Sawtooth Mtns, Ghost Towns, and Old-time Fiddlers, ID

Welcome to the Sawtooths of southwest Idaho. A land of snowcapped mountains, pristine lakes, rushing rivers, gold mines, ghost towns and old-time fiddlers....and we saw a little bit of it all.

A little history about fur traders...

Lewis and Clark were here...

And gold was discovered...

Redfish Lake

Today an attractive recreation area for sportsmen. We stopped for breakfast at their lodge....(slow service...I guess they weren’t expecting us).

Wildflower about to burst into bloom

We took a side trip up to Sunbeam to find two ghost towns. On the way we passed this old natural hot spring....that you can still enjoy if you wish. Here are the rules:

A bathhouse built by the CCC.

A little trivia about the hot spring.

The river....couldn’t figure out where the hot water is.

The road is gravel to the ghost towns.

You can see piles of stones from the gold dredging operations.

The first ghost town we come to is Bonanza City.

The town’s story

Some of the remaining old buildings

This one is privately owned and has been fixed up probably as a hunting camp.

An outhouse

Two-seater

Inside one house some furnishings remain.

Down the road you could tour this gold dredge that operated from the 1930s to early 1950s.

The view from there

Another 2 miles up the gravel road is the town of Custer, a ghost town better preserved, as well as a museum.

A miners cabin

A simple life with few comforts

Inside of one of the houses reveals materials used to line the walls: cardboard, newspaper, several layers of wallpaper

Newspaper article by J. Edgar Hoover, circa 1930s

The saloon was a popular place

In the museum

In reference to the red-light district

A funny tale

Sad endings

The town’s founder

The town’s most prominent residents were the McKenzies. Their house reflected their relative affluence

Lilacs in full bloom

Perhaps Francis Tully was one of the first old-time fiddlers in the area.

As we came back out on the highway and rejoined the Salmon River,

We passed a free National Forest campground with this sign out front.

So we did a turn-around and went back to camp

Our free entertainment for the evening.

I’ll leave you with the sound of the Idaho Old-Time fiddlers...