Sense of Place Seminar Series + Silver Valley Prep Session

Synopsis by Nancy Chaney, Assistant

Date: March 13, 2003, 3:30-5:00 P.M.

Place: Whitewater Room, University of Idaho Commons

Present: Audience of 20-25 from campus community, including Seminar Fellows Kenton Bird, Mary DuPree, & Rodney Frey, & participants Elinor Michel, Wendy McClure, Julia Parker, Sally Machlis, Rula Awwad-Rafferty, Anne Marshall, Gary Reed, Jim Reece, Jan Johnson, Natalie Kreutzer, & Jerry Fischer, & assistant Nancy Chaney 

Opening remarks & introductions by Kenton Bird

“The Fabulous Coeur d’Alene Mining District,” by Earl Bennett, Dean of the College of Sciences (previously, of the College of Mines & Earth Resources)

The Coeur d'Alene mining district is famous for having the greatest production of silver in the world, having yielded over $5B worth of metals, including 1 billion ounces of silver. In addition, Dean Bennett said, it has produced 8 million tons of lead, 3 million tons of zinc, 198, 825 tons of copper, & 526, 560 ounces of gold. Eighteen of the more than 90 mines in the region have produced over 1 million tons. The Sunshine Mine, now closed, produced 360 million ounces of silver itself, some in veins as wide as 30 feet. Dr. Bennett oriented the audience to the area by pointing out towns (such as Pinehurst on the western edge & Wallace & Kellogg about in the middle), rivers, and other landmarks on a map. He explained that Lucky Friday and Galena are the only two mines still operating in the area.

Andrew Prichard discovered gold in the area in 1878 (?), & by 1882, through widespread advertising (somewhat unwelcome to the likes of Prichard), the area was opened up via railroads to placer mining, in which hoses & flumes were used to blast ore from mountainsides and wash it down to be sorted for gold. As the story goes, in 1886, Seymour’s pack train was traveling along a hillside, when one of the mules (“jackass”) kicked loose a chunk of galena, thereby accidentally shifting efforts to the underground mining practices that would make the area (and its ostensible discoverer) famous. Because so many experienced miners were already there, almost all of the major mines were established within a matter of weeks. D.C. Corbin formed the Coeur d’Alene Railroad & Navigation Company to capitalize on the discovery.

Early mining efforts were powered by steam, generated by wood burning. The Tiger-Poorman Mine, for example, used more than 400 cords of wood per month. In response, entrepreneur Patrick “Patsy” Clark purchased the first portable Edison Power Unit and revolutionized energy systems in mining communities. The wealthy Mr. Clark eventually moved to Spokane, where he built his now famous Curtland Cutter home. Today’s area residents may savor the memory of its modern-day status as one of the finest restaurants around. Clark’s successful entrepreneurial contemporaries included John Finch and Amasa “Mace” Campbell, who began with the Standard-Mammoth Mine, and later invested in Hecla Mining Co, established in 1891. In 1989, Hecla would be $90M in debt, but for many years, it brought great wealth to stockholders.

Besides to losing trees to over-harvesting for fuel and building, deforestation was exacerbated by the fires of 1910 (and Wallace’s in 1890, which, curiously, was considered a plus by those who were glad to reduce flammability in town) and by SO₂  produced in the smokestacks, which when mixed with water to form sulfuric acid, acidified the soil so that new trees could not grow. Environmental issues often took a backseat to profit motives in mining towns, as historic photographs of outhouses overhanging the creek in the middle of Wallace’s main thoroughfare show. The creek was nicknamed the “Little Nasty,” in part because of the outhouse arrangement, and likely, too, because mine tailings were routinely dumped in it, to be carried downstream, and out of the way. Downstreamers in farming areas around Chain Lakes were being polluted, while miners upstream could still purchase pollution easements, granting them legal authority to continue to do so. An estimated 800 tons of mine tailings were routinely released into the drainage, and the practice continued into the 1960s.

A secret miners’ union developed in the 1890s, due to decreased wages and difficult working conditions. In response, mine owners hired spies like Charles Siringo to report details of union activities. When union members discovered the infiltration, they bombed the Frisco Mine, thus starting the Mining War of 1892. Then Idaho Governor Wiley declared Marshall Law, and black troops were brought in to restore order. A larger union developed as a result, when the Western Federation of Miners coalesced. When the Mining War of 1899 ensued, then Governor Frank Steunenberg asked that Marshall Law be declared, and again, black troops were brought in. Governor Steunenberg was assassinated by one Harry Orchard, who was employed by the Western Federation of Miners. Orchard was sentenced to life in prison in Boise.

In many ways, as mining technology improved, pollution problems worsened. Selective floatation developed in the 1920s to “float-up” galena and zinc for improved extraction. The technique allowed removal of 92% of the available lead, 93% of silver, and 60% of zinc. Today, general mill improvements have increased those numbers to 93%, 94%, and 86%, respectively. During WWII, existing tailings were re-mined, to extract deposits that could not have been extracted previously. The ability to grind ore more finely extracted more marketable metals, but also contributed to downstream contamination and build-up of sediment in settling ponds. Tailings have accumulated to a depth of 15 feet in some areas.

Dr. Bennett noted that zinc from the Silver Valley is 99.99% pure. He fondly recalled its extensive use in ornamental trim on cars in the 1950s and ‘60s, and indicates that it is now used for rustproofing automobiles. He added that although Lake Coeur d’Alene remains high in zinc contamination, that has some advantages. Zinc is toxic to algaeblooms, which can result from increased phosphorus from urban and agricultural runoff and wildfires. In that way, zinc counteracts a serious side effect of eutrophication.

Dean Bennett closed his presentation with a timeline of particularly noteworthy recent events in the Silver Valley. In 1981, Bunker Hill’s smelter closed. A 1982 Record of Decision designated a 21 square-mile area as a $300M Superfund site. In 1991, Bunker Hill Mine closed. A crowd of some 10,000 people showed up to see the smokestacks dropped into trenches for burial. Phase II of the Superfund cleanup is estimated to cost $360M, and to clean up the entire basin would cost an estimated $1.5B.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Silvered Ground, Silvered Glass: The Silver Valley Photographs of the Barnard Studio, Wallace, Idaho,” by Terry Abraham, Director of Special Collections, University of Idaho Library

Frederick Barnard arrived in the Silver Valley in 1886, the same year that ore was discovered there. In 1889, he opened his photographic studio in Wallace. Professor Abraham shared an array of photographic images from the Barnard Studio, including one of the locally owned Hercules Mine. Most mines were owned by “outsiders” who reduced workers’ pay, caused working conditions to deteriorate, and thereby instigated the Mining Wars of 1892 and 1899. He showed slides of black federal troops marching in to enforce Marshall Law, even though (or perhaps because) minorities were not generally welcome there.

Barnard was elected mayor of Wallace in 1898, and in Nov. of that year, he hired Miss Nellie Stockbridge, previously of Chicago, as his assistant. In fact, he gave her sole responsibility in the studio. Barnard sold the business to Stockbridge in 1907, and moved to Spokane in 1908. Because Stockbridge contributed so much to the photographic legacy of the Barnard Studio, the collection at the University of Idaho is known as the Barnard-Stockbridge Collection. It includes some 25,000 portraits, many of which use the same recycled in-studio props, all but assuring their authenticity. Other images include towns, mines, mills, and landscapes. She (or, possibly, an assistant) captured the Black Bear snowslide in 1898, and the dramatic images of a passenger train car dangling over Mullan’s south trestle, wiped out by a snowslide in 1903. She captured Teddy Roosevelt’s parade through Wallace in 1908. By setting up her 8x10 glass plate camera at the same site each time, Stockbridge documented the growth of Wallace from 1910 to 1917, 1921, and 1931.

According to Professor Abraham, Miss Stockbridge “had a keen sense of historical value,” and seemed to recognize the images that defined her time and have remained meaningful to this day. Through its 90+ years, Barnard Studio captured everyday images of telephone operators, a local gun club, Scandinavian Lodge Women, a local painters’ union, boaters on the Coeur d’Alene River near Kingston, funeral scenes, downtown shop interiors and storefronts, and even citizenship papers. (Professor Abraham jokingly reminded his audience that those were the days before Kinko’s.)

Nellie Stockbridge died in 1965 at the age of 97. Richard Magnuson and Henry Day arranged for 1,800 negatives from the collection to be transferred to the University of Idaho. Later, the balance was transferred to UI Special Collections. In 1968, it was estimated at 100,000 items, but proved to be 33,191 items. UI has also received 1,600 cubic feet of mining records from Henry Day and additional records from Bunker Hill Mine.

Professor Abraham closed by emphasizing that UI Special Collections is an extensive photographic and documentary resource.