SILVER CITY, UNITED STATES $ 10.00

Silver City, Idaho Town Tour

This tour provides a glimpse of Silver City before it became a ghost town, when thousands of people made it their home here and businesses thrived with money brought in from the area mines. This photo shows the town in its heyday around the turn of the century. 

Silver City was founded in 1864. Initially Ruby City was the main city in the area, but due to Silver City's proximity to the mines and wider valley with better building sites, many buildings were moved from Rudy City to Silver and soon Ruby City was completely abandoned.

Silver City had two boom and bust cycles. The first boom occurred in 1864, when gold was initially discovered by Michael Jordan and the original 29 on what is now called Jordan Creek. Silver City grew quickly with mining focused on War Eagle Mountain. However, in the 1870s a financial crisis caused by bank failures in California sent Silver City into decline with many mines closing and people leaving the town to find work elsewhere. The area rebounded in the 1890s with gold and silver veins being discovered on Florida Mountain. The town flourished for another 20 years until the mines eventual ran cold. Silver City went into steep decline after 1910. It remained the county seat until 1934 when it was moved to Murphy. After that the town was nearly abandoned except for a few hardy old timers. Many building were lost from 1934 until the town was rediscovered as a summer getaway in the 1960s when people, many who are decendents of former residents, began to return and restore the once bustling town. 

Two streets make up most of the town. The street you drove in on, Jordan Street, goes by the Idaho Hotel past where the Red Light District was located and ends where the town’s Chinese population largely resided, the current site of the BLM campground and only public restrooms.

The tour starts at the Idaho Hotel, continues up Avalanche Street and then up Washington Street, the other main street of Silver. The tour then returns to Jordan Street before heading up to Morning Star Street where it concludes. 

Enjoy the tour.