BURKE, Shoshone Co., ID
By
LOCATED JUST
northeast of Wallace, Idaho, Canyon Creek Canyon cuts back into
the Coeur d’Alene Mountains, which run along the Idaho-Montana border in
Idaho’s upper panhandle. About seven miles from Wallace, BURKE is at the upper end of a string
of seven mining camps that run between GEM
and BURKE. BURKE
is the withered remains of what was once a true silver mining boomtown. Today,
its main claim to fame is the massive buildings that were once the Hecla Mining
Company offices and mine. The early
history of Burke and the history of the Hecla Mining Company are
intertwined.
The story of BURKE begins in 1884, with the
discovery of rich silver ore. Mines and mills
popped up in the surrounding hillsides, and
within three years BURKE was a true
boomtown filled with wooden buildings and a railroad. The biggest mine in the early days was the Hercules
Mine, which operated until 1925, and its mill lasting at least
through 1938. The Hecla Mine got off to
a little slower start.
The Hecla
was originally discovered by James Toner, on May 5, 1885. His 20-acre silver-lead claim was one of many
in the rich Coeur d’Alene Mining District.
He sold it, and the mine changed hands several times before it was
purchased for $150 by a group of seven investors on October 14, 1891. They incorporated the Hecla Mining Company,
and leased out the property. Seven years
and only $14,000 in production later, they recapitalized, booted the leasers
out and began mining themselves. In 1900
they were well on their way, having built up a large surface plant to process
their ore. By the end of the year, the HECLA MINE produced $229,500 worth of
ore. Just over 15 years after its
discovery, the mine became one of the top producers in BURKE, outlasting its nearest competitor, the HERCULES.
Through the ups
and downs of the first two decades of the 20th Century, the HECLA was a true bright spot, pumping
out its silver, lead and zinc treasures.
In 1922, the neighboring STAR MINE was purchased by the Hecla Mining
Company, and the two mines were then connected by a two-mile long underground
tunnel. Both mines were operated from
the BURKE headquarters. The massive complex of wooden offices and
mills towered over BURKE, which was
shoehorned along the base of the steep-walled canyon.
BURKE was a disaster waiting to happen. It was a compact cluster of wooden buildings
jammed into the bottom of a narrow canyon.
Because of the narrowness of that hundred-yard wide canyon, the railroad
ran through the middle of town. Most
towns had main streets. BURKE had a
railroad. Because of this narrowness,
most of BURKE’s buildings crowded up
against the railroad, or spanned over it.
Some sources even say that storekeepers had to retract their store
awnings when trains went by, to avoid having the trains rip them off the
buildings. One of the most unique
buildings was the Tiger Hotel, built in 1888 by S. S. Glidden. It was actually built spanning the railroad,
the narrow roadway and Canyon Creek, all of which ran through the hotel’s lobby. When a second railroad ran up the one street
in 1890, it also went through the Tiger’s lobby. Where else could travelers step off their
train directly into the lobby of the hotel?
Very few wooden
mining towns with BURKE’s character
escaped the ravages of fire. On July 13,
1923, the inevitable happened. Fire
ripped through the claustrophobic mass of buildings, quickly burning nearly
three-quarters of BURKE, and
reducing the HECLA MINE office and
milling complex to charcoal. Within 18
months of the fire, it was business as usual.
BURKE and the HECLA came back – in brick, the HECLA
MINE office was built of brick and overlooks the
entire town.
The 1930s were
not kind to the town or the mine. Along
with the onset of the Great Depression, zinc prices collapsed, and the STAR MINE closed, but the HECLA still operated. When census enumerators arrived in BURKE for
the 1930 census, they managed to find 800 people. But, the good times were over. The STAR
reopened in 1936, but the HECLA
closed in 1944, after producing nine million tons of ore, yielding 41 million
ounces of silver, 732,000 tons of lead and 41,275 tons of zinc, worth some $81
million.
Unlike most mining
towns when their main mine closes, BURKE
managed to cling to life. The Hecla
Mining Company purchased a number of other mines throughout the West,
continuing to operate out of their office in BURKE. In 1962, the Star
Mine was consolidated with the inoperative Hecla and several
other mines, and continued to be run out of the massive brick and concrete
complex in Burke.
By 1971 BURKE had faded to a couple saloons and
a small general store. The Union Pacific
Railroad continued shipping
ore from the HECLA complex but live
was REAL SLOW! In 1980, the census
counted 15 people. In 1982, the end
finally came. The Star Mine closed after
reaching the 8100 level, with its temperatures around 130º and 100%
humidity. That year Hecla closed its
offices and mill complex in Burke, which were then fenced off and posted
against trespass.
Today’s BURKE can pretty much be divided into
four distinct parts.
1.
The first would be the residential
area, a string of mostly occupied cabins
along the north side of the road at the southwest end of town.
2.
Then comes central
BURKE with
its massive brick and concrete Hecla Mining
Company complex along the south side of the road.
3.
The former business
district,
now is just a row
of single-story brick building
shells sitting across the street from and just to
the east of the HECLA offices. Long
abandoned, these weathered
buildings are well on the road to ruin.
4.
The upper east end, with its massive crib
wall that may have once supported the Hercules
Mill. Standing on top of a knoll
overlooking the rest of town a two-story
brick building with a full basement sits at the top of a
long set of concrete
steps. Just to the west of the
brick building are concrete mill
foundations.
All buildings
in BURKE are showing the neglect
from nearly 30 years of abandonment. The
HECLA’s massive brick
and concrete
buildings are still standing and highly visible from the road that squeezes
past the mill
building in the bottom of the narrow canyon. The unused, covered walkway, rusted metal
head frame, rusted ore
chutes and broken windows all lend a unique aura
to this dead mine. Other interesting
items at the mine complex include a small slash
burner, railroad
lines and a concrete-covered viaduct through which the highly polluted creek
runs, the viaduct and all the rocks in the creek bed stained rusty
brown.
The Hecla Mine complex is still owned by the very much still
alive Hecla Mining Company, and contains some of the largest,
most solid and still-intact buildings I’ve ever seen remaining in a ghost town.
The former
business district still has a few identifiable buildings including an old
automobile repair garage,
a second repair garage with its famous “Ghost
Town Auto” sign now signifying the truth about the
town, roofless
store and
what appears to have been a saloon.
A few people do still live here,
so please respect their privacy and property rights.
Location:
·
SE¼
Sec 9, T48N, R5E, Boise Meridian/Baseline
·
Latitude: 47.5202080 / 47° 31’ 13” N
·
Longitude: -115.8201604 /
115° 49’ 13” W
This was our
Ghost Town of the Month for April 2010.
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FIRST
POSTED: March 31, 2010
LAST
UPDATED: May 01, 2010
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