilderness. The Roosevelt Streets and Infrastructure Department, doesn't spend much time work- ing over Second Street as it gets its annual cleansing along about now each year when the snows up high let loose and wash any- thing and everything downhill, right through town. Why in past years we've seen trees, car bodies, old widow Jamison's front porch, and a whole slew of other things float- ing down that street come spring- time. But that's during normal winters. For the past six or seven years, there's not been enough water to float a rubber duckie. Well, not this year. "My guess is that she's run- ning at about 150 (cubic feet per second he later explained)," McLeod said that fateful day last week as he surveyed the water course. "And that's boatable. This is it, my first first descent." He was right. There wasn't anyone who'd run Second Street before, a fact confirmed by our local city historian Gina Allagie, and our librarian Linda Overdue, who's been rehired by Mayor Hamhock, who had canned her last year. Said he couldn't find anyone else to take the job. Well, the whole town turned out to watch the feat of daring, and the cheering got loudest when McLeod swooshed past the Bar & Grilled Cheese, which happens to sit at the corner of Second and Main. The spectators were out, crowding the porch, betting on how many times he'd have to do one of those+rolls to right himself after getting knocked over by the water and waves. Or on whether he'd end up swimming. The winner bet on four times, and McLeod did the last of those rolls seconds before he flew right past the B &GC and was launched into the Flood Crick. As I pen this, we're still waiting to hear how the rest of his trip went. He radioed in this morning from Riggins, said it was the. trip of his life, despite the fact that he was geared up for a 20- minute run. It took him three days to get to Riggins and the whole town chipped in to buy Roger Auwt a tank of gas so he could fly to Riggins and retrieve our lost voyageur. They're due back later tonight when we'll party and get all the details. But I've got to get this dispatch out now or miss another deadline. If his final words as he rounded the bend out of sight be- low town were any indication, it must have been quite a trip. To be honest we were about to start planning a wake for him, as we'd given him up for dead when we got his call this morning. "Crraaaat- chitt," McLeod shouted that day. "Feeeeeed Faaaanggggg f000r meee willlll- Ill yaaa? Fang's in good shape, but we figure that after three days on the river, McLeod is at least going to have some leg cramps. But he got his first descent, and as is traditional, Second Street now has another name, McLeod's gulch. Spawninggrounds More on death of Roosevelt by Jeff Fee Have you even had an event in your life take place one day and then tried to remember that same event the following day with any kind of accurate - detail? It can be very confusing. Even more confusing is to have people around you who witnessed the same event try to recall the incident. Some details will be recalled the same. However, many of the recollections will be totally different according to how each of us individually perceives our world. In the March 30 issue of The Star -News, I presented to you a Spawning Grounds article entitled "Gold Brings Gamblers, Ladies of the Night," a history of the Thunder Mountain land. Since then, I've uncovered new information through a more reliable source and some of the events I had in print may be somewhat mislead- ing. I have learned a lesson about history which I would like to share with you. There is no such thing as a historical fact; no such thing as an absolute truth. History is only a record of how humans perceived an event or events of the past. This new information surfaced in The Cascade News, Aug. 3, 1945, entitled "History of Roosevelt Lake" told by a man named Bob McRae. Bob lived in Roosevelt during the construction of the town to its final destruction by earthslide and water. I stated in the first article and I quote that "by August of 1903, six saloons were doing thriving business in the Thunder Mountain boom town of Roosevelt. Pack strings brought in several groups of ladies, who set up a tent red light district that serviced 3,000 miners in the Roosevelt area." According to McRae, by 1903 7,000 people were getting mail from the Roosevelt post office. He further stated Roosevelt consisted of 14 saloons, two or three hotels, numerous eating places, and seven or eight stores. One more part of my first article needs clarification, and I quote: "The spring of 1908 gave rise to a strange occurance. The clouds of Thunder Mountain began to cry. They cried and sobbed for days while the soil above Roosevelt became saturated. A great mass of earth gave way at the base of the mountain. Rock, soil, and debris rushed down the slopes and sealed off the valley just below the town." This quote might mislead one to think that the clouds cried in the form of rain. Well, the clouds did cry but their tears froze, the precipitation was in the form of snow. What happened in the spring of 1908, seemed to run parallel with the spring we experiencedin 1974: According to McRae, "the winter of 1907 and the spring of 1908 had a very heavy snow fall and it remained that way until June. There was seven feet of snow around Roosevelt on the first of June that year. A hot spell took the entire seven feet in one week, causing a heavy run off. "This saturated the soft top soil on the west side of the mountain, over an area of six or seven hundred acres, causing this mass of material to start flowing toward the Mule Creek side. The main mass, estimated at one- quarter cubic mile, started to slide on June 7 about 3 a.m. The watchman at the Dewey Mine went down to Roosevelt early the next day and warned the 80 inhabitants what had happened and what was going to happen. However, the people of Roose- velt thought it would stop before it dammed up the Monumental Creek and before it would flood the town. "Late in the afternoon of the 7th, some of the residents got up ambitious enough to take a look at the mass, which by that time was moving at a rate of eight feet per minute. It finally dawned on these people during the evening of the 7th that the situation was serious. "They took all the dynamite that was stored, and placed it in the back side of the slide at the lower end of town and thought they would set it off when the time came and make a channel for the creek to cut through. They say this dynamite was covered so deep by slime that they couldn't even hear the report. They started moving their personal belongings that evening to higher ground but since a good many of the owners were away and their homes locked up, a great deal of the merchandise was lost in the various buildings." "The school house on the upper end of the creek was torn down in 1920 and moved to the McCoy ranch where they built their home from it. "Everywhere can be seen various parts of furniture floating in the lake such as a leg off a piano, or a piece of hardwood furniture, or a pair of bar room doors. Parts of the upper stories that were above the water were taken up by the beaver, and practically everyone had a colony of beaver in them. "These buildings that were protruding above the ice were all burned in the winter of 1934. About the only things that were salvaged were a couple of pianos by the watchman. One had been a valuable baby grand, but when salvaged was quite worthless." The other day I had a chat with Reid Gilespy. Reid takes a special interest in the history of this area and has been collecting historic information since the 1930's. Reid and I were swappin' different stories when I asked him if he knew how deep the Payette Lake was. His answer, 461 feet at the deepest, which is located just east of Dead Horse Creek. Last summer Reid and Keith Kiler, a stream and lake bed specialist, Department of Lands, covered the lake from one end to the other in a boat equipped with the latest depth locator instru- ments. Reid said that many of the depths in different parts of the lake averaged 191 feet deep. i - � Roosevelt:. From Boom Town To Mountain Lake by Sharon Murray I first saw Roosevelt Lake in 1986 when I worked for Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation at Thunder Mountain. On a clear, calm day you could see the remains of log cabins beneath the water's surface. Pro- gressing down the trail adjacent to the lake you could walk across a log dam to the other side of the lake and view the remaining headstones in the hillside cemetery, which is about all that remains to remind us of the once - thriving community of Roosevelt, Idaho. Roosevelt was a product of the Thunder Mountain boom, Idaho's last major gold rush. The Caswell brothers, Ben, Lew, Dan and Cort dis- covered flakes of gold in Monumen- tal Creek in a remote mountainous section of Central Idaho in 1894. For the next couple of years, the broth- ers spent part of each summer plac- er mining Monumental Creek with little success. In 1896, when they were about to abandon their mining venture, one brother followed a trib- utary of Monumental Creek up the slope of the mountain and stumbled - upon an exposed ledge of white quartz. He took a sample of the rock back to camp. The crushed and panned sample contained consider- able free gold. The brothers staked a claim on the quartz outcrop and named it the Golden Reef. The Caswells worked on the Gold- en Reef periodically during the sum- mer months for the next several years. Material removed from the ledge was crushed and washed in a sluice box, built of whipsawed lum- ber, to recover the free gold. For four- teen weeks of work, the brothers re- portedly recovered $20,358. Edward Dewey heard about the Caswell's operation and informed his father, Colonel William H. Dewey, who had made money in mining and other ventures in Idaho's Owyhee Mountains. Colonel Dewey took out an option on the Golden Reef in 1900 and sent experts into the area to eval- uate the prospect. Favorable reports compelled Dewey to exercise his op- tion which he did by handing the Caswells a check for $100,000. Once the word of Dewey's purchase hit the streets, a genuine gold rush was un- derway. Experienced prospectors and novice argonauts flocked to Thunder Mountain in the spring of 1901. Ac- cess was via a crude trail cut from the old mining camp of Warren, over Elk Summit, to Big Creek and then up Monumental Creek to Thunder. Mountain. In 1901, when the rush started, the area was one of the least accessible regions in Idaho. Not much has changed, even today. With the influx of miners into the Thunder Mountain Mining District, there was a need for accommodations and other amenities of life including saloons, cafes, and stores. The town Rare Metals Corporation • GOLD, SILVER & PLATINUM GROUP 76161 Baseline Road ASSAYING, REFINING & MARKETING R 0. Box 669 • DC PLASMA EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY 29 Palms, CA 92277 • FIRE ASSAY Phone: (760) 361 -8051 • FLOTATION STUDIES Fax (760) 361 -8053 • GRAVITY STUDIES • RARE EARTHS & BASE METALS - ASSAYING, PROCESSING & MARKETING • LEACH AMENABILITY STUDIES MILLING & CONCENTRATING as low as $67.50 per ton SMELTING • REFINING • MARKETING GOLD ' SILVER • PLATINUM • PALLADIUM • RHODIUM of Roosevelt was laid out in the fall of 1901 by the Idaho Land and Loan Company of Boise to provide these services. Lots sold for $100. Roosevelt was built on the floor of a narrow, heavily - wooded, steep - sided canyon through which Mon- umental Creek flows. The townsite was one and one -half miles long and 300 to 500 feet wide. Most structures were erected on either side of Main Street. The first buildings were con- structed of crudely-'cut logs and can- vas but as time progressed, many of these quarters were replaced by log and sawed - lumber buildings. " - By 1902, the town was well estab- lished and resembled a typical fron- tier mining town with the requisite number of saloons, hotels, stores and eateries. A post office was set up in July 1902 with William L. Cuddy as postmaster. By 1903, 7000 people were getting mail at the post office. The town had expanded to include residences and businesses for a blacksmith, undertaker, doctor, den- tist, several lawyers, assayers, and at least one carpenter. The town al- so boasted a four -room school house. A road was completed to Roosevelt from Thunder City (near present -day Cascade, Idaho) in 1904. Mail serv- ice over this route commenced in De- cember 1904, and a daily stage serv- ice was established by 1905. It took three days for the stage to travel the 76 miles between Roosevelt and Thunder City. Frequent stops were made at a number of way stations es- tablished on the route. Roosevelt also had electricity and telephone service as of 1904. The Steel Buildings r. , 1, actor. )ale 20 x 25 25 x 35 30 x 45 45 x 75 51 x 96 55 x 150 Buildings subject to local permit regula ons. SAVE UP TO $5,000 !! On floor models, cancellations, blems, etc. 000 — Limited Supply — %N VSP FIRST COME - FIRST SERVED Archway Steel Buildings (,l (800) 344 -2724 =VISA Fax (412) 771 -4191 .•*•J 42 International California Mining journal /August 1999 Thrinder Mountain News began pub- lishing a local newspaper during the year. The paper carried local and re- gional news and sold advertise- ments. By 1905, 1500 people resided in Roosevelt as over 100 houses stood on either side of Main Street. Many others lived at the Dewey and Sun - nyside Mines, the largest producers in the area, as well as in other small settlements established in the vicin- ity. General merchandise could be purchased at J.B. Randell's Pioneer Store in Roosevelt. B.F. Fransas al- so sold general merchandise includ- ing boots, shoes, hardware, stoves, stationery and mining supplies. Fresh meat was available at McK- inney and Hanson's Pioneer Meat Market. Sam Gillam's saloon sold wine, liquor, beer, case goods and ci- gars as did Hunter, Crane and Com- pany. Van Welche's Wellington cafe carried cased and bottled goods, Old Bourbon & McBryer whiskies, wine, cordials, cigars, cigarettes and to- bacco. William Queeney operated a livery and feed stable. He also sold Hercules powder, caps and fuses. G.D. Smith and Lee Lisbenby were the proprietors of hotels and lodging houses. The Roosevelt Laundry cleaned, pressed and repaired "gents cloths." Dr. C.T. Jones was the resi- dent dentist. William H. O'Brien hung up his shingle to practice law as did Messrs. Pucket and Hawley. S.P. Burr advertised as a U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor. Timm & Goodsell assayed samples and guar- anteed "correct results." W.H. Up- Here the rising waters of Monumental Creek are slowly inundating the mining town of Roosevelt, Idaho. —Photo courtesy of Idaho Historical Society 466 -74 -154 International California Mining Journal /August 1999 43 ham acted as a funeral director and embalmer. He presumably took care of the 40 souls who were buried in the local cemetery. Roosevelt also had a special place for social gatherings called the "Big Amusement Hall." The establish- ment was equipped with a lunch counter, designated areas for social games and advertised orchestra ac- companiment for dances and other community events. Roosevelt pros- pered for several years and as can be seen, had most of the amenities nor- mally found only in large towns, even though freight rates were seven cents per pound for items transported to the district from Emmett, Idaho. Some mining equipment, such as a gyratory crusher purchased for the Sunnyside Mine, cost as much as one dollar per pound to be brought in. By 1907, mining activities were in decline in the Thunder Mountain District. Deposits did not live up to their early promise and both the Sun - nyside and Dewey ceased operations. Some smaller operations continued work but when the larger mines closed, many people were forced to move from the area. By the fall of 1907, many of Roosevelt's homes and businesses had been boarded up for the winter, as residents intended to return after the snow melted in the spring. By year's end, only one store A& P HELICOPTERS, INC. REASONABLE RATES 32 YEARS EXPERIENCE THE AMERICAN, FEATHER & YVBA RIVERS LET VS PVT YOV INTO YOVR CLAIM 728 ASTER COURT - YUBA CITY, CA 95991 - (530)x74 -4119 Production Impact Mills 4TPH 2TPH 6TPH • No hardfacing required, all wear parts easily and quickly replaceable • • Runs Wet • Non - sliming external classifier • • Nothing on the market compares to the durability, quality and price • STUTENROTH MILLING & MFG. 7611 W. Cornman Rd., Casa Grande, AZ 85222, (520)836 -5568 and the post office remained open. The winter of 1908 saw one of the heaviest accumulations of snow in recorded history. By June at least seven feet of snow blanketed the area. A freak action of Mother Nature pushed the mercury up to 100 de- grees on June 8, 1908 and the seven feet of snow melted rapidly; so rap- idly that neither the ground nor the streams could absorb the volume. Loose slide -prone earth on the west- ern slope of Thunder Mountain be- came saturated with the excess wa- ter. On June 8 and 9, the saturated earth began to move. Gaining mo- mentum, it developed into a massive landslide. It thundered and groaned. Large fissures and cracks opened up in the mass. Water from snow melt poured into these openings and added fluidity to the muddy mess. By the morning of June 10, the entire mass of waterlogged dirt and debris began to move down the hillside. By 11pm on June 10, the slide had reached the toe of the slope of one of the canyon walls, near Roosevelt. The slide covered the floor of the narrow canyon and piled up against the ad- jacent hillside. It also dammed Mon- umental Creek, which caused water to back up into the town of Roosevelt. By daylight on June 11, the main street of Roosevelt was covered with Fire Assays $15.00 Spectrographic Analysis $15 Mineral Analysis (3,600 mineral database) $20 Cyanide Leach Assay $25 Pete H. McLaughlin, B.S.C.S. 304 N. Helena Ridgecrest, CA 93555 • (760) 384 -1038 Send Payment with sample AM R= Fred Brust DEALER REPRESENTATIVE FOR : AZ - CA - CO - ID - MT - NM NV- OR- UT -WA -WY DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED F4a45 WESTERN TREASURES, INC. goo* 12005 CARIBOU AVE NE ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87111.7231 (505) 237 -1856 44 International California Mining Journal /August 1999 Now all one can see are the remains of the buildings... eight feet of water. The town and all its buildings were quickly becoming inundated. An attempt by area min- ers to blow a hole in the slide, by us- ing 1600 pounds of dynamite, failed. The few residents who had re- mained at Roosevelt and surround- ing mines, constructed rafts and at- tempted to salvage belongings from the boarded and locked homes and businesses. Rescuers soon realized their attempts were futile, in part be- cause the water was rising so swift- ly. Items that could be removed were removed. Some of the dwellings were anchored to rocks and trees on the adjacent hillside and left to let na- ture take its course. The waters con- tinued rising until the town was com- pletely covered. The town remained in its flooded state for many years. Attempts by scuba divers were made periodically to salvage items from the lake. Most of these efforts were unsuccessful. During the winter of 1934, when the lake surface was frozen, the build- ings that stood above the water were burned to the waterline. Now all one can see are the remains of a few build- ings and a floating hand -hewn log- jam at the far end of town. , Although several area mines have been worked intermittently until re- cently, Roosevelt and the Thunder Mountain Mining District have nev- er seen the level of activity they ex- perienced around the turn of the cen- tury. Mining could one day return to the area, but it is unlikely Roosevelt will ever spring to life again. It will probably remain a pristine mountain lake, inhabited by beaver and a rich- ly unique history. References "Annual Report of the Mining In- dustry of Idaho ", Volume 4, 1901, pg. 35, Boise, Idaho 1902. McRae, Ruth, "Search For Lost Mule Leads to Hidden Gold," Idaho Statesman, October 3 & 10, 1937. Thunder Mountain News, Roos- evelt, Idaho, February 18, 1905, Feb- ruary 25, 1905, March 3, 1905, Au- gust 12, 1905, Idaho State Historical Library, Boise, Idaho. Dollar Must Slip For Gold to Rise Elko, Nevada (AP) —Gold prices won't be on the rebound anytime soon, so World Gold Council Chair- man John Willson is telling miners they have to eke by with the current depressed value of the metal. "We have to do a far better job in everything we're doing, and then we will come through as generations of miners have done before us" he said at an Elko Mining Expo luncheon. Willson, who also is president and chief executive of Placer Dome Inc., told the June 18th gathering that the key to gold coming back is the weak- ening of the U.S. dollar. "I for one don't see it happening for some time, so I cannot be bullish and say we will come out of this quick- ly," he said. Gold prices are at 20 -year lows, and Willson said in terms of infla- tion, "they are way, way lower than they were 20 years ago." The price had already fallen roughly $100 over two years when Great Britain announced on May 7 that it would sell 415 metric tons of gold from its reserves over several years. That announcement produced another $30 hit on the already -low price. Willson said two good things came out of the aftermath of the disclosure, however — central banks will think twice about doing the same thing in the future, and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan issued an assurance that the United States is not selling gold. got e�upment:' NMI. -- 1 RENO PIiOSP> eroicS SUPPLY 315 Claremont St. • Reno, NV 89502 Fax: (775) 329 -4869 • Email: renogoldpros @powernet.net CAIN, (775)329 -7553 The Original and Still the Best - Since 1978 Get More Gold With GOLD SCREW "You can add our endorsement to your many satisfied customers... For anyone who is listening..., the Gold Screw is tremendous. I can only offer praise for it's easy function. Even an old time prospector like me is filled with awe by seeing gold in less than a minute. " D.C. - California 'Truly amazing.'� ' j� " Still only $2995.00 Plus Freight . A proven, gravity -fed, hydraulic, self - cleaning Revolving sluice for gold recovery. . Classifies quickly and easily, 98% to 150 mesh. . Lightweight & compact - 180 lbs., 6 basic parts. . Quick set -up -15 minutes to reassemble. . 4 lead 18" one piece polyurethane bowl. . Capacity - 2+ yds. bank run material per hour. International California Mining Journal /August 1999 45 Yellow Pine Times - Roosevelt Lake History Page 1 of 3 4 History Project X0 0 I LAKE HISTORY While you are waiting for the photos to load, scroll down to read about Roosevelt Lake. Document from the Idaho State Historical society. NEW 03 -22 -04 Photos from "The Middle Fork and the Sheepeater War" by Johnny Carrey and Cort Conley - copyright 1977 http: / /www.ruralnetwork.net/— yptimes /Pagel 3.html 4/4/2009 Yellow Pine Times - Roosevelt Lake History IDAHO STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY REFERENCE SERIES ROOSEVELT AND ROOSEVELT LAKE Number 21 February 1964 Page 2 of 3 Founded late in the fall before the big rush to Thunder Mountain in the beginning of 1902, Roosevelt soon became the leading camp in the new mining district. Thousands of men, having heard that Thunder Mountain was destined to be the biggest gold producer in the country, poured into Roosevelt and the Monumental Creek area. But actual production did not begin to match expectations, and although the Dewey mine stayed in production until 1907, Roosevelt did not become the big center its promoters planned. Relatively little activity went on after the Dewey mine shut down, and in the winters especially, not many people remained there. Before the spring population returned in 1909, a large mud slide blocked Monumental Creek below the town, May 30. (Slides such as this were typical of that part of the country: the Roosevelt slide resulted from heavy spring rains, and not from mining activities.) Lasting for two days or so, the slide grew large enough to back up a new lake which flooded the town, and Roosevelt had to be evacuated. For the next twenty years or so, buildings floated around in the lake; but as the years went by, they fell apart, and now there are only a lot of boards cast about in the water. In recent years, the level of the lake has been declining, but the townsite still is under water. Roosevelt and the other Thunder Mountain towns have all been deserted for years, and by 1962, there were only two inhabitants on the whole of Monumental Creek, compared with the horde that rushed in there only sixty years before. Reissued May 1967 Publications - 450 N. 4th Street, Boise, ID 83702 -- 208 - 334 -3428 http://www.r-uralnetwork.net/—yptimes/pagel3.html 4/4/2009 ,, Yellow Pine Times - Roosevelt Lake History Page 3 of 3 "The piano being used in the Yellow Pine School today is the same one used when Janet and Roxie attended school there, as well as when their father Lafe was a student -- the original piano freighted to Roosevelt by wagon for Eric Jensen's saloon. Freighted back to Cascade after the slide that drowned the town and caused Roosevelt Lake, the piano was auctioned off at a sale in 1920. Mr. Behne bid on it and hired Johnny Williams to haul it to Yellow Pine for the school." Pg. 134 "Idaho Mountains Our Home" by Lafe and Emma Cox - Copyright 1977 by V.O. Ranch Books * I History Project Horne Page http: / /www.ruralnetwork.net /— yptimes /page 13.htm1 4/4/2009