Elk City lies at the eastern end of State Highway 14, in the South Fork Clearwater River drainage of western Idaho County. The community is remote and mountainous; the Elk City area sits at an elevation of approximately 4,003 feet (1,220 m).[2]
History
Elk City was founded after a placer gold discovery in 1861. Prospectors from Pierce and other nearby camps rushed into the South Fork Clearwater drainage that year; by the fall of 1861 more than 2,000 people had flocked to the diggings in the Elk City/Newsome Creek area.[3]
By the early 1870s much of the richest placer ground had been worked out and many European-American miners moved on; Chinese miners then worked many of the remaining claims until discriminatory laws and local pressures curtailed their operations.[4]
Hard-rock (quartz-vein) mining increased around 1902, and dredging operations occurred in the 1930s, sustaining local mining activity into the early 20th century. A major fire in 1930 damaged much of the town and, combined with the later decline in mining, shifted the local economy toward timber, ranching, and recreation.[5][6]
Local preservation efforts have celebrated historic routes such as the Elk City Wagon Road; the Wagon Road and related historic resources have been documented by Idaho heritage organizations and were the subject of centennial commemoration and preservation projects in the 1990s.[7]
Demographics
As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Elk City's population was 170.
The Elk City area is part of a geologically complex mining district with both placer (stream-worked) gold deposits and later quartz-vein (hard-rock) occurrences. U.S. Geological Survey and Idaho Geological Survey publications detail the district's placer and lode deposits and provide maps and mine/prospect inventories for the Elk City quadrangle and adjacent areas.[9][10]
Services and infrastructure
Elk City maintains a United States Postal Service office serving ZIP code 83525. The town supports basic services for the surrounding area including lodging, a general store, Forest Service facilities, and limited public services appropriate to its remote location.[11][12]
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