Pearl

The gold had been known for a generation. Quartz from Willow Creek caused a stir in Boise on December 7, 1867, but the district lay nearly idle until the Panic of 1893 sent capital back to gold. The Owyhee mine developer W. H. Dewey took over the main mine in November 1896, power came up from a plant on the Payette in April 1903, and the Lincoln mine went into receivership in 1908. The post office closed in 1928, the last buildings were razed in the spring of 2004, and the townsite is private land.

What the plaque says

Pearl Gold mines high on a ridge above here maintained an industrial community at Pearl from 1894 to 1910 when ore ran out. Now a silent reminder of Gem County's major gold rush, Pearl once boasted of 3 mercantile stores, a butcher shop, 4 saloons, 2 hotels, one church, one school, a fire station, and an Odd Fellows Lodge. Although Pearl has deteriorated slowly since 1910, the lure of gold has continued to spark interest there as recently as 1982. 447

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Idaho State Capitol — 21 mi
  Walls hauled from the prison quarry, heat pumped from 3,000 feet down, and its newest rooms built underground.
• Basque Block — 21 mi
  A merchant's 1864 brick house became the boardinghouse where herders from the Basque Country found beds, meals and their own language.
• Old Idaho Penitentiary — 23 mi
  A territorial prison that ran for 101 years on conditions that barely changed, and closed the year its prisoners burned it.
• Banks and the North Fork Payette — 24 mi
  Where the Payette's two forks meet, below fifteen miles of continuous Class V whitewater beside the highway.

More markers nearby

• Freezeout Hill — steps away
• Black Canyon Dam — 6.1 mi
• The Ward Massacre — 14 mi
• Horse Shoe Bend — 14 mi