Silver Valley Girl

Today I give you a guest post from Silver Valley Girl, a North Idaho blogger from Kellogg, a picturesque mining town about 30 miles from where I live. She's a writer, singer, actor, educator, and mother of three. In other words, she's very busy. But she took the time to write a post to introduce herself, and her beloved hometown, to my readers.


Silver Bloggin'
by Silver Valley Girl

Blogging was an unknown phenomenon to me until my brother, Raymond Pert at Kellogg Bloggin', started writing daily almost two years ago. It was so interesting to learn about what he was thinking about, and how he viewed the world.

Early the following year, I decided to jump in and start my own blog, Silver Valley Stories. My motivation was to share stories from the daily goings on with my husband and three daughters, share stories about growing up here in North Idaho, and also share some history about the Silver Valley.

My sister Inland Empire Girl also started a blog around the same time at Gathering Around The Table.

With the three siblings now blogging, each week we rotate giving each other a sibling assignment. Sometimes it is recalling a memory or event from our past and telling our version of what happened. Sometimes we take pictures. The assignments are always very revealing.

I was born and raised in Kellogg, Idaho, part of what is known as the Silver Valley. This area was originally inhabited by the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe for years as their hunting and fishing grounds. Then Jesuit Priests came to the area and built a mission, called The Cataldo Mission, which was completed in the 1850’s. It is the oldest standing building in Idaho.

Soon after, in the 1860’s, the army commissioned Capt. John Mullan to build a military road from Walla Walla, Washington to Fort Benton, Montana. The road was constructed right by the Cataldo Mission, and is now most of what we know as Interstate 90.

In the early 1880’s gold was discovered in the Murray and Prichard areas of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. Prospectors flocked to this area, creating mining boom towns. As the gold rush died down, an old prospector named Noah Kellogg explored the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, and, in 1885, discovered an outcropping of galena. This discovery led to the formation of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining Company.

Soon, other silver and lead mines were discovered along the south fork, and this area became one of the largest silver producing areas in the world.

This history didn’t interest me growing up. But after I had lived in Montana and southern Idaho for about 15 years, we returned home to Kellogg. I realized my dad, who was born in Kellogg in 1930, was born into a very "young" area. Noah had only discovered the Bunker Hill Mine 45 years before my dad was born. This information fascinated me. My family were pioneers in a new and growing mining area, one of the last frontiers discovered in this country.

I am currently writing a historical fiction novel on the Silver Valley, and enjoy reliving some of the past through the eyes of the characters in my book, as they observe the forming of the mining unions, labor and union unrest, and life in the early days of this mining region.

Not only am I interested in telling the history of the early Silver Valley, but also the history of my father’s family, and writing my own stories of history here in Kellogg. I also enjoy hearing from other people who live or have lived in the Silver Valley during their lifetime, and hearing their stories as well.

Drop by at Silver Valley Stories and look back on my archives to find out some stories about the Silver Valley.


Kellogg, Idaho, from atop Silver Mountain