In the heart of the picturesque Boise Basin lies Idaho City, ID, a living testimony to the indomitable spirit of the American West.
Once a rip-roaring mining camp, Idaho City was the center of one of the richest gold strikes in North America during the 1860's. For a time it was even the largest city in the Northwest.
Though the gold eventually gave out and the population shrank, Idaho City refused to die. Today, it lives on as both the county seat of Boise County and an important historical site. You can still see much of what made this once bustling, brawling mining town famous as the "Queen of the Gold Camps".
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Originally a blacksmith shop, former home of Idaho's oldest newspaper.
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Established 1863, first Catholic church for Euro-Americans in Idaho.
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Established 1865. Idaho's oldest existing store.
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Built 1867, home to Idaho's oldest functioning newspaper.
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Built 1875. Oldest Odd Fellows Lodge in Idaho.
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Built in 1865, one of the oldest buildings in the State and now home to the county offices.
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One of the State's most important historical structures, built in 1873, still in use as the Courthouse.
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Built in 1891, served as the school for 70 years. Now City Hall.
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Built in 1867, houses an extensive collection of early photographs, tools, and artifacts.
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Built of hand hewn logs in 1864.
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Built in 1865, reputedly the oldest temple west of the Mississippi.
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Built in 1867, the oldest known residential structure in Idaho City.
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The former home of a prosperous Chinese businessman, one of the thousands of Asians who came to mine in Idaho.
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Built in the late 1860's. An excellent example of early mining town houses, now with a manicured garden.
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