Historic Wallace Idaho

click on John Darrington's photo to visit the Probalistic Center of the Universe in Wallace, Idaho

The historic mining town of Wallace (population 960) is nestled beneath Interstate 90, halfway between two ski and recreation areas in northern Idaho's beautiful Silver Valley. The town has long been famous as the "Silver Capital of the World" with 1.2 billion ounces of silver produced in Shoshone county since 1884. Silver mining is still a big part of our economy, but today it is carried out in total harmony with a pristine mountain environment that attracts outdoor recreation enthusiasts from around the world. Some folks come for the deep powder at the ski areas, or the 72 mile paved bike path, or the solitude of an alpine lake, but all agree, this is the place to play.

Wallace is also known for the fact that every downtown building is on the National Register of Historic Places... which is why the government finally had to go over us instead of through us in order to complete the Interstate Highway system in 1991. Now the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes paved bike path is directly under this main road between Seattle and Boston as it passes above Wallace, following the famous South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River through the narrow Silver Valley: the only place on earth where more than a billion ounces of silver were mined in 100 years.
 
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 click to read what happened at the nine previous Slippery Gulch town parties
Slippery Gulch 2009
celebrate 125 years of bawdy Wallace culture, July 23 - 26

 

click to open Accommodations section of the Wallace business page

click to open Tourist Attractions section of Wallace business page

click to open the Events and Festivals page
click to see the current weather on Lookout Pass I-90, Montana Exit 0 camera facing northwest
Looking northwest toward Idaho's Silver Valley from Lookout Pass, I-90, Montana Exit 0. Click image or current Mullan Pass weather icon for local and regional weather information.
click to see the Route of the Hiawatha
Route of the Hiawatha
9 tunnels, 7 trestles, 15 miles
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
72 miles paved from mountains to prairie
click to see the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
 
Google Earth looks at the mountains and lakes around Wallace
12 flight paths above
  • Lookout Pass and Silver Mountain ski areas
  • 185 miles of bicycle trails
    • the 72 mile Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes from Plummer to Mullan
    • the Northern Pacific Trail between Mullan and Taft
    • the Old Milwaukee Road from Taft to Plummer, (including the Route of the Hiawatha)
  • scenic and historic roads from Wallace to Murray, Burke and Pearson

Plus, added in October: All 21 alpine lakes within a 23 mile radius of Wallace, presented in alphabetical order.

The pervasive distortion of time and space around the Center of the Universe even warps Google's impression of us. Drill down on the "town" of McCarthy next to Wallace to find a graveyard dating back to the 1890's. Further down the road to the Gold Rush town of Murray, you will recognise the "town" of Bunn as a fishing pond for kids. I have yet to meet a local who has heard of these towns. On the other hand, take the tour of Burke Canyon and see what the famous silver mining camps of Frisco and Black Bear look like today...and what they looked like a hundred years ago.

Don't bother the folks at Google, but you can now visualize the thrill of skiing the expert runs that they don't yet see on the north face of Runt Mountain. But then, when you enlarge the map of Wallace you will notice that we are still serviced by two railroads... yet in reality, they followed the bordellos out of town a score of years ago. So a ski area only two years out of date is no big deal. Besides, the mountains and eight alpine lakes that surround the ski area have remained as they always were: inspirational.
Recent distinctions:
click to buy Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe from Amazon.com
 
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The 2008 town map is presented in separate windows as a 1008 pixel, 96 dpi JPG image, a 10.5 inch, 300 dpi JPG print, and as the original PDF file. An interactive map of downtown Wallace, as it was in the spring of 2001, may also be opened in a separate window. Wallace businesses that have opened, closed, moved across town or changed ownership since then are itemized below this archival map.
Popular visitor attractions, in addition to the many jewelry and antique shops, are the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, the Northern Pacific Depot Railroad Museum, the Wallace District Mining Museum, the Oasis Bordello Museum, and the Sixth Street Melodrama.
Click on the Sierra Silver Mine Trolly to go to BUSINESS PAGE; photo by Jeff Legg
The Sierra Silver Mine Trolly is about to run over the Center of the Universe on its way to the Wallace BUSINESS page, updated June 23, 2009.
During the summer of 1996, Wallace was the location of the spectacular volcano disaster movie Dante's Peak, starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton. However, every year sees an amazing range of festivals that help make this the most fascinating small town in America!
click for information on 2009 Huckleberry Heritage Festival
Huckleberry Festival 2009
click to see the separate larger images with annotations With Silver Mountain and Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Areas a dozen Interstate miles away in each direction, the area around Wallace is a full-season mountain recreation paradise. Winter embraces alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling. Fishing, mountain biking and climbing, river rafting and kayaking, golf, hiking, backpacking, and motorized exploration on two or four wheels occupy outdoor recreation enthusiasts from spring to fall. Bow, rifle and muzzleloader hunting for deer and elk is naturally popular each fall. Black bears are hunted during the fall and spring, while mountain lions are fair game September through March.
$159,000 - click to see more of MLS 08-7776 real estate listings
updated June 30, 2009
 
googleearth_download If you have the FREE Google Earth program installed, check out these LOCAL BICYCLE TOURS. Notice that taken together, these seven trails make up a 185 mile route that promises to gain worldwide attention for the variety of scenery and topography that it encompasses. Presenting this loop to the world is a goal the Friends of the Coeur d'Alene Trails non-profit organization. A variety of other bike routes documented with maps, elevation charts, and milepost descriptions are available from the Friends website, as well as a form to request copies of their Recreational Trails of the Idaho Panhandle map and brochure, now in it's fifth edition.
Mountain bike
Combo bike
  • Alternate and Original Milwaukee Road
    Avery to Plummer: 47 miles from Avery to St. Maries on the multi-use Milwaukee Road Trail, and 19 miles from Saint Maries to Plummer on country roads & Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes

Road bike
  • The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
    72 miles on a paved bike path may be riden in three sections:
    • Plummer to Harrison: 15.3 mile ride downhill to Heyburn State Park on Lake Coeur d'Alene, across the Chatcolet Bridge and along the lake shore to Harrison, population 267
    • Harrison to Enaville: 31.8 miles of flat terrain from the Lake along the Coeur d'Alene River through the isolated Chain Lakes region to Enaville on the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River
    • Enaville to Mullan: 24.3 miles gradually climbing through a series of small towns that make up the famous Silver Valley, until Wallace, when the grade increases to a maximum of 3% as the trail follows the South Fork uphill to Mullan
 
Relocation Information Contact information for Wallace and Shoshone County offices and organizations
visit the Shoshone Medical Center
Shoshone Medical Center, Kellogg
Real Estate Statistics,
April 23, 2007, to April 23, 2008.
  • all sales in Shoshone County
  • residential sales in Wallace
  • residential/condo sales in Silver Valley
This information brought to you in PDF format
by Jim Carpenter, REALTOR®.
Visit the Wallace Junior/Senior High School
Wallace Junior/Senior High School
poweredbyamazon      North Idaho Photography      Topo Maps & Travel Guides
     Hiking & Backpacking      Fly Fishing      Mountain Biking      Paddling
 

After a fun day spent hiking, fishing, rafting, mountain biking, motor biking, 4-wheeling, fishing, hunting, and/or picture taking somewhere in the vast North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River Basin, visit the ever-expanding and very historic Sprag Pole Museum in Murray Idaho, just 24 miles from Wallace over Dobson Pass. Murray (pop. ~100) was the central city of what was the last great gold mining stampede in the Lower 48 (1883-1885), and became the Cradle City of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. This district, now centered in the Silver Valley, has been producing silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper continuously since 1884. Have a good meal and a learning experience at the same time.

March 2009 silver spot price chart courtesy of NW Territorial Mint From 1884 through 2008, the Silver Valley produced 1.211 BILLION OUNCES OF SILVER. In 2008, 5.03 million ounces were produced, a 17.5% increase over 2007. Production should continue to increase as the price of silver continues to rise and more Silver Valley mines are reopened using environmentally friendly methods. Unfortunately, 2008 saw a set back in the nation's economy, which affected the silver market as well as everything else.

Mining Companies associated with the Silver Valley.

googleearth_download If you have the FREE Google Earth program installed, you may visualize travel from Wallace over Dobson Pass to the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and then up Placer Creek to Murray: wallace2murray.kml. The presentation includes two dozen placemarks and a "hang gliders'" tour of the route.
new item     You may now also visualize travel from Wallace up Burke Canyon past the lost mining towns of Gem, Frisco, Black Bear, Yellow Dog, Cornwall, Mace and Burke, to finally circle above the Glidden Lakes on the Montana border. wallace2burke.kml.

Books about Hard Rock Mining
poweredbyamazon
 
Google Earth Animation of the TWO Silver Valley Ski and Recreation Areas
If you have the FREE Google Earth program installed, you may open these tours, or download them for future viewing.
click to open 1000 pixel wide Google Earth screen shot in separate window
skiing_at_Silver_Mountain.kmz
last enhanced December 20, 2008 		click to open 1000 pixel wide Google Earth screen shot in separate window
skiing_at_Lookout_Pass.kmz
last enhanced October 15, 2008
These tours of points of interest include flights from either Mullan up I-90 to Lookout Pass on the Montana border, or from Pinehurst east on I-90 to the Silver Mountain resort. The tours continue by looking at various runs on the mountain(s) from all sides... as they were a couple of summers ago. The Lookout Pass tour also looks down at the eight alpine lakes that face the ski area from the south.
 
Silver Mountain Snowfall Logs and Commentaries Lookout Pass
 

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Wallace History
June 06, 2003 		Modern Wallace
October 10, 2008
Recreational Opportunities
October 29, 2008 		Photo Album
December 29, 2003
Wallace Business
June 23, 2009 		Relocation Information
April 23, 2008
Wallace Festivals
July 03, 2009 		Today's Weather
(updated every hour)
February 05, 2007
Dates indicate when the content or structure of a page was modified. This Wallace HOMEPAGE was last modified on Friday, 03-Jul-2009 19:40:27 PDT.

 



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Thank you for your time and interest in Wallace Idaho. From January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2008, 3,104,156 successful page requests were recorded and analyzed. After removing requests from search engine robots and dividing the remainder by the average number of pages per visit each month, I calculate that this domain has been visited by ~769,000 humans over 84 months. Since many of you visit my domain on a regular basis, these numbers do not represent unique visitors, just unique visits. In any case, this show of interest is gratifying for a town with a population of 960. A traffic report with charts is available for the interested viewer. If you are a regular visitor, you know that this website is a ten year work in progress, from which I receive only trivial financial rewards. If you have found my efforts useful to you over the years, please consider making this the path you take when you go shopping at amazon.com. I receive 4% to 6% of the value of items purchased through their secure shopping cart when you enter from Historic Wallace Idaho. Thank you for your support.
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Wallace is at the center of a universe filled with mountain recreation and Old West history that you will want to visit more than once. Please tell me what you would like to see on this and other pages at my Historic Wallace Idaho webworks.
Greg Marsh, Ph.D.
    doing business as     Marsh Scientific Services is Greg Marsh 		greg4mss@hotmail.com

Please visit my other websites and websuites:
  • Northern Idaho's Silver Valley      Four Season Mountain Recreation Paradise:
    two ski resorts, two long bike trails, a dozen alpine lakes, bountiful wildlife and backcountry solitude in harmony with 124 years of mining history and legend
    silver-valley.com homepage updated April 16, 2008
click to see the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
click to see the Route of the Hiawatha
  • click to see THE MINER by Hal Payne
    Hal Payne
    Wallace's Master Doll Artist is now capturing Silver Valley history in bronze
    homepage updated April 27, 2004
Bill White, 1929-2008
Bill White's story:
Escape From Islas Marias

Marsh Scientific Services is Greg Marsh ©1998-2009, Marsh Scientific Services, Greg Marsh, Ph.D.
http://wallace-id.com/index.html
last update on Friday, 03-Jul-2009 19:40:27 PDT
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