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 October and staked out claims. They kept their discoveries quiet for a while, but when they led another party into the region in the spring of 1879, new finds were made and the stampede began. Three campsites were laid out in Beaver, Smiley and Lake Canyons, and boom towns quickly sprang up in the first two. Sawtooth City was formally organized in a miner’s meeting on November 29, 1879 (Fig. 1). This camp grew fast, as did Vienna in Smiley Canyon, and a hostile rivalry soon arose between the two towns, which serviced the same general area.

Figure 1. Oldest known photograph of Sawtooth City, circa 1900. Photographer unknown

The site of old Sawtooth City is high in the Sawtooth Mountains above the 7,000-foot level, near the headwaters of the Salmon River. The townsite was laid out along Beaver Creek in the fall of 1879, after the gold rush to that area began. By August 1881, Sawtooth City was a typical western mining town, boasting 25 substantial houses, a meat market, assay office, blacksmith shop, Chinese laundry, general store, two restaurants and three ever-present saloons (Fig. 2). It was the first mining town on the east side of the Sawtooth Mountains.

At this point in time, the mines in Beaver Canyon were just starting to develop, and the town had good prospects. The Columbia and Beaver Company began extensive development of the area, including a toll road from Sawtooth City to Ketchum, a ten-stamp quartz mill built just above the camp and a large sawmill. Numerous problems plagued the area, however, and the development never really took off. Several mines in Beaver Canyon were successfully exploited. The Pilgrim mine produced much of the early rich ores which caused the Sawtooth area to boom. The Silver King mine began extensive production in 1886, and operated profitably under the guidance of Major William Hyndman. With the exception of the Silver King mine which was still being worked on a small scale, Sawtooth City was deserted by 1888. A disastrous fire in the Silver King mine in 1892 ended large-scale mining at Sawtooth City. From a peak population of close to 600, the town followed many other mining camps into oblivion. Today, the only visible remains of the place are the mill foundations and the burned footprints of other buildings.

Figure 2. 1964 image showing one of the few remaining early wooden structures at Sawtooth City. Although the roof had collapsed, this building (likely the stage station) still stood during the 2019 rerecording of the town. National Park Service photograph.

During the 1978 site recording there were 26 standing structures remaining, and by 2019 there were only nine. The 2022 Ross Fork Fire burned those remaining structures.

The Sawtooth City Cemetery was used by early local residents, and although there are 30 marked graves (and possibly several unmarked graves), only four named individuals are known to be buried here. An excerpt from page 87 of an unknown publication reads as follows:

"Investigation and preservation of the Sawtooth City Cemetery is an equally important part of the preservation of the region's heritage. Based on newspaper accounts, several men and women lay interred in this wilderness setting. Mr. Harper, a 40 year old gentlemen [sic] who helped engineer and build the Galena to Sawtooth City Toll Road is buried in Sawtooth City's cemetery as well as Constantine Mellennovitch, a native of Turkey (Wood River Times, 2 November 1881; Yankee Fork Herald, 3 Nov 1881). It is also likely that John Pinotte, an Italian living in Sawtooth City who died in 1884, is also buried in the local cemetery (Idaho Weekly Keystone, 4 October 1884). The death of Theodore F. Shaw, a well-known figure in the Sawtooth area, added another body to the Sawtooth Cemetery in 1894 (Ketchum Keystone, 6 January 1894)."

The first claims were staked in Sawtooth City in 1878 and the last resident left the city around 1900. Based on those dates this cemetery had a maximum active date range from 1878 through 1900, a 22-year long period.

On Saturday August 9th 2025, Sawtooth National Forest Archaeologist Doug Baughman and Twin Falls Boy Scout Troop 63 teamed up to restore the historic Sawtooth City Cemetery in Blaine County, Idaho. The cemetery was badly damaged during the 2022 Ross Fork Fire, and nearly all of the weathered wooden crosses and the surrounding fence were completely destroyed in the blaze. Fortunately, when the cemetery was recorded in 2019, photographs of each grave were taken (Figs. 3 and 4), and GPS point and provenience data were collected from a single datum. Nearly all the graves were marked by a wooden cross standing in a small pile of rocks. The proveniences from the 2019 recording as well as the rock stacks made relocating each grave rather simple.

The endeavor was proposed and planned by Boy Scout Noah Thompson for his final Eagle Scout requirement. Thirteen volunteers participated on a beautiful Saturday to construct and place 30 new wooden crosses (Figs. 5-7). During the course of the project, two additional interments were discovered and crosses were also placed at these graves. Future projects at the cemetery may include constructing a new fence, locating any more unmarked graves (cadaver dogs could be employed for this), and conducting historical research to compile a list of the people buried at the cemetery to be included on a future memorial. Lastly, a stone monument could be erected with the names of interred individuals as well as any other pertinent information about their lives (i.e., birth/death dates, place/country of origin, cause of death, etc.).

Figure 3. Grave 1 showing the advanced state of decay even before the Ross Fork Fire. Image by Doug Baughman, 8/20/2019.

Figure 4. Grave 15 with a glimpse of the fence before it burned in the Ross Fork Fire. Image by Doug Baughman, 8/20/2019.

Figure 5. Danny Thompson (left) and Mike Barker (right) putting together the new crosses. Image by Doug Baughman, 8/9/2025.

Figure 6. L to R: Axel, Ethan Thompson, Erica Thompson, Danny Thompson, Noah Ashmeade, Noah Thompson, Sharon Thompson, Rex LaGrone, Doug Baughman, Kathy LaGrone, Anna Barker, Mike Barker, George Barker. Image by Lisa Detweiler, 8/9/2025.

Figure 7. Cemetery overview with new crosses in place. Image by Doug Baughman, 8/9/2025