Gilmore

The town is misspelled. Its Pennsylvania owners meant to call it Gilmer, for their friend Jack Gilmer of the Gilmer and Salisbury stage lines, and sent the name to Washington in 1902; the post office came back approved as Gilmore, and a request to correct it was refused. When the railroad arrived in 1910 the town grew up around the depot, a third of a mile from the older buildings by the mines. After the explosion and the Depression the mines closed, the post office lasted until 1957, and about two dozen buildings still stand.

What the plaque says

Gilmore Lack of a good transportation system delayed serious lead and silver mining at Gilmore from 1880 to 1910. Construction of a branch railroad from Montana to serve this mining area resulted in a production of $11,520,852 before a power plant explosion halted operations here in 1929. Old Gilmore and Pittsburgh Railway grades are visible north of here, and remnants of Gilmore, where current residents still preserve its heritage, remain from that bygone mining era. 234 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Charcoal Kilns — 12 mi
• Cote's Defile — 12 mi
• Bannock Pass — 25 mi
• Prehistoric Man — 27 mi