List of ghost towns in Idaho

Last updated January 23, 2025

The following is a list of ghost towns in Idaho . A ghost town is an abandoned village, town or city, usually one which contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions or uncontrolled lawlessness.

Classification

Barren site

Sites no longer in existence
Sites that have been destroyed
Covered with water
Reverted to pasture
May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Neglected site

Only rubble left
Roofless building ruins
Buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Abandoned site

Building or houses still standing
Buildings and houses all abandoned
No population, except caretaker
Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store

Semi-abandoned site

Building or houses still standing
Buildings and houses largely abandoned
Few residents
Many abandoned buildings
Small population

Historic community

Building or houses still standing
Still a busy community
Smaller than its boom years
Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

Table

Name	Other names	County	Settled	Abandoned	Current status	Remarks
Aline		Teton County	1888	1901		First settlement of Latter-Day Saints in the area.^[1]
Bayhorse		Custer County	1877	1897	Historic	A former mining town turned state park^[2]
Bonanza	Bonanza City	Custer County	1877		Abandoned	^[2]
Burgdorf		Idaho County	1860s	Before 1945	Semi-abandoned
Burke		Shoshone County	1887	1991	Semi-abandoned	A mining town that closed after several natural disasters.
Caribou City			1897	1930		^{[ citation needed ]}
Chesterfield		Caribou County	1879	After 1928		A former Mormon settlement, now open to the public as a tourist attraction.^[3]
Cobalt		Lemhi County		1950s		^[2]
Comeback Mining Camp			1862			^[2]
Copper Queen
Custer		Custer County	1879	1910		^[2]
De Lamar		Owyhee County	1888
Florence		Idaho County	1861	sometime after 1951.
Gilmore		Lemhi County	1902	1930s
Golden Age camp						^[2]
Joseph		Idaho County	1883	1887
Joseph Plains		Idaho County
Leesburg		Lemhi County	July 16, 1866	by the end of World War II		^[2]
Mount Idaho		Idaho County	1892	1922		^[4]
Placerville		Boise County	1862	1899		^[2]
Rocky Bar		Elmore County	December 1863	1960s
Ruby City		Owyhee County	November 1863
Sawtooth City		Blaine County	1879	1888		^[2]
Silver City		Owyhee County	March 10, 1863	1890
Strevell		Cassia County		1974
Vienna			1878	1879		^[2]
White Knob		Custer County	1884	1928
Yellow Jacket			1943	1945		^[2]

1897 Gallery

Burke in 1888
The former hotel in Burgdorf
Silver City in 1892
A preserved cabin in Chesterfield

References

↑ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic history of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints,. Salt Lake City, Utah. p. 868. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Weis, Norman D. (1971). Ghost Towns of the Northwest. Caldwell, Idaho, USA: Caxton Press. ISBN 0-87004-358-7.
↑ Oregon. "Idaho pioneer cabin moved to Chesterfield site". OregonLive.com. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
↑ Adkison, Norman B. (July 1, 1962). "Bustling, booming Mount Idaho now nothing but a ghost town". Lewiston Morning Tribune. p. 1–sec.2.

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[1] Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic history of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints,. Salt Lake City, Utah. p. 868. Retrieved June 20, 2016.

[Weis-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Weis, Norman D. (1971). Ghost Towns of the Northwest. Caldwell, Idaho, USA: Caxton Press. ISBN 0-87004-358-7.

[3] Oregon. "Idaho pioneer cabin moved to Chesterfield site". OregonLive.com. Retrieved July 6, 2013.

[4] Adkison, Norman B. (July 1, 1962). "Bustling, booming Mount Idaho now nothing but a ghost town". Lewiston Morning Tribune. p. 1–sec.2.

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