Pottsville Seven take a break

WALLACE — The Pottsville Seven have had a busy year restoring, maintaining and renovating the beloved park located about four miles outside Mullan. The seven began planning last year to restore East Shoshone Park, or Pottsville Park, meeting monthly with the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) — the current owners of the park.

In October of last year, the News-Press reported that the group met with the BOCC and had an in-depth presentation explaining “the unreliable care and maintenance schedule of Shoshone Park due to budgetary and personnel limitations of the U.S. Forest Service threatens the viability of the park. The Pottsville Seven believe that the future of the park would be better managed by a local entity. The best fit for the management of Shoshone Park would be Shoshone County.”

Changing the name and the park’s ownership is still in the works but can be a lengthy and complicated process.

In May, the group met on-site with the BOCC and USFS to take in the park’s beauty and detail the progress made, share historical facts, discuss changing the name and how to fund the project. June saw the group working through some challenges, as they found out they would not receive the Resource Advisory Committee grant this year, causing the need to find funding differently. Seven member Bud Koski issued a $100 challenge to community members, bringing in a total of $5,770 in one month. And donations are still coming in. The seven also partnered with the Mullan Community Foundation, a group whose goal is to enhance and enrich the lives of the citizens of Mullan.

To additionally help fund the project, the group held a successful auction last weekend at the Wallace Elks, with community members bidding on gift baskets, ski passes, restaurant certificates, home furnishings, a stay in a motel, as well as a rifle and two pistols.

“The total of the bid items that we sold was $9,540,” said Seven member Ron Hayes, “Cash donations, we raised $630, which brings the total to $10,172.”

The seven want to give a huge thank you to community members who supported them throughout this process, as well as talented auctioneer Darren Arave.

Due to weather conditions, the men will take a break from their monthly BOCC meetings until next March but are still accepting donations from the community. Currently, the highest costs are replacing and repairing the covered kitchen, replacing a bridge and ADA-compliant outhouses.

Anyone who would like to donate to the project can do so at Mullan Community Foundation, P.O. Box 472 Mullan, ID 83846, with the notation Pottsville Park.