10/31/2014
Kellogg Idaho
Kellogg Idaho
Kellogg is the main commercial center on the western side of the Coeur d'Alene mining district. The slightly older and more compact city of Wallace is the eastern center of that district. Both were founded in the 1880s. By 1920 Kellogg had the larger population of the two although Kellogg never developed a commercial core as extensive as Wallace. Kellogg's population peaked in 1960 at 5,061 and has since fallen to 2,151 (2013). There are still active silver mines around Kellogg although they aren't nearly as productive as they once were. Mining activity sharply decreased in the district after WWII.
Kellogg Idaho
A few key historic events occurred in and around Kellogg but not much has been done to commemorate them. Wardner Idaho which is attached to Kellogg's south end figured prominently in both the 1892 and 1899 labor unrest in the Coeur d'Alene district. The Bunker Hill mine in Wardner was the flash point of the 1899 dispute. In 1899 miners seized a train loaded with dynamite in Burke and drove it 19 miles to Wardner where they used the dynamite to blow up the Bunker Hill mine and mill. The Sunshine Mine, just east of Kellogg was the site of one of the worst mining accidents in US history. In 1972, 91 miners died as a result of a fire in that mine. Both the Bunker Hill and Sunshine mine sites have been demolished and cleaned up. There wasn't anything that I could find that commemorated the site of the Bunker Hill mine. The Sunshine mine has likewise been mostly obliterated. A memorial to the victims of the Sunshine mine disaster has been built about a mile from the mine site along I-90. There is a small history museum and welcome center in the old train station near downtown Kellogg. For the most part though, the locals in Kellogg seem focused on reinventing the town as a ski and golf resort.
Kellogg Idaho
The Silver Mountain Ski resort in Kellogg has a gondola which takes guests to a lodge, three miles away near the top of Kellogg mountain. A golf course has been developed on the site of a tailings/slag pile west of town. Aside from part of a mine/smelter operation that is currently being used as a local government operations center, almost all of the structures from Kellogg's industrial past have been demolished. The ski resort and golf course are detached from Kellogg's historic core but probably provide customers for the businesses that survive in downtown Kellogg. Smelterville which is the site of a mostly inaccessible mine/mill ruin is a few miles west of Kellogg. Wallace and Burke are 15-20 miles east.
Kellogg Idaho
Kellogg Idaho
Kellogg Idaho
Kellogg Idaho
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