Yesterday we piled into Cousin Phil’s jeep and headed up the mountain to Silver City, one of the few old mining towns in the area that did not burn down or segué into a modern city. In its heyday it had had about a dozen streets, seventy-five businesses, three hundred homes, a population of around 2,500, twelve ore-processing mills, and was the Owyhee County seat from 1866 to 1934.

Silver City, Idaho

Now listed as an official ghost town, Silver City is about 40 miles and two and a half hours from Melba (home base for a few days).  The road, which is closed from October to May, is steep (in places), winding (in places) and, for the last fifteen miles is unpaved and rutted.  Five miles an hour and four-wheel drive are highly recommended.  The view is spectacular.  Although it is obvious that restoration work is being done to many of the structures, there are only about 100 people who live there in the summer and just one ‘caregiver/fireman/watchman’ who is there year round.

Closed!

Between 1863 and 1865, more than two hundred and fifty mines were in operation near Silver City and hundreds more were developed in later years. Hundreds of abandoned mines still pock-mark and honeycomb the mountains and it is said that one of the early mines had upwards of seventy miles of tunnels laboriously hand-dug through it.  During the seventy-odd years of mining, at least sixty million dollars’ worth of precious metals were taken from the area and more than twelve ore-processing mills gleaned rich rewards in tons of gold and silver.

Also closed!

Since 1972, when Silver City was placed on the National Historic Register, it has become a popular summertime tourist destination.  Today, though, we were the only people in town.  Everything was closed up tighter than the proverbial drum.  Wednesdays, it turns out, all the town businesses (that would be the hotel and the gift shop across the street) are closed. In Silver City, even on this weekday just before the big Fourth of July Weekend, it was just us and the ghosts.  Reminiscent of Oysterville we thought….