Our travels east and west on Interstate 90 have taken us over Wallace, Idaho many times. On our recent trip to Montana, we stopped to do a bit of exploring.
Wallace, Idaho is known as the "Silver Capital of the World." 1.2 billion ounces of silver have been produced in the county since 1884.
In 1991 you could drive from Boston to Seattle on I-90 and have to stop at just one stoplight. That light was in Wallace, Idaho. When the federal government wanted to destroy the town in order to complete this last section of Interstate 90, the 780+ townspeople of Wallace countered by having the ENTIRE town of Wallace put on the National Register of Historic Places. The Interstate now goes over the northern edge of town.
The Last Stoplight in its coffin at the Wallace District Mining Museum
The removal of the last stoplight was turned into a city wide celebration.
Click on the images to read the eulogies.
More pictures and information about Wallace are here.
This article was written in 2008 when the price of silver increased and some of the mines were reopened.
Click here for an article on mining companies in the area.
***********
More posts on this trip:
More posts on this trip:
No comments:
Post a Comment