GOLD

Gold had a way of turning a country upside down. In 1861, prospectors discovered the yellow stuff in the creeks of the Idaho Territory, first near Pierce, in northern Idaho, then in 1863 in the Boise Basin, near Idaho City. Individual prospectors began placer mining in the Salmon River country a few years after that. And as long as hermits were allowed to live in relative peace in the Salmon River canyon, gold prospecting occupied at least a part of their time. It is doubtful many of them ever got rich on placer gold.

In the 1880's several quartz gold discoveries were made, near present-day Shoup in what was to become known as the Mineral Hill district. Mining and milling machinery were floated down the river on wooden barges.

In their book, Roadside Geology of Idaho, the authors suggest that one of the reasons the wilderness of central Idaho has remained isolated is due "partly to its apparent lack of significant mineral resources."