Idaho In the early nineteenth century was a diverse landscape, not just one of native people but a rich array of precious minerals, plants, and animals. To early settlers shuffling along the Oregon Trail its daunting mountains and endless valleys must have seemed impenetrable yet awe inspiring. In less than one hundred years this virgin territory would go from its first permanent nonnative settlement in 1809 to becoming the 43th state in the union. The journey Idaho took to statehood is full of boom towns, gold, and Indian Battles and yet despite these hardships men, women, and children flocked to this new land by the thousands. The precious metals found in Idaho’s rocky soil drew Idaho’s first permanent American residents, funded the development of its budding economy but at the same time pushed out the native population who had been living here for centuries, without gold and silver Idaho might have never become the state it is today. Mining has a long history in Idaho, small towns that are now but crumbling buildings on a barren stretch of deserted road were once communities that housed thousands of workers. Silver City is one such example. Built into the rugged expanse of the Rocky Mountains known as the Owyhees, Silver City was founded in 1862. In its prime, this mining town had about 75 businesses, twelve Ore processing plants and 2,500 people that called the dry region home. It was the first place in Idaho to receive electricity and phone service, but despite these modern conveniences, danger was ever present in this rough and tumble mining community. Shootings, riots , and even war with local Indian tribes were an ever present threat between competing interests. One such instance took place in 1878, after being restricted to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation members of the Bannock and Shoshoni tribe had begun to grow increasingly desperate. Food and supplies promised by the Indian Affairs Officers had yet to materialize and starvation was becoming an increasing concern. In the spring of 1878, the Bannocks and Shoshones traveled to nearby Camas prairie to gather one of their reliable and staple food crops, the Camas root . The Camas root was intended to supplement the lack of assistance the tribes were receiving from government agencies. After arriving the Native people were shocked and horrified to discover the once lush prairie had been ravaged by local settlers utilizing the valley to forage their pigs and cattle. The Shoshones and Bannocks out of frustration and anger lashed out, sparking what would become known as the Bannock War. War on the American frontier was nothing new, but the Bannock War demonstrates the futility facing the American Indian. After the war with the Bannocks and Shoshoni, General George Crook said this:
“Indian policy has resolved itself into a question of war path or starvation, and being merely human, many of them will always choose the former when death shall at least be glorious." In 1907, the War Department officially enumerated 1,470 incidents of military action against American Indians between 1776 and 1907 .
Despite these hardships facing the everyday operation of southern Idaho mines, the opportunity to strike it rich on a silver claim continued to bring Americans from every background to try their hand at mining. Some mines such as the Poorman, Black Jack, and Morning Star managed to pull 40 to 60 million dollars’ worth or Silver from the rocky soil. Unfortunately for the residents of Silver City (and local tribes), as competition increased the ore became harder to find. This resulted in the depletion of deposits within the mines and the eventual collapse of the short-lived city.
The Boise basin has a similar story of success and disaster for native people. What started as a quest for the promise land of Oregon, White men made the grueling trek across the nation only to come across a new promise and new destination. Word of the rich valleys of the Boise Basin caught the ears and minds of many men along the Trail and it wasn’t long before Idaho became the desired location to settle. For the local native populations of Shoshones and Bannocks the demographics of the Boise Basin were soon about to change dramatically. In 1862 the area received the notoriety it needed to convince settlers Idaho was more than a stop along the trail. Rumors had begun to circulate of a small band of miners and rivers filled with soft yellow metal.
The story of the Grimes Party sparked the imagination of Americans from every walk of life. America was convinced that wealth could be found floating down the steams of the Boise Basin. The 30 to 40 thousand miners and their families that would eventually settle in the basin and the surrounding area were looking for what the Grimes party had found; Gold. These first members of the Grimes party after emerging from the Boise Basin with a meager 5,000 dollars’ worth of gold, would spark one of the richest gold rushes in American history. Some sources estimate that as much as 250 million dollars’ worth of gold would be taken from the Boise Basin in just twenty years. It is easy to see why Idaho and its gold would have such a strategic importance on the state of the union. From 1861 to 1862, Government spending would more than quadruple from about 60 million dollars to more than 450 million dollars due to the outbreak of Civil War . One thing was certain; the Federal Government needed the Idaho Territory and its gold now more than ever. Unfortunately for the native people who used to call the Boise Basin home, they were forced off their historic home range and onto a new one by the Fort Bridger treaty of 1868. Originally the treaty promised the Shoshoni and Bannock tribes 1.8 million acres in Eastern Idaho, but due to survey errors and promises not kept, the boundaries were eventually moved to 544 thousand acres. A mere third of what was originally promised. This in part contributed to the Bannock War previously mentioned. In the years that followed, the easy gold was taken and more aggressive forms of mining led the way. But as gold got harder to find the residents start packing up. Much like Silver towns of the southwest, the cities of the Boise Basin such as Idaho City, Placerville, and Centerville would shrink to mere remnants as their citizens would move on in search of the next boom town or simply a more reliable form of subsistence. Idaho City alone would shrink from 8000 residents in 1865 to a mere 880 in 1890. Miners were like “globules of gold” wrote Hubert Howe Bancroft “never staying anywhere longer than the gold attracted them.”
This may have been the single most decisive factor that lead to the eventual removal of Indians from their native lands to reservations. Native people had no way of realizing the immense power and size of the American industrial and economic east or the extent to which it would be pursued. According to Elliot West, “Almost every Indian skirmish in the western states between 1846 and 1877 came swiftly on the heels of a silver or gold strike.” Idaho is a state of many valuable natural resources, but none impacted Native People, shaped the development, and drove American men and women to settle its cities and towns quite like the allure of gold. It was that pursuit which built cities seemingly overnight and saw them disappear almost as quickly. Gold started wars, brought peace and influenced Indian management practices. If it wasn’t for the vast amounts of gold buried in Idaho mountains the very life taken from some and enjoyed today by others may have be drastically different. Nothing has made a greater different on the population of Idaho during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries than the pursuit of Gold.

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