Hiking Thru Cities In History

Wallace is the county seat of Shoshone County in the Idaho Panhandle. In the spring of 1884, Colonel William R. Wallace built a cabin at a site he called "Placer Center." A Civil War veteran, Wallace was heavily involved in mining ventures after the war. Wallace flourished & by the fall of 1887 when its first school was opened, there were many saloons, one brewery, a large apartment building with a public hall, a hotel, and many stores and shops. On September 10, 1887, a narrow gauge rail line reached Wallace. Within two years the railroad offered regular service. On May 2, 1888 citizens voted for the town's incorporation, now to be called "Wallace", after the Colonel. Wallace adopted a "work hard, play hard" attitude & became well known for a permissive approach toward drinking, gambling and decriminalized prostitution. From 1884 to 1991 regulated brothel-based sex work openly flourished because locals believed that sex work prevented rape and bolstered the economy.

Originally called Las Placitas del Rio Bonito by the Spanish families who settled it in the 1850s, the name of the community was changed to Lincoln when Lincoln County was created in January 16, 1869. Lincoln county was founded by five cultures. First discovered and lived on by Natives, discovered again by Conquistadores, settled by Mexicans, then re-established by Anglo-Americans. It was named after Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was at the center of the Lincoln County War, 1876-1879, and is the historical home of Billy the Kid. The village holds an annual festival in August featuring an open-air enactment of The Last Escape of Billy the Kid.

15) Calico, California Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in California. In 1881, four prospectors left Grapevine Station for a mountain peak to the northeast.   The four men discovered silver in the mountain and opened the Silver King Mine, which was California's largest silver producer in the mid-1880s. in 1890 the population of the town was 3,500, with nationals of China, England, Ireland, Greece, France, and the Netherlands, as well as Americans. That same year, the Silver Purchase Act was enacted and drove down the price of silver.  By 1896, its value had decreased to $0.57 so Calico's silver mines were no longer economically viable. The post office was discontinued in 1898, and the school closed not long after. By the turn of the 20th century, Calico was all but a ghost town and with the end of borax mining in the region in 1907 the town was largely abandoned.