Places Visited:
Idaho: Driving US 95 north from
Riggins to White Bird. Then a drive from White Bird toward the Snake River on
a Forest Service Road. Oh what a ride!
June 22, 2007.
We are staying at Angel's Nook RV-Park in White Bird, ID. $12.80 FHU no TV signal, no cell phone service, no wifi. Actually, there is no TV service or cell phone service in town. This is a small private RV-Park definitely mom & pop but close to town in the back yard of one of the oldest homes in town an an easy walk to everything in White Bird. It is a PPA park and we would stay here again.
This is the scenery as we leave Riggins.
Less than a mile north of town we stop at this roadside fruit stand and load up with raspberries, blackberries, Cantaloupe, onion, peaches, nectarines, huckleberry pie filling and several more goodies that escape my memory.
This is another picture of the fruit stand north of Riggins.
The Salmon River is carving this canyon through extremely hard rock.
This is where the miners were using powerful streams of water to wash away the bank in search of gold bearing sand.
In case you do not understand what hydraulic mining is all about think of it as placer mining on steroids. Placer mining is where miners searched for gold in stream beds. Gold collects in stream beds when quartz rocks containing gold fall into creek beds where the water power has tumbled and ground the rocks down releasing small flakes of gold trapped in the quartz. The gold flakes being heavier than the gravel falls to the bottom. The miners search for those flakes of gold in the sediments at the bottom of these creeks.
Those who have a rudimentary understanding of geology can look at this and tell it is an ancient river bed. They can tell that because all the rocks are rounded (river rocks). Thus knowing that this is an ancient river bed, there would be a good chance gold could be in the sediments of the old river bed.
The chances were especially good if miners detected quartz rock containing gold in the exposed gravel.
Now you know what "Hydraulic" mining was all about.
While Florence is a ghost town now it was a rip roaring place at one time. According to one resident P.W. Gillete's diary dated June 15, 1862: "Here the congressman, legislator, judge, divine, doctor, lawyer, merchant, farmer, laborer and sailor mingle in the same crowd, wear like slouch hats, blue shirts and ragged or patched breeches. Nearly all of this vast horde of gamblers, roughs and desperadoes are from California. There is no law here, or none that sees, abates, retards or punishes crime. Scarcely a day passes that someone is not killed or wounded. There has been strong talk of establishing a vigilance committee, but as yet nothing has been done. The decent people of Florence endure these outrages with remarkable fortitude."
This Florence he is writing about was a bustling mining town in the 1860s, located about 50-miles south of Grangeville.
Florence experienced a gold rush which caused its population to boom from 50 to 9,000 people in one year. Gold was discovered in the Florence Basin in August of 1861. By winter, more than 3,000 prospectors flocked to the area. In that year more than one million dollars worth of gold had been produced from placer mining alone. And that was in 1860 dollars! By June 1862, the population peaked to 9,000, producing $7 million worth of gold that year. By 1863, the rush was over. Mining activities continued for the next 20 years with a mixed population of Chinese and white.
Following a moderately inactive period at Florence in the 1880s, modern technology for quartz mining revived the area in 1895. People once again converged on Florence and population rose to about 1,000 in 1897. Disorder between owners of the Old Florence townsite and new gold-seekers press the founding of New Florence, 1/4 mile south. The old townsite was torn down for salvage wood and was mined for scraps of gold which may have fallen through the floorboards of a number of structures.
By 1897 only a few buildings were standing in Old Florence. By 190, the mining boom had diminished and only occasional stamp mills persisted in their operation. Some minor booms did occur between 1900 and 1940, but none was comparable to those of the 1860s and 1890s.
It is estimated that between 1860 and 1866 close to $15million worth of gold dust was taken out of Florence. Gold dust refers to gold that is extracted by placer mining, and placer mining is where miners sift soil generally in river and creek beds looking for flakes of gold. That is distinguished from hard rock mining also called quartz mining which locates gold in quartz rocks then has to crush the quartz rock to release the "flakes" of gold. Quartz rock was crushed in stamp mills. Once the flakes of gold are released from the quartz" then miners could use washboards and like contraptions to wash away the rock and retrieve the gold flakes.
Idaho became a "Territory" in March of 1863. Not a state but a "Territory". Statehood will come later.
Staple foods of the 1860s were sourdough bread or flapjacks, beans, bacon, tea and whiskey.
Chinese played a significant role in Florence between 1864 and 1890. In 1870, 50% of the population of the area was Chinese.
The richest single claim in Florence appears to have been that of Jacob Weiser (for whom the Weiser River was named) and his partners. The gold was reportedly two inches thick on the bedrock. The claim yielded some $20,000 in just eight days of cleanup. One pan from the claim yielded $151.50 and two men with a rocker acquired $1.800 in just three hours -- that would be roughly $2,800, and $333,500, respectively, at current gold prices. Weiser sold his interest in the claim for $10,000 and left Florence with a mule-load of gold dust worth about $30,000 which would be worth more than $500,000 at current prices.
This is where the Salmon River has carved a canyon through this extremely hard lava flow material.
Another picture of the Salmon River flowing through that ancient lava flow.
We are seeing more and more deer. We did not see any deer when crossing the southern part of Idaho along the Snake River. Along the Oregon border in central Idaho we are seeing plenty of deer.
We dropped the motorhome at Angel's Lair RV-Park in White Bird then headed out on an adventure filled drive to Hells Canyon in the Saturn. On the way we passed numerous cherry trees like this one. The ranger at Pittsburgh Landing told us they were pie cherries.
The drive from White Bird to Pittsburgh is on a 17-mile long NFS road most of which is good gravel.
Ranches and farms were scattered out along the first half of the drive. They are all putting up hay for the winter.
We stopped to watch several deer feeding in the middle of this grain field. They both watched us for a few moments then went back to eating.
Farmers in this area are growing grass hay instead of alfalfa.
This beautiful willow tree was located at the corner of a property where livestock took advantage of the shade.
I have not mentioned it but the 17-mile drive involves a steep grade of 10-miles climbing to the top of a mountain range then a 7-mile drop on an even steeper grade to Pittsburgh Landing on the Snake River a few miles south of Hells Canyon. This sign is located somewhere near the "saddle" (that is what the locals call the "shallow" place in the mountain where the road crosses. Anyway, this was a totally awesome ride up to the "saddle". But as we will find out in just a few seconds, we ain't seen nothing yet.
The scenery at the top is beautiful.
Only a handful of hardy geologists have studied the rugged terrain of Hells Canyon. At Pittsburgh Landing, they have identified ancient volcanic rock and sediments dating back 160 to 180 million years--some with clues to the ocean origin of these formations.
Layers of columnar basalt tell geologist that this area, like much of the Northwest, was inundated repeatedly by massive lava flows 15 to 17 million years ago.
Along the Snake River, geologists find evidence of another catastrophic geologic event. About 15,000 years ago, the Bonneville Flood roared through Hells Canyon.
Erosion, uplifting and other geological forces continue to shape the face of Hells Canyon today.
The drop in elevation from where we are to where you begin to see the road at the bottom was something on the order of a 10% grade coupled with multiple switchbacks.
Even that relatively straight section was on a grade greater than 6%. From here to the Snake River and Pittsburgh Landing was one super joy ride.
We are dropping like a rock. Notice how far down that switchback is on the left side of this picture.
Even when the road straightens out the grade remains totally unbelievable.
The road in this picture is for all practical purposes fairly straight, but it is dropping at a 6% to 8% grade. Second gear will not hold our speed down on the Saturn.
These two trees looked just like live oak trees from back in the south. It is odd for us to see these two large trees with no other trees in sight.
Much of the terrain is very dry and treeless.
Finally we reach the Snake River and Pittsburgh Landing. We watched as this jet boat, out of Lewiston, stopped to let passengers use the rest room. After the passengers boarded they pushed off and headed downstream at 30 to 40 mph. They are still 50-miles or more miles from Lewiston.
The jet boat is gone and only one little girl remains playing in the water at the end of the boat ram.
We are totally amazed at the blackberry bushes in this area. The bushes are huge in comparison to blackberry bushes in the southeast. These bushes are 6 to 8 feet tall and loaded from top to bottom with big berries plus they are still blooming. It won't be long until there will be more blackberries available than can be picked. Our daughter-in-law would go wild. She really loves blackberries.
We seem to be seeing deer around every turn.
Looking across the Snake River to the far bank this is Oregon.
From Pittsburgh Landing looking south into Hells Canyon.
The mighty Snake River has cut this canyon through extremely hard lava flow as can be seen on this Oregon bank.
This is what the Oregon side looks like as it rises out of the canyon.
In this picture we are looking back to the east on the Idaho side of the canyon. That area is roadless. Our road is going to go through a "saddle" located to the right of where this picture ends.
This is another picture looking east from Pittsburgh Landing.
This picture was taken early on as we drove out of Pittsburgh Landing while looking to the north.
After climbing for 15-minutes or so and looking to the south trees began to appear and the grass started getting enough moisture to turn green. Note how in this picture you can see where the brown grass ends and the green grass begins.
On this switchback Joyce pointed the camera back where we came from. Pittsburgh Landing and the Snake River is somewhere way down there.
From even higher, an on another switchback this is what that same valley looks like.
Pay close attention to this picture because it contains several of the switchbacks we have just negotiated. Believe me this is one of the most exciting drives available to regular automobiles in the United States.
At the summit we are in the forest and for a brief moment we are not going up or down. But it is only a fleeting moment --------- then we start dropping toward US 95, the Salmon River and White Bird.
While not as steep as the other side this side is still in excess of 6% which makes for an exciting ride.
At long last we get a glimpse of US 95 way, way down there. We still have a long way to drop before we get to that highway, and as you can see it is going to be an exciting drop.
As we fall off the mountain the terrain becomes dryer and dryer. Notice the road as it drops along the far side of this picture.
Our road continues to drop, as we head toward the Salmon River and US 95.
Then we round another corner and get another glimpse of US 95. For a moment our goal is in sight, but as you can see we still have a long way to go.
This is another glimpse of US 95 and our destination.
Then we see this sign. What a joke! Not that the road ahead of us is not steep and narrow but NOTHING like the road we have just driven over. This sign is on a state or county road. Obviously the Forest Service does not put up signs like this. I guess the Forest Service either doesn't have the funding to put up signs like this or they just assume everyone knows their roads are steep and narrow.
Here we go down that steep, narrow road. At least this section has guard rails. The Forest Service does not believe in guard rails.
As we get down to the Salmon River this deer is there to welcome us home.
We are staying in White Bird tonight.
Until next time remember how good life is.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike & Joyce Hendrix
mikehendrix@isp.com