History on Yankee Fork Road - Bonanza and Custer, Idaho

IDAHO LEGENDS

History on Yankee Fork Road - Bonanza,

Custer, & the Yankee Fork Dredge

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Around 1866, a group of Montana prospectors led by Joel Richardson came to what would become known as the North Fork area searching for placer mining opportunities. When they came to a large tributary of the upper Salmon River, they set up camp and prospected for several weeks, but unfortunately did no find gold. However, before returning to Montana, they named the creek “Yankee Fork,” because everyone in the party was a Yankee.

Prospectors continued to comb the area and in 1870 gold was found on a tributary of the Yankee Fork near Jordon Creek. Soon after the discovery, the Yankee Fork Mining District was organized. The first significant find was made by William Norton in July, 1875, which produced as much as $20,000 in ore dug by hand by Norton and his partner, John Rohrer.

After the discovery of the General Custer Mine in August, 1876 by James Baxter, an E. K. Dodge and a Morton McKeim, the area really began to flood with miners.

Traveling up Yankee Fork Road, the sides of the trail

are piled with rocks from the dredging operation, but

the river still provides numerous recreation

opportunities. Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

The three founding members of the mine; however, realized they didn’t have the resources to develop the mine and soon sold out to an English firm.

Bonanza

bonanza today just has a few tumbling buildings, Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

With prospectors camped out all over the area, the town of Bonanza City was laid out in 1877 by a man named Charles Franklin, some eight miles up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. Generally simply called Bonanza, which is Spanish for "prosperity," lots were first sold which ranged from $40 to $300. In the beginning, machinery and supplies had to be brought in by mule packers along a rugged 84 mile trail from Ketchum.

The settlements first buildings were crude log buildings that were gradually improved over time. The miners celebrated when the first saloon was built and soon sawmills were constructed, more miners poured into the area, and plans were made to build a toll road between Challis and Bonanza in 1879. Once it was complete, freight haulers required 5-7 pairs of oxen, mules, or horses to pull their loads on trips that would take four days to cover the 35 mile wagon trail. The following year, a daily stage was running over the toll road which cost passengers $5.00 for the 8-9 hour one-way trip.

Though Bonanza never had a mine or a mill, it quickly became the hub of the area and by 1881 it boasted some 600 people and numerous businesses including Custer County’s first newspaper, The Yankee Fork Herald; a post office, a school, the Dodge Hotel, a blacksmith, a cafe and dance hall called the Charles Franklin House, a hardware store, grocery and variety stores, a dentist, a watchmaker and several other businesses. The settlement also sported numerous entertainment venues including a croquet field, a baseball field and a small racetrack. Bonanza’s wide main street was lined with trees and several two-story buildings fronted by boardwalks or wooden sidewalks so customers wouldn't have to walk through the mud or the snow. The town also sported a public well and a water system, which provided water for its residents as well as fire protection.

The old iron stoves always seem to sit outside these old

miner's cabins, Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

This image available for photographic prints and

downloads HERE!

In the meantime, Custer City had also sprung up about two miles upstream from Bonanza, though at the time of Bonanza’s peak in 1881, the town outnumbered Custer City two-to-one in population and sported a greater number of businesses.

Bonanza suffered its first setback when fire raged through the town in 1889; however, it continued to survive until a second fire destroyed an entire block in May, 1897, and most of the remaining merchants moved to nearby Custer instead of rebuilding. By this time, the waterworks had fallen into disrepair and firefighters were unable to save the buildings..

By the turn of the century, Bonanza's only remaining businesses were a boarding house, a saloon, a slaughterhouse, a few stables and several cabins, as most all its population had either moved out of the area or moved upstream to nearby Custer.

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