72-476: Burke Canyon is the canyon of the Burke-Canyon Creek, which runs through the northernmost part of Shoshone County , Idaho , U.S., within the northeastern Silver Valley . A hotbed for mining in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Burke Canyon now contains several ghost towns and remnants of former communities along Idaho State Highway 4 , which runs northeast through the narrow canyon to
144-647: A United Auto Workers local in Lansing, Michigan . The remaining five were Pinkertons. As early as 1855, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency provided "spotters" to expose dishonest and lazy railroad conductors. However, the program unraveled when, after a train accident in November 1872, papers found on the body of a Pinkerton operative revealed that the agency had been using deceitful practices. In 1869, garment workers formed
216-484: A brutal response in 1892 and in 1899. Burke Canyon was the site of several natural disasters as well. Two major avalanches struck the canyon in the twentieth century: one on February 4, 1890, which killed three; and another in February 1910, which buried and killed twenty-five people. In the days after the February 1910 avalanche, snow and rock continued to dislodge from the canyon walls, inflicting additional damage on
288-508: A change of focus for the Pinkerton Agency. The days of strike-breaking agencies marshalling large numbers of strike-breakers to defeat strikes were over. The Pinkerton Agency was determined to "place emphasis on its undercover work which, being secret, created less antagonism." While more overt forms of labor control often led to violence, the undercover operator or missionary was able to destroy unionization efforts without alarming
360-480: A fairly substantive overview. A letter from the Burns Detective Agency declared to the employer, "[w]ithin the heart of your business is where we operate, down in the dark corners, in out-of-the-way places that cannot be seen from your office ..." To stop a union proponent—a pusher , in the anti-union lexicon—the [union] buster will go anywhere, not just to the lunch room, but into
432-533: A family was $ 44,685. Males had a median income of $ 38,315 versus $ 25,273 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 19,020. About 13.8% of families and 17.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 22.5% of those under age 18 and 8.3% of those age 65 or over. Shoshone County was historically a Democratic-leaning county, but has in recent years consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates, while favoring Democratic candidates locally and statewide. School districts include: It
504-846: A narrow gulch , roughly 300 feet (90 m) across, with steep cliffs and hills on both sides. The hillsides of the canyon are so steep that the community of Burke only receives around 3 hours of full sunlight during winters. Burke Canyon experiences a continental climate , marked by warm summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2002, it was reported that around 300 people lived in or near the canyon. There are numerous communities and former communities located along Burke-Canyon Road in Burke Canyon, though several are now ghost towns . The communities include: Decades' worth of mining activity resulted in various metals leaching into Canyon Creek, contaminating much of Burke Canyon. Leftover waste rock from mines leached cadmium , lead , arsenic , and zinc into
576-401: A newspaper reporter, and determined to hold meetings behind closed doors. Note-taking was forbidden. Their concerns were justified, but the effort failed; two Pinkerton operatives had infiltrated the convention as delegates from Reading, Pennsylvania . They composed elaborate reports on all the issues and discussions and recorded all the minutes of the meetings at the convention. Beginning in
648-539: A prospective client's factory without permission. A report would be prepared and submitted to the startled manager, revealing conspiracies of sabotage and union activities. Workers who were bribed to provide information to operatives often believed that the destination was an insurance agency, or interested stockholders. They never imagined that their reports on co-workers were destined for the corporation. Such workers were said to be "hooked," and in spy agency parlance those who reeled them in were called "hookers." Once in
720-499: A reason for discontinuing the line. By 1939, the rail to Burke had been officially closed, and the tracks dismantled. By the late twentieth century, mining operations in Burke Canyon had slowed considerably. The Hecla Mine in Burke officially ceased operations on June 30, 1983, due to low metal prices. The last mine in Burke officially closed in 1991, and the town and several of the surrounding communities became ghost towns . Around 2010,
792-400: A religious commission investigating labor spies was itself the target of labor spying. A labor spy followed the investigators, and sent a report to United States Steel Corporation alleging that the investigators were "members of the I.W.W. and Reds." One document similarly characterized them as "Pink Tea Socialists and Parlor Reds." One spy report included a cover letter from Ralph M. Easley of
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#1732787224319864-642: A stock of dynamite in the Frisco Mill, causing the four-story mill to explode and kill six people. The violence soon spilled over into the community of Gem. From there, union miners who had successfully shut down both the Frisco and the Gem mines travelled west, to the Bunker Hill mining complex near Wardner , and closed down that facility as well. The Idaho National Guard and federal troops were dispatched to
936-478: A strike in 1892. After several died in a shooting war provoked by discovery of a company spy , the U.S. Army forced an end to the strike. Hostilities erupted once again in 1899 when, in response to the company firing seventeen men for joining the union , the miners dynamited the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mill . Again, people died, and the U.S. Army intervened, requested by Governor Frank Steunenberg , as
1008-628: A total of thirty occupied homes discharging untreated waste into the creek. In 2007, the DEQ sequestered $ 220,000 in order to help residents install new septic systems to prevent further contamination. In 2016, the EPA announced its plan to construct a waste repository in lower Burke Canyon in order to alleviate waste accumulation in Wallace. Some residents of the canyon objected to the repository, citing further pollution from diesel trucks used to transport waste in
1080-579: A while, a worker is impeccable. So some consultants resort to lies. To fell the sturdiest union supporters in the 1970s, I frequently launched rumors that the targeted worker was gay or was cheating on his wife. It was a very effective technique ... Missionary work means deploying undercover operatives to create dissent on the picket lines and in union halls, for example, by utilizing whispering campaigns or unfounded rumors. Missionaries frequently directed their whispering campaigns toward strikers' families and communities. For example, female operatives would visit
1152-492: Is in the catchment area, but not the taxation zone, for North Idaho College . Labor spies Labor spying in the United States had involved people recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence , committing sabotage , sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, in the context of an employer/labor organization relationship. Spying by companies on union activities has been illegal in
1224-489: Is no conspiracy, you've got to make a conspiracy in order to hold your job." The sudden exposure of labor spies has driven workers "to violence and unreason", including at least one shooting war . Labor spies are usually agents employed by corporations , or hired through the services of union busting agencies, for the purpose of monitoring, disempowering, subverting, or destroying labor unions , or undermining actions taken by those unions. [The labor spy] capitalizes
1296-485: The Corporations Auxiliary Company , a concern whose business is the administration of industrial espionage." By the 1930s, industrial espionage had become not just an accepted part of labor relations, it was the most important form of labor discipline services that was provided by the anti-union agencies. More than two hundred agencies offered undercover operatives to their clients. During
1368-536: The Hecla Mining Company has been exploring the potential of exploiting additional resource deposits in the Star mine. As of December 2012, Hecla invested $ 7 million in rehabilitation and exploration with published estimates suggesting the potential to recover in excess of 25 million ounces of silver from the site with significant zinc and lead deposits also present. The structure of Burke Canyon resembles
1440-762: The Idaho National Guard troops were still stationed in the Philippines following the Spanish–American War . Steunenberg was assassinated outside his residence in Caldwell in 1905, nearly five years after leaving office, and the subsequent trials in Boise in 1907 made national headlines. Much of the county was burned in the Great Fire of 1910 , including parts of Wallace . According to
1512-607: The Montana border. Burke Canyon takes its name from the town of Burke ; settlers arrived in the canyon in 1884 after silver , lead , and zinc were found in mines throughout. Between 1886 and 1890, numerous mining communities developed in the canyon. Many of the communities in Burke Canyon saw multiple labor disputes, namely the Coeur d'Alene labor strike of 1892 and the confrontation of 1899 , which resulted in violent conflict between miners and mine owners. Populations throughout
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#17327872243191584-510: The National Civic Federation to the offices of United States Steel Corporation requesting that a list of clergymen "be kicked out of their positions" because of the investigation. The actual commission responded that none of the clergymen on the list were in any way connected with the investigation. In the 1930s nearly one-third of the twelve-hundred labor spies working for the Pinkerton Agency held high-level positions in
1656-602: The Native American Shoshone tribe. Shoshone County is commonly referred to as the Silver Valley , due to its century-old mining history. The Silver Valley is famous nationwide for the vast amounts of silver , lead , and zinc mined from it. Shoshone County was formed under the Territory of Washington on January 9, 1861. The territorial legislature established the county in anticipation of
1728-638: The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor as a secret labor organization, largely in response to spying by an employer. The resulting blacklist had been used to destroy their union. At an 1888 convention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers that was held in Richmond, Virginia, delegates organized a special committee to search out hiding places that might be used by labor spies. They discovered
1800-510: The U.S. Census Bureau , the county has an area of 2,635 square miles (6,820 km ), of which 2,630 square miles (6,800 km ) is land and 5.5 square miles (14 km ) (0.2%) is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 13,771 people, 5,906 households, and 3,856 families living in the county. The population density was 5 people per square mile (1.9 people/km ). There were 7,057 housing units at an average density of 3 units per square mile (1.2 units/km ). The racial makeup of
1872-542: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved forward with plans to dispose of leftover rock piles and contaminated soil in Burke Canyon. Various metals also impacted the local water supply of Burke Canyon: After the closure of the last mine in Burke in 1991, residents' water supplies continued to be sourced from pipes that extended into abandoned mine shafts. Consequently, the metal content of Burke's water supply
1944-548: The 1930s, thirty-two mining companies, twenty-eight automotive firms, and a similar number of food companies relied upon labor spies. A member of the National Labor Relations Board estimated that American industrialists spent eighty million dollars spying on their workers. General Motors alone spent nearly a million dollars for undercover operatives fighting the CIO during a two-year period. In addition to
2016-462: The Coeur d'Alene Mountains and was home to seven dividend-paying mines: the Gem of the Mountains, Frisco, Mammoth, Standard, Hecla, Tiger-Poorman and Hercules mines. On July 10, 1892, miners called a strike which developed into a shooting war between union miners and company guards . The first shots fired were exchanged at the Frisco mine in the early morning hours of July 11. The gunfire ignited
2088-479: The Pinkertons, General Motors hired thirteen other spy agencies to monitor workers in its factories, and then used the Pinkertons to spy on operatives from these other agencies. Between 1933 and 1935, the Pinkerton Agency employed twelve hundred undercover operatives and operated out of twenty-seven offices. The agency assigned agents to three hundred companies during the 1930s. In 1936 Robert Pinkerton announced
2160-595: The Tiger Mine in Burke Canyon. The Tiger Mine was sold to S.S. Glidden for $ 35,000. In 1887, Glidden began construction on a three-foot-wide railway to transport hardrock ore out of the Tiger Mine. Meanwhile, a buildup of 100,000 pounds (45,000 kg) of ore had accumulated from the various mines in the canyon, leading to the establishment of the Canyon Creek Railroad, which had its first shipment to Wallace on December 12, 1887. The establishment of
2232-837: The United States since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. However, non-union monitoring of employee activities while at work is perfectly legal and, according to the American Management Association , nearly 80% of major US companies actively monitor their employees. Statistics suggest that historically trade unions have been frequent targets of labor spying. Labor spying is most typically used by companies or their agents, and such activity often complements union busting . In at least one case, an employer hired labor spies to spy not only upon strikers, but also upon strikebreakers that he had hired. Sidney Howard observed in 1921 that
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2304-406: The age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.4% were non-families, and 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.79. The median age was 46.2 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 36,654 and the median income for
2376-428: The age of 18 living with them, 52.70% were married couples living together, 8.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.70% were non-families. 29.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.82. In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.90% under
2448-467: The age of 18, 6.70% from 18 to 24, 25.50% from 25 to 44, 27.40% from 45 to 64, and 17.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 99.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $ 28,535, and the median income for a family was $ 35,694. Males had a median income of $ 30,439 versus $ 18,831 for females. The per capita income for
2520-520: The annual convention of the American Federation of Labor . For fifteen dollars, prospective clients could have a "full and complete report of the entire proceedings." By 1919, spying on workers had become so common that steel company executives had accumulated six hundred spy reports. Some of them were accurate transcriptions of the secret meetings of union locals. In order to elicit business, some agencies would send secret operatives into
2592-461: The area. The incident marked the first violent confrontation between the workers of the mines and their owners. Hostilities would erupt at the Bunker Hill facility once again in 1899. In both disputes, issues included pay, hours of work, the right of miners to belong to the union, and the mine owners' use of informants and undercover agents . Violence committed by union miners was answered with
2664-435: The basic goals of an organization. A National Labor Relations Board chairman testified about the results of these techniques: The mystery and deadly certainty with which this scheme [labor spying] operated was so baffling to the men that they each suspected the others, were afraid to meet or to talk and the union was completely broken. A labor spy observed, Those labor unions were so hot, crying about spies, that everything
2736-524: The bedroom if necessary. The buster not only is a terrorist; he is also a spy . My team and I routinely pried into workers' police records, personnel files, credit histories, medical records, and family lives in search of a weakness that we could use to discredit union activists. Labor spies may employ techniques of surreptitious monitoring, "missionary" work (see below), sabotage, provoking chaos or violence , frameups , intimidation, or insinuating themselves into positions of authority from which they may alter
2808-462: The canyon's towns dwindled in the late-twentieth century after a series of natural disasters and mine closures, and the last active mine in the canyon was closed in 1991, leaving the majority of the communities unpopulated. The Environment Protection Agency includes Burke Canyon as part of the Coeur d'Alene basin's Superfund sites due to hard metal and waste contamination of Burke-Canyon Creek. Gold
2880-410: The canyon. 47°30′49″N 115°51′17″W / 47.51361°N 115.85472°W / 47.51361; -115.85472 Shoshone County, Idaho Shoshone County shə- SHOHN is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho . As of the 2020 census , the population was 13,169. The county seat is Wallace and the largest city is Kellogg . The county was established in 1864, named for
2952-632: The community.'" At the prompting of Congressman Thomas E. Watson , the U.S. House of Representatives investigated detective agencies after the Homestead Strike . The Senate also investigated, and both houses issued reports in 1893. In addition to the Pinkertons, the Thiel Detective Agency, the U.S. Detective Agency, Mooney and Boland's Detective Agency, and the Illinois Detective Agency were involved in
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3024-506: The county was $ 15,934. About 12.40% of families and 16.40% of the population were below the poverty line , including 21.80% of those under age 18 and 10.00% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 12,765 people, 5,605 households, and 3,511 families living in the county. The population density was 4.9 inhabitants per square mile (1.9/km ). There were 7,061 housing units at an average density of 2.7 units per square mile (1.0 units/km ). The racial makeup of
3096-427: The county was 95.4% white, 1.4% American Indian, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.5% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 32.2% were German , 17.6% were Irish , 13.5% were English , 6.4% were Norwegian , and 4.4% were American . Of the 5,605 households, 25.4% had children under
3168-431: The county was 95.84% White , 0.11% Black or African American , 1.52% Native American , 0.23% Asian , 0.07% Pacific Islander , 0.49% from other races , and 1.74% from two or more races. 1.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 22.1% were of German , 14.0% American , 11.3% English , 9.7% Irish and 5.9% Norwegian ancestry. There were 5,906 households, out of which 26.70% had children under
3240-464: The county's 276 residents were located at Pierce and Orofino. In the 1870 national census, 65% of the population were Chinese. Until 1904, Shoshone County included present-day Clearwater County to the south. That portion was annexed by Nez Perce County for several years and then was established as a new county in 1911. When the Silver Valley population rose dramatically in the 1880s, the seat
3312-469: The creekbed. Ecologists found that long stretches of Canyon Creek were entirely uninhabited by fish due to the high levels of metal content in the water. Canyon Creek is considered one of the Coeur d'Alene basin's Superfund sites . The metals leached in Canyon Creek were partially responsible for the contamination of the Coeur d'Alene River, the most heavy-metal contaminated river in the world. In 2010,
3384-529: The dawn of the muckraking era , employers increasingly turned to espionage services. E. H. Murphy once told a midwestern industrialist, We have the reputation of being several jumps ahead of the old way of settling capital and labor difficulties ... Our service aims to keep our clients informed through the medium of intelligence reports. "In December [of 1920] ten important officials of the Labor unions of Akron, Ohio, were exposed as confessed and convicted spies of
3456-680: The employer's ignorance and prejudice and enters the [workplace] specifically to identify the leaders of the Labor organization, to propagandize against them and blacklist them and to disrupt and corrupt their union. He is under cover, disguised as a worker, hired to betray the workers' cause. Labor spies may be referred to as spies , operatives, agents, agents provocateurs , saboteurs , infiltrators, informants , spotters, plants , special police, or detectives . However, Dr. Richard C. Cabot, Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard, observed that labor spies are different from our normal view of detectives. While detectives investigate people suspected of crimes,
3528-494: The geographic reality, the county seat was at Pierce. Growth at Pierce was so rapid that Shoshone County boasted the largest vote of any county within Washington Territory at the territorial election of July 8, 1861. In less than a year, Shoshone County contained additional settlements at Lewiston , Elk City , Newsome, and Florence . On December 20, 1861, Nez Perce and Idaho counties were created from most of
3600-534: The gold rush that occurred after the discovery of gold at Pierce in October 1860. Their location of the northern boundary at a line drawn due east from the mouth of the Clearwater River , unknowingly placed the emerging mining settlement at Pierce outside of the county's boundaries while residents of the new Mormon settlement at Franklin were unknowingly within the established boundaries. Regardless of
3672-409: The history of labor spying, observed that Pinkerton agents were secured "by advertising, by visiting United States recruiting offices for rejectees, and by frequenting waterfronts where men were to be found going to sea as a last resort of employment," and that "[to] labor they were a 'gang of toughs and ragtails and desperate men, mostly recruited by Pinkerton and his officers from the worst elements of
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#17327872243193744-666: The labor spy business may have been the testimony of Albert Balanow (some sources list the name as Ballin or Blanow) during an investigation of the detective agencies' roles during the Red Scare . Albert Balanow had worked with both the Burns Detective Agency and the Thiel Detective Agency . Balanow testified that the Red Scare was all about shaking down businessmen for protection money. "If there
3816-557: The labor spy shadows and spies upon people who are not suspected of having committed any crime, nor are they suspected of planning any crime. During the mid-to-late-19th century, a period during which there was intense distaste for the detective profession, the Pinkerton and Thiel detective agencies referred to their field agents as operatives or testers . The Pinkerton logo inspired the expression private eye . Operatives employed for labor spying may be professional, recruited from
3888-400: The labor spy, "often unknown to the very employer who retains him through his agency, is in a position of immense strength. There is no power to hold him to truth-telling." Because the labor spy operates in secret, "all [co-workers] are suspected, and intense bitterness is aroused against employers, the innocent and the guilty alike." Historically, one of the most incriminating indictments of
3960-412: The latter decades of the 19th century, agencies that supplied security and intelligence services to business clients were essentially private police forces, and were accountable only to their clients. The private police agencies declined with the development of professional public police departments, but they continued to be employed by mine owners in "frontier environments" well into the 20th century. By
4032-609: The only person who discussed violence at Altman WFM meetings during the strike turned out to be a detective. Provocations also took the form of fomenting racial strife. The Sherman Service Company , Inc., of Chicago sent instructions to an operative to "stir up as much bad feeling as you possibly can between the Serbians and the Italians ... The Italians are going back to work. Call up every question you can in reference to racial hatred between these two nationalities." In 1919-1920,
4104-490: The operative is thereafter a marked man ... his usefulness to the Agency is ended." Therefore, actual labor spy reports, and even records of their existence, are a rare commodity. Corporations are not subject to freedom of information requirements or sunshine laws , and therefore corporate practices such as spying are rarely subject to public scrutiny. However, historic examples of labor spying that have come to light provide
4176-475: The original territory of Shoshone County. On the following day, Shoshone's boundaries were shifted northward, containing most of present-day Clearwater County and a portion of present-day Shoshone County. This new boundary alignment left the existing settlement at Pierce and the new settlement of Orofino as the county's only settlements. The county's population dwindled as prospectors abandoned Pierce for gold prospects at Elk City and Florence. Idaho Territory
4248-542: The public, or recruited from members of a particular workforce for a specific operation such as strike breaking . They may be directly employed by the company, or they may report to the company through an agency. Some agencies that provide such operatives to corporations offer full protective and union busting services, such as security guards , training, providing weaponry (including, historically, machine guns), intelligence gathering, research, and strike-breaker recruitment services. Other agencies are more specialized. Both
4320-586: The public. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 outlawed spying on and intimidating union activists, provoking violence, and company unions. However, spying on workers and harassing them continued, according to testimony before congress in 1957. Other abuses by labor consulting firms included manipulating union elections through bribery and coercion; threatening to revoke workers' benefits if they organized; installing union officers sympathetic to management; and, offering rewards to employees who worked against unions. In 1944, historian J. Bernard Hogg , surveying
4392-421: The railroad coincided with that of the town of Burke , from which the canyon takes its name. Burke was the largest mining community in the canyon, with a peak population of 1,400 in 1910. The community of Gem, just south of Burke, had been established in 1886. Both Gem and Burke attracted various miners as well as a large number of Swedish immigrants. By 1903, Burke Canyon was the most developed mining region in
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#17327872243194464-558: The spy agencies and the companies that employ labor spies prefer to keep their activities secret. Some labor leaders have likewise sought to downplay the extent of industrial spying. This, in spite of the fact that "industrial spies have played both sides against each other, and have been at the bottom of a great deal of the violence and corruption of industrial conflict." The companies seek to avoid embarrassment and bad public relations. The spy agencies also concern themselves with "possible danger attendant upon discovery, and second, because
4536-481: The targeted unions, including one national vice-presidency, fourteen local presidencies, eight local vice-presidencies, and numerous secretary positions. Sam Brady, a veteran Pinkerton operative, held a high enough position in the International Association of Machinists that he was able to damage the union by precipitating a premature strike. Pinkerton operatives drove out all but five officers in
4608-519: The towns of Burke and Mace, and causing numerous deaths. In August of that year, the Great Fire of 1910 would cause further damage to the communities in the canyon. Three years later, in May 1913, the communities were stricken by heavy rains that resulted in significant floods. The Northern Pacific railroad considered discontinuing service through the canyon after the depot was damaged in a July 1923 fire. The railroad also cited increased automobile traffic as
4680-691: The wives of strikers in their homes, incorporating their cover story into their spiel. They would tell the wife sad stories about how their own spouse lost a job years ago because of a strike, and hasn't found work since, and "that's why I must sell these products door to door." Another target was merchants who catered to strikers, who could be turned against the union by asserted claims of financial risks. Missionary campaigns have been known to destroy not only strikes, but unions themselves. Undercover management agents have acted to create provocations within labor ranks. Examples include: ... historians Philip Taft and Philip Ross have pointed out that "IWW activity
4752-571: Was at fever pitch and they look at each other with blood in their eyes. As one example of the impact of spying, a union local at the Underwood Elliot Fisher Company plant was so damaged by undercover operatives that membership dropped from more than twenty-five hundred, to fewer than seventy-five. In 1906, officers of the Corporations Auxiliary Company announced that they had labor spies at
4824-465: Was created in 1863 and the first census of the territory in that year enumerated only 574 residents in Shoshone County. The county boundaries were expanded to include the Silver Valley by the legislative assembly of Idaho Territory when it officially created Shoshone County on February 4, 1864. The expanded territory contained no population at the second census of Idaho Territory in 1864. All of
4896-485: Was emptied via pipelines directly into Canyon Creek from the residences in Burke Canyon. By the turn of the twenty-first century, citizens of Burke had continued to dump up to 6,000 US gallons (23,000 L) of raw sewage into Canyon Creek per day. In 2004, the Panhandle Health District (PHD) and Idaho Department of Environmental Equality (DEQ) tested homes in Burke to identify contaminations, finding
4968-537: Was fifty times above that of federal water quality standards. In 2001, the EPA offered to buy out residents of Burke Canyon, citing water contamination in Canyon Creek, but residents refused. The following year, the EPA ordered the town of Burke to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act ; however, given the small number of homes within the boundaries of the town, it would have cost each household an estimated $ 48,000 per year. For decades, raw sewage
5040-495: Was initially discovered in the early 1860s in the mountains to the north of the Snake River basin, which gave way to a large influx of prospectors. Silver , copper , and other minerals were subsequently discovered. Idaho experienced boom after boom, and mining towns arose overnight, boomed, and then disappeared as the miners left for the latest rush. In 1884, miners discovered significant amounts of silver, zinc , and lead at
5112-542: Was moved to Murray in 1884 (and to Wallace in 1898) to better serve the majority of the county's population. The southern area's population increased with homesteading in the Weippe area in the late 1890s. The vast distance and time required for travel to Wallace from the Clearwater River area prompted the southern portion to move to Nez Perce County. Hard rock miners in Shoshone County protested wage cuts with
5184-703: Was virtually free of violence ... It is of some interest to note that a speaker who advocated violence at a meeting at the IWW hall in Everett [Washington, where the Everett massacre occurred] was later exposed as a private detective. And in the aftermath of the Colorado Labor Wars , William B. Easterly, president of WFM District Union No. 1 [in the Cripple Creek District ], testified that
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