Small mining community near Challis rose and fell in 30 years, and now it’s one of Idaho’s ghost towns
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Gold had been discovered in the Sawtooth Mountains.
It was 1879, thirty years after the California Gold Rush, and dozens of people from the southern United States, had come to central Idaho seeking their fortune.
Samuel Holman was an attorney who filed one of the first gold claims in the area. He laid out the plots for a community to establish a mine. Soon after, the townsite of Custer — named for Civil War General George Armstrong Custer — was born.
Over the next 31 years, the small community attracted more than 300 people. By 1910, the town folded and quickly faded into history. By the 1960s, it was a historic site managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Today, the old ghost town is managed by a nonprofit called The Land of the Yankee Fork Historical Association. Custer Days, an annual event held on the second Saturday in July, attracts a large crowd every year for tours and reenactments. Thousands of tourists visit the site every summer.
On this episode of “It’s Worth Mentioning,” — a podcast about local history — Rett Nelson makes a trip to Custer and interviews Diane Davidson, chair of the Land of the Yankee Fork Historical Association, on location. She has ancestral ties to the area dating back seven generations. They discuss the rise and fall of the short-lived community and the reasons behind it. They also get into the people and players involved in its founding, those who lived here during its heyday, and what daily life was like.
Later, they talk about what led to the town’s closure, its rediscovery three decades later, and why it holds such an important place in Davidson’s heart.
If you’re a fan of ghost towns and Old West history, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!
Visit the town’s Facebook page for regular updates and stories about the town’s history.
Previous episodes are available in the audio player below. Watch previous episodes here.
If you have a guest idea or a topic you’d like us to explore, email rett@eastidahonews.com.