Diamond Gulch

Lyon, appointed by Lincoln in 1864, had already proved deeply unpopular when he came back from the East late in 1865 with his stones, and he made at least one good trade: the mine owner D. H. Fogus took a diamond and gave him a silver bar worth five hundred dollars. The 1892 excitement left a name behind. Jack Davis was working a Silver City mine that summer, and the diamond talk in the hills earned him the nickname he later carried into the Cassia County jail: Diamondfield Jack.

What the plaque says

Diamond Gulch In December, 1865, Idaho's governor -- Caleb Lyon of Lyonsdale -- set off a wild rush to Diamond Gulch, visible a few miles west of here, with a story that was too good to be true. He told miners in Silver City that a prospector had given him some priceless diamonds from that area. Enough gems of interest to rock hounds were found there to maintain a diamond frenzy that winter. A similar excitement followed in 1892, but no actual diamonds ever were recovered in Diamond Gulch. 454

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Silver City — 15 mi
  An Owyhee silver camp that faded but never quite emptied, still lit by twelve-volt bulbs.
• World Center for Birds of Prey — 28 mi
  The hilltop where the peregrine falcon was bred back from DDT, and where condors for the Grand Canyon country still hatch.

More markers nearby

• War Eagle Mines — steps away
• The Utter Disaster — 13 mi
• Steamer "Shoshone" — 13 mi
• Givens Springs — 20 mi