When the party of men under Moses Splawn and George Grimes discovered gold on Grimes Creek in 1862, the stampede to Boise Basin began. This vast basin was one of the major discoveries of the gold rush early years, and people flocked in from all directions. Towards the end of 1863 there were estimates of twenty thousand people scattered troughout the hills. Boise Basin area contains the communities of Idaho City, Centerville, Pioneerville, Placerville and Quartzburg.

Idaho City is one fampous mining camp that has refused to die and instead has prospered into the thriving community that it is today. During its early years it was knows Bannock City or West Bannock to differentiate between Bannock, Montana, since at that time both towns were in Idaho Territory. In 1863, Idaho City had a propulation of six thousand and was being seriously considered for the territorial capital. It lost out, however, and in 1864 the territorial capital was moved to Boise City from Lewinston. With the printing of The Boise News in 1863, Idaho City could at least boast it had a newspaper a year earlier than Boise. The Boise News was later changed to The Idaho World.

This is the Court House, formerly the Orchard Hotel

The immediate area around Idaho City has been extensively placer mined and dredge tailings for miles along Mores Creek. Even the buildings in town were raised up on piulings so the ground underneath could be mined.

City Hall, built 1891, originally an elementary school

City Hall by night

Boot Hill Cemetery

Large pine trees which have grown up inside grave enclosures attest to distant date of burial

Many headboards tell stories of murders, shootings and hangings.