Yankee Fork Mines

The stampede this sign quotes was reported by the Salt Lake Tribune in April 1879, and it came at an awkward moment. The General Custer lode, found in August 1876, had been tied up in title litigation. Seven or eight thousand people reached these mountains that summer to find almost no work; by fall Bonanza had settled to a few hundred. The district produced $420,000 that year, and passed a million only after the Custer's thirty-stamp mill was finished at the end of 1880. Idaho's transportation department could not find this sign in March 2021.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Yankee Fork Gold Dredge — 7.3 mi
  A 988-ton floating gold dredge worked five miles of valley for twelve years, and spent more than it found.

More markers nearby

• Stanley Ranger Station — 10 mi
• Bear's "Ploughed Field" — 10 mi
• Clayton Smelter — 17 mi
• Sawtooth City — 25 mi