Editing Lemhi County, Idaho (section)

==History==
===Native settlement===
Habitation of the [[Lemhi River|Lemhi]] and Salmon Rivers dates back 14,000 years ago. Early natives were spear hunters of big game. The Salmon River was the dividing point among the first cultural split which occurred after 5,000&nbsp;BC. The Lemhi band of Shoshoni developed culturally in similar fashion to other Shoshoni tribes located south of and east of the Salmon River.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: IDAHO PREHISTORIC CULTURE AREAS|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0249.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503183740/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0249.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref> The Lemhi band of Shoshoni gained early access to horses and had developed into a migratory culture. They were also known as "Salmon Eaters". Their migratory pattern consisted of fishing for salmon in the Lemhi Valley in the summer, digging [[Camassia|camas]] on Camas Creek in the spring, and hunting buffalo in the [[Three Forks, Montana|Three Forks]] area of the [[Missouri River]]. They were also known to travel to trade with other tribes. The Lemhi band was forced to a reservation on February 12, 1875, even though the tribe failed to ratify the treaty creating it in 1868. The reservation was disbanded in 1907 and the tribe sent to [[Fort Hall]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: SHOSHONI AND NORTHERN PAIUTE INDIANS IN IDAHO|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0484.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503183611/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0484.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref>

===Exploration and early settlement===
The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] entered Idaho on August 12, 1805, at Lemhi Pass in present-day Lemhi County. [[Meriwether Lewis]] and three other members of the expedition were the first Americans of European descent to enter what is now Idaho. For [[Sacagawea|Sacajawea]], their guide and interpreter, the Lemhi Valley was her birthplace and her brother was the Chief of the Lemhi band. Clark went out to scout the expedition's route. Within a month, travel down the Salmon and Snake Rivers was ruled out and the expedition headed for [[Lolo Pass (Idaho–Montana)|Lolo Pass]] on the Bitterroot Range.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: The Lewis and Clark Trail Across Idaho|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0049.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503181228/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0049.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref> Michael Bourdon of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] established the Lemhi Valley as a base of trapping operations in 1822. The region would support trapping operations for about 20 years. [[Finnan McDonald]], [[Alexander Ross (fur trader)|Alexander Ross]], [[David Skene Ogden]], [[Jedediah Smith]], and [[Jim Bridger]] all spent time in the area.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: JIM BRIDGER IN IDAHO|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0245.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503191128/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0245.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: Route of Alexander Ross, 1824|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0086.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502181818/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0086.pdf |archive-date=May 2, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: Lemhi-Lost River Fur Trade|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0246.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503183409/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0246.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref> Exploration of the full Salmon River from its source to the [[Snake River]] did not occur until 1832. Mormon settlers established Fort Lemhi from 1855 to 1858. The settlement was withdrawn after a native attack on the settlement. The first gold miners ventured into Lemhi County in 1862, with miners working the main Salmon River all the way from Salmon down to Slate Creek.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF SALMON RIVER|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0242.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503185932/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0242.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref>

===Mining settlements===
F.B. Sharkey and his party struck gold at [[Leesburg, Idaho|Leesburg]] on July 16, 1866. The rush to Leesburg ensued within a month. A stagecoach route was established from Montana in May 1867 to the present location of Salmon City. Additional discovery of gold occurred at Lemhi in 1867 and [[Shoup, Idaho|Shoup]] in 1868. Salmon City became the county seat of Lemhi County when it was formed in 1869. Additional mining operations occurred at Yellow Jacket in 1869, [[Gibbonsville, Idaho|Gibbonsville]] in 1877, [[Gilmore, Idaho|Gilmore]] in 1880, Blackbird in 1892, and [[Leadore, Idaho|Leadore]] in 1904.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series:LEESBURG|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0203.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005074421/http://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0203.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2011 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: Mining in Idaho|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0009.pdf|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series|access-date=February 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520142028/https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0009.pdf|archive-date=May 20, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Gilmore and Pittsburgh Railroad]] was completed from Dubois to Salmon on May 18, 1910. The railroad was built to access ore from Gilmore. The railroad ceased operations in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: GILMORE AND PITTSBURGH RAILROAD|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0215.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503190638/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0215.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref>

===Development of cities===
Salmon City was platted in 1867. While Salmon has gone by the name Salmon City since its inception, it did not have legal status as a city until around 1900.<ref>{{cite book|title=Census Reports Volume I: Twelfth Census of the United States, Taken in the Year 1900|date=1901|publisher=United States Census Office|location=Washington|page=112|url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/33405927v1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914182802/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/33405927v1.pdf |archive-date=September 14, 2015 |url-status=live|access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref>

Leadore and Patterson were incorporated as villages in 1947. Patterson was disincorporated by 1980.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Report of the Seventeenth Census of the United States Census of Population: 1950|date=1952|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|location=Washington|pages=12–17|url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/23761117v1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912173656/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/23761117v1.pdf |archive-date=September 12, 2015 |url-status=live|access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref>

===County-boundary history===
At the start of mining operations in present-day Lemhi County in 1862, the region was fully within Idaho County, [[Washington Territory]]. [[Boise County, Idaho|Boise County]] was created in 1863, with its northern boundary running just north of the ridge dividing [[Birch Creek (Lemhi County, Idaho)|Birch Creek)]] from the Lemhi River. Under [[Idaho Territory]], the southern portion became part of [[Alturas County, Idaho|Alturas County]] on February 2, 1864, and the dividing line between Alturas and Idaho Counties was adjusted to 44°&nbsp;30′ North latitude. The Idaho territorial legislature actually created Lemhi County twice. The first occasion was on December 21, 1866. A county government was organized at Salmon City, yet the bill approving the county was misplaced and never published in session laws. The following session, the legislature passed the bill again, officially creating Lemhi County on January 9, 1869. The county government was reorganized at Salmon City on February 22, 1870.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series: Early Lemhi County|url=https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0329.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503190135/http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0329.pdf |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series|access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref> The western and southern county boundaries for Lemhi were problematic and adjusted frequently. At its creation, Lemhi inherited Idaho County's southern and eastern boundaries, which effectively created two areas of noncontiguous territory, with one of the sections containing territory along the Salt Lake to [[Virginia City, Montana|Virginia City]] stagecoach route just north of the present town of [[Humphrey, Idaho]]. Finalization of the southern boundary came in several steps from 1885 to 1896. In 1885, the boundary was moved southward, gaining territory in present [[Clark County, Idaho|Clark County]], creating a contiguous boundary, and leaving a {{convert|6|by|25.5|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of the Birch Creek Area in Alturas County. The eastern {{convert|6|by|9|mi|km|adj=on}} portion of that territory was transferred from Alturas to Bingham in 1889. A change in 1891 extended the boundary south to its present location and added territory presently in Clark County. With legislative approval, voters in that territory voted to become part of [[Fremont County, Idaho|Fremont County]] in 1896, finalizing the southern and eastern boundary. At Lemhi's creation, the western boundary was a line drawn from the Bitterroot Mountains to the southern line of Idaho County. The boundary was moved westward to the divide between the [[Payette River|Payette]] and Salmon Rivers in 1873, moved eastward to a line drawn through the confluence of the Middle Fork and main Salmon rivers in 1885, and then mistakenly extended to the northern line of Idaho County in 1903 before being finalized at its present location in 1911. [[Custer County, Idaho|Custer County]] was partitioned from Lemhi in 1881 with its initial boundary excluding the [[Loon Creek]] area. The Loon Creek area was transferred back to Idaho County in 1885.<ref>{{cite book|title=Idaho Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|date=2010|publisher=The Newberry Library|location=Chicago|pages=12, 42, 76, 95, 98, 123–131}}</ref>