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
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ie
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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
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SMELTING • REFINING • MARKETING
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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
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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
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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
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304 N. Helena
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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.
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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