Sawtooth National Forest and Twin Falls Boy Scout Troop 63 Team Up to Restore Historic Mining Cemetery
By Douglas Baughman, Forest Archaeologist, USDA Forest Service-Sawtooth National Forest - February 2026 The Sawtooth Mountains area of central Idaho was first explored for its mining potential by Levi Smiley, who led his party into the region in the spring of 1878. They located a rich outcropping of quartz, but further exploration was halted by a courier bearing the news of the Bannock uprising. The group retreated to Challis, but Smiley and T.B. Mulkey returned the next Octo
The Birch Creek Charcoal Kilns: A Historic Restoration Project to Preserve This Site for Another Generation
By Steve Armstrong, Forest Archaeologist U. S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service Caribou-Targhee National Forest Dubois Ranger District - January 2026 History The Birch Creek Charcoal Kilns, located on the east slope of the Lemhi Mountain Range in Lemhi County on the west side of Birch Creek Valley, were built ca. 1885 and provided charcoal for the smelting process for the lead-and silver-producing Viola Mine (ca. 1886-1889) on the west slope of the Beaverhead Mo
