Pottsville Seven host successful park clean-up

MULLAN –– Nearly 30 volunteers spent more than 100 combined hours working on various projects at Pottsville Park earlier this month.

Under the guidance of Jim See, the leader of the Pottsville Seven, the team of volunteers met on June 11, to make sure that the park was ready for visitors during the 2023 summer season.

The Pottsville Seven is a group of local residents who have been working for the past two years to restore and revitalize East Shoshone Park, commonly known as Pottsville Park.

Due to a number of factors, Pottsville has fallen into severe disrepair – See and the rest of “the Seven” have been coordinating their efforts with Shoshone County, as well as the United States Forest Service to complete several small projects to bring the park back to its original glory.

During the recent work day, the volunteers worked through a prioritized list of tasks including removing all of the large woody debris to a nearby burn pile, power washing the picnic areas, cleaning out the park's many grills and firepits, rehabilitating some of the signage throughout the park, restoring the horseshoe pits, and completing some basic lawn and weed maintenance throughout the park grounds.

Tjell Truesdell, a member of the Seven, remarked on how incredible the turnout was – not just in manpower, but what that manpower brought with it.

“Numerous people came out with their UTVs, some even brought dump trailers and tractors,” Truesdell said. “It was an absolutely amazing turnout. It’s getting closer to what the Pottsville group and what the public expects the park to look like.”

See prepared a report on the efforts of the group that he submitted to the Shoshone County Commissioners – within this report he detailed the progress that was made, including that a lesson was learned concerning the use of plastic bags for collecting the woody debris.

“Plastic bags do not work well for transport of raked debris,” See wrote.

Even with the large amount of work that was completed, the project is far from being completed.

According to Truesdell, the group is still looking into various grant opportunities for funding future projects, including renovating the west kitchen area so that it mirrors the east kitchen in the park.

The group is also waiting for an archaeological survey by USFS to determine how some of the larger projects, including a footbridge within the park as well as the aforementioned west kitchen area, can be handled.

Initially founded as a road camp by Captain John Mullan, who named it Camp #9 – Pottsville saw its first major change when the local Masons took control of the park in 1910, when they built multiple bridges and facilities on the park property.

In 1931 the Shoshone County Parks Improvement Association took control of the park and after three years they struck a deal with the United States Forest Service (USFS) to help maintain the property. Other improvements and upgrades were made over the decades that followed and during that time the park became known as Pottsville.

Over the years, the facilities within the park have been rebuilt and repaired numerous times, including a full renovation of the park’s caretaker’s cabin and the reconstruction of one of the park’s outdoor pavilions.

Work will continue at the park throughout the summer, including student volunteers with Lutherhaven Ministry’s Idaho Servant Adventures, as well as another public clean-up day.

“It was so awesome seeing people turnout and listen to the stories,” Truesdell said. “Everyone has a story about growing up in this area and going to this park. They were all excited to be able to participate in the cleanup project.”