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lodes in the
Florence area might have been developed as early as 1863. Another followed around 1872–1875. However, the location of the Florence Basin in high, extremely rugged country made transportation especially difficult. Operators had to rely on hand mills, or very small stamp mills that
322:"proved to be one of the coldest in the history of Idaho." No one knows how many men died from the cold, but one newspaper writer had "no doubt that at least one hundred men have perished from the cold." Survivors told horrific stories of near-starvation, frostbite, and widespread snow-blindness.
317:
The camp went briefly under the name of
Millersburg, but a miners' meeting soon settled on Florence in November 1861. That was the name the town had when the Washington territorial legislature made it the seat of Idaho County on December 20, 1861. By the time winter took hold, the camp reportedly
466:
Early returns seemed to justify their hopes, but both the lode and placer booms were fairly short-lived. By around 1900–1905, those hopes had faded and the town had to depend upon small-scale, essentially individual operations after that. Even that had ended by around 1940, when the census
325:
As was common to many of those early placer mining districts, the richest days in
Florence lasted only a couple years. About five years of steady, but lesser production followed. By around 1869, Chinese miners were working most of the claims in the region, whites having leased the properties or
269:
gold fields in the
Florence Basin brought thousands of prospectors and contributed to the establishment of Idaho Territory in 1863, the rush to Florence was short-lived as intensive mining depleted the richest ground. At the first census of Idaho Territory, only 575 residents remained. By the
470:
In 1951, when Sister
Alfreda Elsensohn published her history of Idaho County, the handful of Florence inhabitants no longer received local mail delivery. It's not clear when the last resident moved away (or passed on). Today, only a few building foundations and an overgrown cemetery remain.
463:. With better transport, investors took another look at the quartz mining possibilities in the region. They found enough rich ore to justify bringing in more milling capacity, which set off another boom. Optimistic owners even assembled a dredge to re-work the old placer fields.
306:. (A new treaty in June 1863 reset the reservation boundary.) Perhaps because of Indian protests, the party split at some point. A smaller band of five made their way into a high mountain basin about thirty miles (48 km) south of today's
274:'s Camp settlement of Washington. The town thrived again from 1895–1900, based more on lode mining. Then the town slowly faded away, having only ten inhabitants in 1940, and was totally abandoned sometime after 1951.
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abandoned them. Probably not coincidentally, Florence lost its designation as county seat on June 1, 1869. The period of largely
Chinese production lasted until about 1880, followed by a long stretch of minimal activity.
486:, five air miles (8 km) north of its confluence with French Creek. After flowing westward across the state, the river turns north at Riggins; Florence is also twelve miles (19 km) east of the river as it nears
270:
territorial census of 1864, the population dwindled further to 254 residents. Even in its decline, Florence continued as the county seat until 1 June 1869 when the territorial legislature moved the county seat to the
298:. With all the best ground claimed, many newcomers began to look elsewhere. In late summer 1861, a party of men headed south toward a local divide between the Clearwater River drainage and the
261:
established Idaho County on
December 20, 1861, in anticipation of a gold rush that brought over 9,000 residents within the first year., The town quickly became the
310:. There, they found very rich placer gold along most of the nearby streams in August 1861. Despite mutual promises to keep the find quiet when they returned to
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of 6,080 feet (1,850 m). It was settled as a mining camp in the winter of 1861. Almost concurrent with its settlement,
88:
682:
An
Illustrated History of North Idaho Embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, State of Idaho
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could be broken down into manageable components for transport. In 1895, a new road was built to connect
Florence to
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with the first district court taking place at
Florence on 22 September 1862. While the rich
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Laws and Resolutions passed by the fifth legislative assembly of the territory of Idaho
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730:"The lure of gold: the history of Florence, Idaho and the 1861 discovery of gold"
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245:, United States. About 14 air miles (22 km) east-northeast of present-day
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1299:‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
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879:. Idaho State Historical Society, Reference Series, #129. Archived from
847:. Idaho State Historical Society, Reference Series, #130. Archived from
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in 1978. The basin is over 4,000 vertical feet (1,220 m) above the
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watershed. At that time, much of that area was still part of the
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Population History of Western U.S. Cities & Towns, 1850-1990
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Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc. New York (1959).
807:"Florence now a musty ghost of once-booming gold center"
663:. James Reynolds, Territorial Printer. 1869. p. 148
906:"News from the mining camps: the excitement in Idaho"
533:"An act to create and organize the county of Idaho"
277:
767:. Idaho State Historical Society, Boise. July 1991
710:Idaho State Historical Society (August 20, 1961).
684:, Western Historical Publishing Co., CITY (1903).
442:1864 census: 254 (222 men, 11 women, 21 children)
318:held nearly two thousand men. Unfortunately, the
294:area of present-day north central Idaho, east of
1330:
982:Idaho State Historical Society: Reference Series
632:. Idaho State Historical Society. Archived from
596:. Idaho State Historical Society. Archived from
474:The Florence Basin is several miles west of the
290:in 1861 drew thousands of prospectors into the
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1354:1861 establishments in Washington Territory
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788:M. Alfreda Elsensohn, Eugene F. Hoy (ed.),
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948:. United Press. March 25, 1940. p. 1.
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1142:Map of Idaho highlighting Idaho County
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467:recorded just ten people in Florence.
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805:Butler, Bonnie C. (October 6, 1955).
703:
329:
1349:Populated places established in 1861
959:Miller, Martin (September 8, 1940).
747:
696:Merrill D. Beal and Merle W. Wells,
540:General Laws of Washington Territory
490:(elev. 1,650 ft (500 m)).
314:for supplies, word quickly got out.
687:
13:
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1050:Municipalities and communities of
343:
18:Ghost town in Idaho, United States
14:
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735:. U.S. Forest Service. March 2012
712:"Old Florence lures new pilgrims"
1344:Geography of Idaho County, Idaho
513:. USDA Nez Perce National Forest
278:Early discoveries and prosperity
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961:"Road restrains Florence mines"
912:. September 7, 1898. p. 3.
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930:. January 19, 1933. p. 1.
758:""Counties and County Seats,"
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790:Pioneer Days in Idaho County,
566:Official Idaho County Website
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282:The discovery of gold around
108:Show map of the United States
304:Nez Perce Indian Reservation
190:6,080 ft (1,850 m)
7:
630:Reference Series number 130
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942:"Aged counter begins task"
924:"Plane serves winter camp"
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987:February 3, 2013, at the
874:"1863 territorial census"
842:"1864 territorial census"
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1012:October 2, 2009, at the
811:Lewiston Morning Tribune
760:Reference Series No. 10,
716:Lewiston Morning Tribune
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831:: Scarecrow, 1996, 93.
562:"Idaho County History"
476:Gospel Hump Wilderness
450:Resurgence and decline
137:45.50111°N 116.02833°W
1285:Nez Perce Reservation
1141:
946:Eugene Register-Guard
542:. State of Washington
335:Historical population
213: • Summer (
1339:Ghost towns in Idaho
1317:United States portal
603:on December 28, 2016
594:Reference Series 129
259:Washington Territory
142:45.50111; -116.02833
1053:Idaho County, Idaho
886:on January 24, 2013
854:on February 3, 2013
639:on February 9, 2017
336:
133: /
1277:Indian reservation
1144:
508:"The Lure of Gold"
334:
330:Population history
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997:- Florence, Idaho
910:The Citizens Call
823:Moffatt, Riley.
813:. p. 8-LCSE.
698:History of Idaho,
445:1863 census: 575
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1310:Idaho portal
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888:. Retrieved
881:the original
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856:. Retrieved
849:the original
836:
824:
819:
810:
789:
771:November 24,
769:. Retrieved
759:
739:November 24,
737:. Retrieved
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718:. p. 7.
715:
705:
697:
681:
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665:. Retrieved
659:
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641:. Retrieved
634:the original
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605:. Retrieved
598:the original
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515:. Retrieved
502:
484:Salmon River
473:
469:
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453:
324:
316:
300:Salmon River
281:
253:Idaho at an
239:Idaho County
230:
229:
15:
1267:Mount Idaho
1244:Ghost towns
1171:communities
1103:Grangeville
1075:Grangeville
1068:County seat
890:December 2,
858:December 2,
667:December 8,
643:December 8,
607:December 8,
571:December 8,
546:December 8,
517:December 8,
461:Mount Idaho
308:Grangeville
140: /
128:116°01′42″W
1333:Categories
1204:Greencreek
1184:Clearwater
1129:White Bird
1093:Cottonwood
1016:- Florence
1003:- Florence
494:References
454:The first
249:in remote
235:ghost town
125:45°30′04″N
33:Ghost town
1295:Footnotes
1098:Ferdinand
255:elevation
196:Time zone
187:Elevation
1252:Florence
1209:Harpster
1179:Burgdorf
1159:Elk City
1010:Archived
985:Archived
312:Elk City
296:Lewiston
231:Florence
102:Florence
72:Florence
1229:Syringa
1224:Pollock
1119:Riggins
1114:Kooskia
435:source:
288:Orofino
247:Riggins
154:Country
1257:Joseph
1234:Warren
1219:Lucile
1214:Lowell
1199:Golden
1124:Stites
1108:Kamiah
1085:Cities
829:Lanham
488:Lucile
456:quartz
430:−61.5%
415:−65.4%
400:122.9%
340:Census
284:Pierce
272:Warren
267:placer
176:County
1189:Dixie
884:(PDF)
877:(PDF)
852:(PDF)
845:(PDF)
765:(PDF)
733:(PDF)
637:(PDF)
626:(PDF)
601:(PDF)
590:(PDF)
536:(PDF)
511:(PDF)
385:13.6%
243:Idaho
233:is a
224:(PDT)
222:UTC-7
201:UTC-8
181:Idaho
169:Idaho
164:State
1194:Fenn
892:2012
860:2012
773:2012
741:2012
669:2016
645:2016
609:2016
573:2016
548:2016
519:2016
421:1910
406:1900
391:1890
376:1880
361:1870
349:Note
344:Pop.
286:and
263:seat
1151:CDP
827:.
410:135
395:390
380:175
365:154
237:in
215:DST
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425:52
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1287:‡
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370:—
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203:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
