Seven Devils Mines

The Peacock lode was found on July 4, 1862, and its first ore ran 35 to 40 percent copper, rich enough to haul a hundred miles to Weiser by wagon. Albert Kleinschmidt, a Helena, Montana, merchant, bought in from 1885 and finished his 22-mile grade to the river at Ballard's Ferry on July 31, 1891, for $20,000. The steamboat that failed was the Norma, named for his daughter and built at Huntington that year. She made only two ore trips, then left the upper river for good, running Hells Canyon down to Lewiston in May 1895.

What the plaque says

Seven Devils Mines More than a century ago, miners faced a hopeless problem of hauling copper ore to this canyon for shipment to smelters. They started with Albert Kleinschmidt's road grade down from their mine, more than a vertical mile above Snake River, and more than 30 miles downstream from here. After a steamboat failed in 1891, a railroad (now under water) was built past here to their river landing. That did not work either. Large ore trucks finally solved their problem in 1968. 378 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Brownlee Ferry — steps away