Old Railroads

The 1898-99 boom brought eastern money: the Boston and Seven Devils Copper Company paid $1,000,000 for the Peacock, Helena and White Monument mines, and crews of Austrian laborers dug railroad grade. The Pacific and Idaho Northern did reach Council in 1899 and made it the district's shipping point, but quarrels among the mine owners stalled the line into the mountains, and little more than a half-mile of grade was finished near the mines. Landore, founded in 1898, got its smelter instead; it worked mainly from 1904 to 1906.

What the plaque says

Old Railroads An ambitious railroad project to a high Seven Devils copper mine (elevation 6800 ft.) created a lot of excitement here in 1898-1899. This would have been Idaho's highest mountain railroad if funding had been available to complete it. Construction began near a canyon rim more than a vertical mile above Snake River. Although it never got anywhere, that grade still can be seen near Kinney Point. Remains of an old mining smelter at Landore also survive from that time. 420 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McCall Smokejumper Base — 20 mi
  Where conscientious objectors in the Second World War parachuted onto forest fires, and were shunned in camp for it.

More markers nearby

• Mesa Orchards — 7.0 mi
• Packer John's Cabin — 19 mi
• Long Valley Ambush — 24 mi
• An Early Industry — 26 mi