Get ready to Fall for History
Mike Branstetter reads from an old copy of "Law Governing the staking and filing of claims in the state of Idaho" to the crowd at Thursday night's Fall for History event at the Day Rock.
Chanse Watson
An original quartz mining claim notice signed and placed inside a tin can by Frank Morbeck at the location of the claim on March 7, 1967. This claim was found by Mike Branstetter on his property near Beaver Creek and presented to attendees Thursday night.
WALLACE — History buff's, unite!
The Wallace Chamber of Commerce is once again hosting its popular Fall for History event this weekend with a focus on a subject that locals may or may not have some familiarity with- Mining.
"Where did we get that one?" co-chair Janet Feiler asked with a grin. "It's been a great theme to work with. Everybody has been really excited about it and we've had a lot of buy-ins from the people who are in that business- Idaho mining. I think it's going to be very successful!"
The history fun kicked off Thursday night with an open-mike event, “Mining the Magnates and Mavericks,” at the Dayrock Underground. Mike Branstetter served as MC while men and women who left their mark in the mining industry shared tidbits about their lives underground.
The main events are planned to begin Friday afternoon when both the “Mining the Museums and Manuscripts” museum trolly tour and “Mining, Art” self-guided tour starts at 2 p.m.
Feiler explained that the free trolly tour is a new addition to the festival's lineup.
"We're going to have a hop-on/hop-off trolley, so people can be at any of the museums and be picked up and go to the next museum."
Each museum is slated to have mini-presentations that can be listened to on subjects related to mining. Guided tours of the Mining Heritage Exhibition will also be offered with scavenger hunts and gold-panning demonstrations.
Trolleys will run every 20-30 minutes and will start from the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot Museum.
The self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (repeats on Saturday as well) will take attendees to numerous sculptures, paintings, sketches and photography produced and inspired by Silver Valley mines and miners. Works include those of Ken Lonn, the late John Darrington, James Buckham, and Joel Tankersley.
To cap off the day, the Wallace Elks Lodge will play host to “Claim Your Grubstake” — a steak and/or chicken dinner at 6 p.m. where attendees can learn about the Silver Valley’s mining districts from experts Chris Pfahl, John Jordan, and Mike Dexter.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and tickets are $20.
Saturday's main event will be back-to-back opportunities to experience a two-hour Burke Canyon tour led by local expert Charlie Mooney. What makes the tour even more special is the use of Gravis Tech's "Historical Burke Tour project."
With roots in a project that Gravis Tech kicked off roughly four years ago, dubbed “Tour the Missing Buildings of Wallace,” this Burke Canyon specific project takes things one step further with the goal of immersing someone in the history of the area with the help of technology. The goal is for visitors to be able to see historical sites from many of the canyon’s old mining towns by utilizing panoramic images (around-me tours), then and now images taken from (roughly) the same spots, and colorized black and white images.
At 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., attendees are invited to the Wallace Carnegie Library for a short presentation on the project by Gravis Tech. The bus for the tour will then depart for the canyon following the presentations and will cost $20.
Self-guided tours will also be available at the Northern Pacific Depot Museum, Wallace Mining Museum, Barnard-Stockbridge Museum, and Mine Heritage Exhibition from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For the last day of the festival, Fall for History brings the bible belt to Wallace with the “Give Me That Old-time Religion” event. At 10 a.m., a circuit-riding preacher will arrive on a horse at the old Methodist Church in Wallace to deliver an old-time sermon to the congregation.
“He’ll do a little ‘fire and brimstone’ presentation and have the historic organ in that church play some tunes,” Feiler said.
Fall for History will then close out following the traditional home tour from noon to 3 p.m. Feiler explains that this year’s tour, “The Second Stories,” is a bit different than in the past.
“We’re doing groups of 10 people each and taking them upstairs to tour apartments of the most historic downtown businesses. They can see some of the charm of how it used to be and some of the changes that have been made over the years.”
Advance tickets cost $20 each.
Wallace Chamber coordinator Dave Copelan said that the Chamber did receive some financial help to host the festival.
“We were able to receive a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, which really helped with a lot of our costs.”
All Fall for History attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the new ‘Mine-Made Map & Guide to the Coeur d’Alene Mining District.” For Fall for History reservations or other information, contact the Wallace Chamber at 208-753-7151 or email WallaceIdahoChamber@gmail.com
Masks and sanitizer will be available throughout the various events.
