High Times in the Bitterroots

Historic downtown Wallace, Idaho, celebrates its Wild West past.

- Leo.W. Banks

When the Bitterroot Mountains exploded in wildfires in 1910, Buffalo Soldiers from the 25th Infantry helped evacuate the town of Wallace, Idaho. The blaze, possibly the largest forest fire in American history, destroyed a third of downtown.

The story is part of the rich history that played out in the so-called silver capital of the world. Some 1.2 billion ounces have been pulled from the surrounding mountains since 1884. That history includes Wallace twice living under martial law, in 1892 and 1899, as angry miners fought management bosses.

“When you’ve been in a hole for 14 hours and told you might lose your job by people who’ve been counting money all their lives, you get upset,” says Chamber of Commerce Coordinator Dave Copelan. “That rebel tradition is still part of our character.”

But Wallace today has the look of a contented place, a picture-book town set in a deep canyon, its walls thick with sheltering pines. Moose and elk sometimes roam the streets of the city, and although the population rarely tops 800, Wallace has a dozen saloons and two microbreweries.