Bayhorse, Idaho - Silver in the Yankee Fork Mining District

IDAHO LEGENDS

Bayhorse - Silver in the Yankee Fork Mining District

In the Yankee Mining District, some 40 miles east of what would become the boom towns of Bonanza and Custer City, Bayhorse got an earlier start in 1864 when a few small gold veins were found and a small camp began. Though there are several tales of how the settlement came by its name, the most popular is when area prospectors met a miner who had been digging between Clayton and Challis with the help of two bay horses. The man told the others that he had discovered rich mining opportunities up a steep canyon on the north side of the Salmon River. Because the other prospectors couldn’t remember the man’s name, they simply referred to him as the "man with the bay horses” and the name stuck.

Bayhorse in its heydays.

Though prospectors continued to comb the area for the next several years, finding small amounts of gold, it wasn’t until 1872, that the Bayhorse area really began to attract numerous miners when three men by the names of W.A. Norton, Robert Beardsley and J.B. Hood discovered a rich vein of silver. Robert Beardsley and his brother soon started the Beardsley Mine which overlooked the mining camp. When a prospector named Tim Cooper found another rich silver vein, he started the Ramshorn Mine. Other mines soon followed and within months, men, machinery and cabins quickly populated the area.

The size of the mining camp increased again in 1877 when hard rock mining began for silver and lead. By the following year, the mine was operating on a large scale, with numerous tunnels spread throughout the area. A stamp mill and smelter were completed in 1880 and businesses quick.

Bayhorse’s peak years were during the 1880’s and 1890’s, when the hillsides were dotted with cabins and the town included numerous saloons, boarding houses, assay offices, banks, a stone Wells Fargo building, a post office, six beehive kilns to make charcoal for the smelters, several ore and timber mills, and two cemeteries. The town’s population reached a high of about 300 residents.

Bayhorse Mill, Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

The Ramshorn Mine remained productive until 1888, at which time other mines were also declining. By 1896, the beehive kilns were abandoned and in 1889 the town was struck by a fire which destroyed several buildings. Over the next decade more mines closed and people began to leave the area. By 1915, all mining operations had ceased and Bayhorse had become a ghost town.

In the next several decades, mining operations were revived periodically for short periods, the last time in 1968. Over the years, the Bayhorse Mining District was one of the longest running silver and lead producers in Idaho.

Up until recently the land was privately owned, but now is in the process of becoming an Idaho State Park, which will ensure the preservations of this historic site. During Legends of America's visit, the site could not be accessed as it was undergoing an EPA cleanup in preparation for becoming a state park.

However, several structures, including the stone Wells Fargo building and the Bayhorse Saloon, as well as the mill, numerous cabins, and the beehive kilns could still be seen from the road.

Bayhorse Saloon, Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

The Wells Fargo building in Bayhorse was built to stand

the test of time, Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

The kilns are located down the road beyond the townsite. Along the way, sitting on the hill beside the road is one of the cemeteries, with just a few graves. Long abandoned and unkempt, the grave markers are long gone and only the crumbling fences surrounding these few graves leave any indication that the dead were once buried here. Unless maintained by the new state park, this cemetery will, no doubt, be lost within a few years, as the fences are reclaimed by nature.

Bayhorse is about 14 miles southwest of Challis, Idaho in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Travel south on U.S. 93 to Idaho State Road 75. Turn right (northwest) onto Bayhorse Creek Road for about three miles.

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From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Great American Bars and Saloons by Kathy Weiser, Owner/Editor of Legends of America - Kathy Weiser's first venture into the publishing world takes you into the many watering holes of America's past, particularly the numerous saloons that sprouted up during our nation's Wild West days. This great photographic review displays hundreds of vintage photographs from California to Arizona, the mining camps of Colorado, all the way to New York and its turbulent days of Prohibition. Hardcover, 2006, 224 Pages. Signed by the author!!