It was raining lightly when we got up on Saturday, so there were no walks. The forecast was for clouds all day with a chance of showers. Our first outing of the day was a drive to Costco to fill up on gas and wine and get something for meals at home. They had the delicious huge Costco chicken pot pies so we bought one. That will take care of our two nights eating in here (and then some).
In deciding what to do for the day, Elaine suggested that we visit a brothel museum in Wallace, ID. I was skeptical since it was an hour’s drive away. In the end we decided to do it. It turned out to be a great decision. So we heading out in Blue for the hour’s drive along I-90 (nice 75 mph speed limits most of the way).
Wallace (population 925) was and is a mining town located in Shoshone County. It is on a 100-year run as the world’s largest silver producer, thus making it the richest mining town still in existence. It is also the only town in America where every downtown building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The town took the step of seeking this registration to prevent the Federal Government from constructing Interstate 90 right through the middle of town. When it was planned and built back in the 1950’s, I-90 took heavy advantage of existing roads. The city won after a 17-year battle and I-90 through Wallace continued to be on it’s original main street. . Wallace was famous as the having the only stoplight on I-90 from its beginning in Boston to its terminus in Seattle. When the Feds finally constructed an viaduct around the town in 1991 to make I-90 bypass the town center, the citizens held a funeral for the stoplight that made national news. Wallace is also the site of the Sunshine Mine disaster in 1972 in which over 80 miners were killed. Finally, Wallace was the birthplace of Lana Turner .
We arrived in the pretty town at 11:30 am, so first order of business was lunch. We chose the historic 1313 Club. Inspired choice! It was great. The interior was like a museum. I had a cup of posole and a great bacon cheeseburger; Elaine had a salmon burger with huckleberry sauce. Everything was served with house made potato chips and everything was delicious.
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews show just thumbnails of the pictures
Then we had a nice walk about town snapping pictures and chatting with residents who are clearly very proud of their town (and rightly so).
Next on the agenda: a tour of an the Sierra Silver Mine.. There was no silver ever found at the Sierra, but a huge lode of silver was discovered just below where the Sierra owners gave up and halted operations. Desperate for miners back in boom days (think Hunt Brothers cornering the market), the city converted the Sierra into a training center for the town’s high school seniors who wanted to become miners. The center, which closed when silver dropped dramatically in price, was a huge success. Now the Sierra is a unique mine tour where you go through the mine with an actual miner and actually see original mining tools in operation. The miner also explains exactly what happened (fire) in the nearby Sunshine Mine back in 1972. Alas, the picture of us at the mine entrance came out very blurry – blame the miner who took it. Otherwise, he was a treat!
Next: A visit to the Oasis Brothel Museum. This is an actual brother, originally a small hotel, that was open legally and then illegally until 1988 when the FBI came to town to close it up. Tipped off just before the agents raided, the madame and her employees hastily gathered up what they could and escaped before the raid began, leaving behind everything in the kitchen and most of their personal items in their rooms. It was boarded up for years before being purchased by a local business man who turned it into the museum it is today. Below are pictures from the first floor museum and shop. Photographs were not allowed upstairs where the girls and their Madame lived. It’s all very interesting! Most of the final residents have returned to take the tour and were allowed to retrieve personal items. Most took a few things but decided to leave most items to be part of the authentic museum. Great fun here!
Finally we visited the old Northern Pacific Railroad Depot which is now a museum. It has all sorts of railroad memorabilia including a working model railway. But the gem of the museum was the Canadian man who comes down four times a year from Calgary to continue restoring the model railway. He is 91 years old! We were lucky to be here when he was here. The museum wasn’t busy and he chatted with us for a long time. Turns out his original occupation was as a projectionist and he was the man who restored the projector in the Oasis Bordello museum. He was fascinating; so fascinating that I missed getting key pictures. Next time.
Long day! Great day! If you are ever in Idaho, don’t miss Wallace! Then we drove home, had cocktails, chicken pot pie for dinner, and bed.
Tune in tomorrow.
Great bar, that’s a keeper for sure! Fun town, Wallace! Looks a tad cooler??
You guys really find the greatest spots to visit. What a great story and Wallace should be proud of itself. I love the interior of the 1313 Club, and the burgers look delicious.
How appropriate for a mining town to use mining carts as planters and who would have thought a brothel museum could be so cool. Good choice, Elaine.