BY KAREN BOSSICK

A presentation looking at the gold mining that occurred in and around the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River will kick off three events examining mining history of the Stanley area.

FIRST UP:

Local historian and mining expert Tom Blanchard will discuss The Yankee Fork: Idaho’s Centennial Park and the gold mining that occurred in that area east of Stanley at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 6.

The one-room Custer Schoolhouse served mining families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. COURTESY: Tom Blanchard

Blanchard said he could not understand the history of the area without a knowledge of the mining history of Idaho and the West: “Miners were our ‘founding fathers’ who brought their values from the more developed regions of the US. We still reflect those values in many ways."

RSVP to see the presentation in person at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/16564293. The program also will be livestreamed at https://vimeo.com/event/5850726 and recorded to watch later at The Library’s Archive.

SECOND:

Historian Erik J. Freeman will present a program on “George Blackmon’s Dreams in the White Clouds” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 28.

George Z. Blackmon, was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1854 but experienced freedom as an orphan at age 10 and became one of the first black settlers in central Idaho.

After working as a steamboat fireman on the Mississippi River and learning to read in a Quaker household in Minneapolis, he worked as a miner in Helena, Mont., and Deadwood, S.D. He finally settled in the East Fork mining district in the White Cloud Mountains near the Born Lakes and Fourth of July Lake.

Freeman has been researching recently acquired collections at The Community Library to understand why Blackmon chose central Idaho as his home. And, he says, he believes Blackmon believed that he could realize his dream of creating a thriving black community there more than anywhere else. His dream was not realized, even though he located profitable ore.

Watch the presentation in person by registering at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/16656263. The program will be livestreamed at https://vimeo.com/event/5839460 and available to watch later at the Library Archive.

FINALLY:

An all-day Field Trip on History and Mining in the Stanley Basin will be led by Tom Blanchard and Erik Freeman on Saturday, June 13.

A bus will be provided, leaving at 8 a.m. from the front of The Gold Mine Thrift and Consign stores. It will include stops at the Stanley Museum, Clayton, Museum, Yankee Fork Dredge and the ghost town of Custer. A $15 suggested donation is asked to help cover the costs of the bus; participants are asked to bring a sack lunch, snacks and water.

Reserve your seat at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/16684585.

The three events are sponsored by the Wood River Museum of History + Culture.

Questions? Contact Kristine Bretall, community engagement manager at the Wood River Museum at kbretall@comlib.org. Or, call 208-726-8118.

#P@#The Yankee Fork Dredge, one of the best-preserved dredges in the Lower 48, dredged the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River from 1940 to 1952.