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Blaine County was created by the state legislature on March 5,
1895, by combining Alturas and
The county is named after former congressman
and 1884 Republican presidential nominee James G. Blaine (1830-93). Born in
The
After
The
county began to recast itself as a tourism destination in 1936 with the opening
of the Sun Valley Resort, originally owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. The
area soon attracted celebrity visitors, and later residents, most notably Ernest Hemingway, who is buried in the
Bellevue is located in
the
Carey is primarily an agricultural
city and is the location of the Blaine County Fairgrounds. Nearby recreational
destinations include the Craters of the
Moon National Monument,
Hailey is named after John
Hailey, a two-time Congressional delegate from the
Ketchum was originally the smelting center of
the Warm Springs mining district, the town was first named Leadville in 1880.
The postal department decided that was too common and renamed it for David
Ketchum, a local trapper and guide who had staked a claim in the basin a year
earlier. Smelters were built in the 1880s, with the Philadelphia
Smelter, located on
After the
mining boom subsided in the 1890s, sheepmen from the
south drove their herds north through Ketchum in the summer, to graze in the
upper elevation areas of the Pioneer,
After the
development of
Sun Valley is a
resort city with a population of about 1,406. The first destination winter
resort in the
Schaffgotsch was impressed by the combination of
Pioneering publicist Steve Hannigan, who had
successfully promoted
Historic
The
Swiss-style Sun Valley Inn (formerly the "Challenger Inn")
and village were also part of the initial resort, opening in 1937. Hannigan wanted swimming pools at the resort, "so
people won't think skiing is too cold." Both the Lodge and the
Visitors
to
Sometimes
the heavens open up and shine down upon us. While the Aspens were sparse, the
God Rays electrified a small grove on them in the distance. Located
in the Sawtooth Valley of Sawtooth
National Recreation Area,
Unincorporated communities: Picabo, Triumph,
and
Picabo is an unincorporated
community. The community is surrounded by large ranches and irrigated fields.
The name "Picabo" supposedly derives from a
Native American term translated as "silver water". The name “Picabo” was made familiar by
In 1975,
the entire community was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a
historic district.[
Triumph is an unincorporated village in
the East Fork of Big Wood River. Triumph was the location of the famous Triumph
Mine, which closed in 1957 after a history of producing millions of dollars in
silver and lead since its discovery in the late 19th century. It is located
approximately 12 miles north of Hailey. Population is less than 50 full-time
residents.
The
Triumph mine was first discovered in 1883 with the recording of the North Star
claim. Additional claims were grouped together over the next 20 years and
operated as 14 separate mining companies. All the ore was processed by the
Philadelphia Mining and Smelting Company in Ketchum. The North Star mill was
built in 1889 by the Freedman's of The Philadelphia Company. They were bought
out by George Hurst around 1927 and his San Louise Mining Company. In 1933,
fire destroyed the stamp mill works and ore was stockpiled. Around 1937 the
Department of the interior, under the contro; of The
War Department, expanded the Triumph Mine. Federal money built a modern sink
float mill, new offices, warehouses and a Main Tunnel that went straight into
the mountain for a mile and a half. The small companies were joined to form
"The Triumph Mining Co" who, at its WW2 peak, employed 200 men, 24
hours a day, and held the world record for zinc. By 1959, lead, silver, and
zinc prices had fallen to half of the WW2 price while union labour
was demanding higher wages. The mine was shut down in 1959 and sold to the
Forman. Rupert House formed the Triumph Mineral Company in 1964 and began
mining again in 1970. In 1982 the mine was leased to The Getty Mining Company
and they did an extensive drilling and exploration of both the Mine and the
Tailings. Company records show about $45,000,000 in gold left in the Tailings
but the gold was not a strategic metal and was not of interest to the War
Department. In 1988 the EPA listed Triumph as a Potencial
Hazard so in the next 10 years they spent millions on a bureaucratic boondoggle
(Clean up). The EPA and State, instead of recovering the gold to pay for the
cleanup, buried it. In 2007 the Triumph Mine was purchased by Carl Massaro. The goal was to build a small solar village on the
mill site and a large solar collector as suggested by the new EPA's "Mine
Scarred Program". This solar project met with public criticism and
ultimately failed. The mountain was sold to Denovo in
2008 but "The Triumph Mineral Co" holds the tailings with plans for a
solar project in the works for that site. The Denovo
Company has cleaned the site and plans additional land uses. Although the mine
sill has resources, and agreement was reached by State and Local authorities,
to never mine again.
Headwaters of the Salmon River northwest side of
Additional Blaine
County History
Source: Wikipedia, Blaine County, El-Wyhee
Hi-Lites, Elmore County Press, City of Ketchum, City of Bellevue, & City of
Hailey.