Lost in SIlver City, Idaho - a ghost town

When I was a kid, we drove to Silver City, Idaho for a peek at the old ghost town in the Owyhee Mountains. To get there is no easy feat.  You have to find a bridge to cross the Snake River of which there are very few and head toward the mountains on narrow winding dirt roads. I was too young to drive so it was just a long 50 mile drive from Caldwell, Idaho.  Back then, we only had a radio in the car - nothing else to entertain children.

As you can see, there are still about 50 buildings and many streets.  At its peak the population was about 2500 around 1874.  There were at least 700 chinese, 300 homes, 75 businesses and they mined silver and gold to the tune of $60,000,000.

It was the second time in my life that I got lost.  The first was in the City of Rock (close to Almo, Idaho) and now the other was at Silver City.  I wandered off not watching where I was going. I knew it was a ghost town but such a big ghost town with many dirt roads and hills and valleys - I really got scared and started to cry.  No one would ever find me.

I remember hearing about all those Chinese people who had lived there and no one knows where they went - there are no graves there for them.  Did they die in the mines? Are their souls meandering throughout the streets and in the old buildings?  That mystery has never been solved.  I am here today so eventually, someone found me and helped me back to my mom.