A party of twelve miners led by Elias Davidson Pierce found gold in
Orofino Creek, a tributary of the
Clearwater River, in 1860. The ensuing gold rush continued through 1875 before slowing. Among the prospectors who came north seeking gold in the
Coeur d'Alene Mountains was Andrew J. Prichard, who found gold in the alluvial sands of
a creek near present-day
Murray, Idaho in 1883. Later in the year, prospectors entered present day
Burke Canyon seeking placer gold along Canyon Creek. Miners and prospectors came to the region after gold and silver deposits were found in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains and the
Northern Pacific Railroad came to the region in 1883. In the 1890s,
two significant miners' uprisings took place in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, where the workers struggled with high risk and low pay. In 1892, the union's discovery of a
labor spy in their midst, in the person of
Charlie Siringo, a sometime cowboy and
Pinkerton agent, resulted in
a labor strike that developed into a shooting war between miners and the company in
Burke Canyon. When the
mine owners planned to reduce wages of some workers to offset increased operating costs, the miners declared a strike against the reduction of wages and the increase in work hours and demanded a "
living wage" be paid to every man working underground – the common laborer as well as the skilled in a stand for
industrial unionism. To restore order to the state of rebellion in
Shoshone County, Governor
N. B. Willey declared
martial law and sent federal troops to arrest and detain the union miners, but not before dozens of casualties including six deaths and the destruction of the Frisco Mill. where miners working in the
Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines were receiving fifty cents to a dollar less per day than other miners. With no success in the effort, on April 29, 250 union members seized a train in
Burke at gunpoint, according to the engineer, Levi "Al" Hutton. At each stop through Burke Canyon, more miners climbed aboard what was dubbed the "Dynamite Express" toward the site of the $250,000 Bunker Hill mine near
Wardner; the miners then carried 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of dynamite into the mill and completely destroyed it. The crowd also burned down the company office, the boarding house, and the home of the mine manager. Like in the 1892 strike, martial law was declared by Governor
Frank Steunenberg and wholesale arrests and mass incarcerations were done to bring back order. During the fire,
Ed Pulaski, a
U.S. Forest Service ranger led a crew of forty-five men into
an abandoned prospect mine near Wallace, saving thirty-nine lives. After
WWII the district included 34
concentrating mills and 24 mines. The largest operations included Bunker Hill, Sunshine, Day, Federal and Hecla. Although miners were originally lured to the general area by the promise of
gold, the primary metals mined in the valley were
silver,
zinc, and
lead. The total quantities produced are impressive: over a billion ounces of silver, 3 million tons of zinc, and 8 million tons of lead totalling over $6 billion in value, ranking the valley among the top ten mining districts in world history. During the 1970s, nearly half of the nation's silver production came from the Silver Valley. After nearly a century of vigorous
mining and
smelting activity, operations were severely curtailed in the early 1980s, resulting in massive
unemployment and a significant loss of population. In addition to the economic difficulties, the valley has been saddled with
significant environmental challenges. A
disaster at the Sunshine Mine on the day shift on the morning of May 2, 1972 resulted in the
carbon monoxide poisoning deaths of 91 men. The mine was closed for seven months after the fire, one of the worst mining disasters in American history, and the worst disaster in Idaho history. While some mining operations remain, the Silver Valley has focused its future upon recreational tourism and light manufacturing. The nearest major population center is the city of
Spokane, Washington, which is west along I-90. The growing recreational city of
Coeur d'Alene is halfway in between. The extensive restoration efforts can be seen in the return of the
tundra swans. Restoration means returning an area to its healthy natural habitat. The Idaho Geological Survey lists several active and inactive mines in the Silver Valley: • Active •
Lucky Friday mine • Galena Complex, consisting of: • Coeur Mine • Galena Mine • Inactive, but with resources in the ground: •
Bunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex •
Sunshine Mine ==Outdoor recreation==