Idaho · Ghost town
Bayhorse
A silver camp founded in 1877 that stood closed to the public for decades because the ground was too contaminated to walk on.
Position Custer County, Idaho · 44.3978, -114.3117
Bayhorse was founded in 1877 in Custer County, though real development did not begin until 1880. Silver from nearby deposits supported it, and for a few years in the 1880s it was a substantial camp.
Its later history is the interesting part. The site sat closed for many years because mine tailings had left heavy metals across the ground, and it could not be safely opened until the contamination was addressed. That work was done and the site is now part of a state park.
That history is a useful corrective to the romance of these places. A mining town is an industrial site, and the industry left more behind than photogenic timber.
Charcoal kilns, a mill and a number of buildings survive above the Salmon River.
Facts checked against the Wikipedia article Bayhorse, Idaho. The words above are ours.