We arrived in Osburn, Idaho on Friday, July 21, 2017. On Saturday, we took our Jeep into Kellogg for its first oil change. After getting Dusty back from the dealer, we drove into Wallace, Idaho. Dave's grandfather was once the postmaster in Wallace. Dave's Mom was born here and was married in the local church. Once a thriving mining and logging town, Wallace earns its keep as a tourist destination. Here Dave visits with one of his long lost cousins.
Our first stop was the Oasis Brothel Museum. The Oasis became a museum by accident. Its women, convinced that the FBI was about to raid the place, fled in a panic and never came back. Its current owners have preserved it exactly as it was on that night -- so the museum is also a time machine, providing a view of the late 1980s through the unique prism of prostitutes in Wallace, Idaho, right down to the J.C. Penney catalogs on the coffee table and the video store rental list taped to the kitchen wall. This give you the idea.
Our next stop was the Northern Pacific Railroad Museum. The Northern Pacific Railway was the first of the three major Northwestern railroads to begin construction. Perhaps what the railroad is best remembered for is its Ying Yang herald and its distinguished flagship passenger train, the North Coast Limited, which used a beautiful two-tone green livery. Here is a model located on the second floor of the museum.
After reading all the exhibits, playing with the model trail and ringing a train bell, Kathy took a turn as the station master. One ringy dingy, two ringy dingy.....
The next museum on our list was the Sierra Silver Mine, just up one of the gulches from downtown Wallace.
Ownership of the mine changed hands several times. It was sporadically worked until a more thorough exploration took place in the 1960s, which involved sinking an incline shaft and running several hundred feet of drift. The showings failed to improve, and the mine remained idle until it was used as a lab site to teach local high school students mining skills. In 1982 a group of local business people formed the non-profit organization Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Inc. and they began taking folks underground and teaching them how miners get silver out of the mountain and into their lives.
After a short trolley ride, we met our tour guide at the entrance of the mine.
With temperatures in the 90s and not a cloud in the sky, we welcomed the chance to go underground.
Our tour guide is a retired hard rock miner. He had worked on all the equipment found in a mine. Before air quality monitoring equipment was invented, it was common for miners to bring their canaries to work.
Our guide demonstrated an air compressed drill.
To understand just how load this beast is, we took a video. Enjoy!
Once the holes in the wall have been drilled and the explosive charges set, next comes the big bang. Once the rock has been blown out, it is collected in these ore cars and then taken to the rail line to be shipped off to the smelter.
After our mine tour, we returned to downtown Wallace. Our next stop was Wallace Brewing Co.
However, we felt we needed to earn our beer. Mass transit 19th Century style are the Wallace Stairs. They are a series of recently restored stairs, most 100 ft. long and more, some with landings and decks. Since the town’s origins in the 1880s, people needed to climb from the main street level up to homes in the steep south hills. Today, climbers are treated to breathtaking views of mountain, river and townscape, fresh air and a fantastic cardio workout. It certainly was a work out!
On our trek from one staircase to the next, we passed by the Wallace City Pool. When Dave and his siblings were little shavers, they would take trips to Wallace to visit the grandparents. The city pool was a favorite stop.
Having conquered the stairs, we rewarded ourselves with some local brews.
Wallace is a very walkable town. We had a great time being tourists and tripping down memory lane.
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