Molly B’Damn, Part 2: Murray was Fertile Ground for a Legend

Molly was in San Francisco and restless at age 30. She read a news item reporting on a rich gold strike in Murray, Idaho. It was 1884 and time for new adventures.

Who was Molly B'Damn? Part 1

Murray, Idaho is where her legend took root and grew. Some of the folklore embedded in her story is debated, such as how her name morphed from Maggie Hall to Molly Burdan to Molly B’Damn.

Silver Valley Mining Wars: Part 1

Through the discovery of gold by Andrew Prichard in 1882 a human avalanche of 5,000 “gold rushers” soon descended on the area around Eagle Creek and Murray. But within a year, these prospectors began spilling over the Coeur d’Alene mountains to the south to prospect for additional gold deposits. However, lead-silver outcroppings were found, rather than gold, and claims were filed.

Wallace’s 1913 Post Office Heist — which nearly succeeded

A December 1913 heist at Wallace’s post office remained unsolved for over a year and a half — so long that some of the town’s citizens surmised that the redoubtable postal inspector service, the post office’s highly respected police force, had finally met its match. But patience won out.

Skiers with guns

Ray Johnson is the only living member of the WWII 10th Mountain Division

Ray Johnson was born at Rose Lake, Idaho in 1924. At age 9 he moved to Coeur d’Alene along with four brothers and a sister. The family’s homestead bordered on the lake’s Cougar Bay and extended west up Cougar Ridge. At that time, Cougar Bay was a large meadow.

MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: Lumberjanes of North Idaho take New York

March is Women’s History Month and the museum would like to recognize two women that put North Idaho on the map in 1935.

MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: 'She could fly anything with wings'

Sixteen-year-old Gladys Dawson had saved her money to buy an airplane ride, and after six seconds in the air she was hooked. A year later, 1932, the local newspaper reported that she made her first solo flight after only five hours of instruction. After a series of fights with her abusive father, Gladys packed a small suitcase and ran away from her home near Bellingham, Wash. The local airfield was Tulip Field and her instructor was Herb Buroker. Five years later, 1937, Gladys and Herb would marry.

MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: WAVES in North Idaho

The attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, quickly propelled the construction of new naval training bases across the U.S., and in order to release as many men as possible for sea duty, a women’s branch of the Naval Reserves was created in July 1942 (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), the WAVES.

MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: Family of Forests

Wallace (Wally) L. Forest was born in September 1911 in Isanti, Minn. He was the third of four brothers. His father was the owner of three successful dairy farms, two of which were lost during the Great Depression.

MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: Coeur d'Alene fish hatchery

The first fish hatchery in Idaho, Hayspur, was built in 1907. Located south of Ketchum, it lacked feasible transportation to northern Idaho, which resulted in an extraordinarily high mortality rate of eggs. To meet the need of a fish hatchery in North Idaho the sportsmen from Shoshone and Kootenai counties, including the Rod and Gun Clubs of St. Maries, Wallace, Harrison and Coeur d’Alene began raising money for their own hatchery to supply fish for the abundant lakes, rivers and streams. In 1913, the water company in Coeur d’Alene offered to furnish a site on the lakeshore near the pumping station on the east side of Tubbs Hill and also to provide the water, power and an emergency connection to the reservoir for the hatchery, all for $25 per month. The offer was quickly accepted by the state Fish and Game department.

MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: 1930s CCC Camps in the St. Joe Forest

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected U.S. President in 1932, he was faced with solving the problems of a country rich in resources but with a declining economy which was strangling growth and limiting prosperity.