05.14.26 - Sierra Silver Mine Tour — Wallace, Idaho

May 14, 2026

SIERRA SILVER MINE TOUR — WALLACE, IDAHO

A group of Living Lake steering committee members and artist fellows made the trip to Wallace — the first of many planned visits, as all ten fellows will have the opportunity to experience the Silver Valley firsthand over the course of the fellowship.

Mining in the Silver Valley began in the early 1880s, and for nearly a century, hard-rock silver mining and smelting operations released contaminated waste into the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. The result is the Bunker Hill/Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund Site — one of the largest in the nation, spanning 166 river miles and roughly 1,500 square miles across northern Idaho and eastern Washington. Its effects on the watershed, the water, public health, and the communities downstream are still being reckoned with today.

Fellows went underground at the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, guided by retired miner Lee, who walked the group through the physical reality of hard-rock silver mining — what the work looked like long before electricity and modern safety standards. From there, the group rode the historic trolley through Wallace and sat down with retired miner John at the Blackboard Café, where he answered our questions and shared stories from a life in the mines that stretched back through generations of his family.

Understanding mining in the Silver Valley means understanding all of it — the human experience, the economic forces, the cultural identity, and the environmental consequences that continue to shape the lake and watershed the fellowship is centered on.