Kloe's walk through The Staff House

Author’s note: Kloe’s Walk Through History is a regular bi-weekly feature. Kloe (pronounced like Chloe) McDonald is the daughter of staff writer Josh McDonald and is a local history enthusiast.

KELLOGG — Shoshone County Mining & Smelting Museum at the Staff House is one of Kellogg’s hidden gems, located on McKinley Avenue, the large edifice looks like a very plain, albeit very large house from a bygone era.

However, once you enter the front door, you immediately realize that there is far more than what initially meets the eye.

With three floors of displays discussing such topics as the histories of Kellogg and Wardner, the Bunker Hill Mine, as well as the evolution of Silver Mountain.

Kloe began her exploration on the top floor where she poured over maps of Kellogg and Wardner, it was there that she made her first discovery of the day.

While looking at some parcel maps from the 1960s, she was stunned to see that Kellogg had at one time boasted a Sears, J.C. Penney and Safeway, all in the uptown Kellogg area.

“Goodness, I knew we had more people back then than we do now, but I never realized that we had stores that were as big as those three here,” Kloe said. “You could almost never have to go anywhere else to get stuff.”

After walking through rooms devoted to the Sunshine Mine Disaster, the many schools of the Kellogg School District, she walked into another room that left her fairly speechless, but also happy to be living in this century as opposed to the previous one.

This particular room had to do with early 20th century fashion and while it was intriguing to see how folks dressed back then, Kloe wanted no part of it.

“I can’t imagine having to wear clothes like that every day,” Kloe said. “It looks like it would take a long time to get dressed and you wouldn’t be very comfortable.”

The main floor of the house holds the Silver Mountain exhibit, but also does well at providing an insightful look at what early home living looked like.

The main level also gives a historical overview of the building itself, which is almost as interesting as the contents of the museum by itself.

Built in 1906 as a home for Bunker Hill Mine manager Stanley Easton and his family (hence the name Staff House), the home was remodeled several times and then in 1940 the house was moved from its original location on McKinley Avenue down a few parcels to its current location and rotated 90 degrees (making the former west side of the house the new front).

The basement exhibits are devoted to local mining, with samples of the various rocks and minerals that are mined, as well as glass maps of the local mines, and countless tomes of mining history and records.

Kloe was immediately drawn to the pyromorphite display and was thrilled to hear about how rare it is.

After returning to the main lobby, exploring the gift shop, and buying a bag of locally mined lead, Kloe was more than ready to recommend the Shoshone County Mining & Smelting Museum to everyone.

“This museum has more information on Kellogg and the history around Kellogg than any other museum I’ve been to,” Kloe said. “Everything is easy to read and understand, which makes it more fun for kids. It was fun to learn more about the area I’m from.”

The Shoshone County Mining & Smelting Museum at the Staff House is located at 820 McKinley Ave. in Kellogg and is now in its summer hours of operation. The museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.