Have you ever heard of a little Idaho town called Murray? Maybe not, but I bet you've heard of a couple of Western characters called Wyatt Earp and Calamity Jane. They knew all about Murray.
Murray, Idaho, located in the mountains just north of Wallace, has fewer than 100 residents nowadays, but in the mid-1880s it was a thriving boomtown. A gold rush came to Murray in 1883. Gold meant miners, and miners meant saloons, supply stores, and a red-light district. The latter attracted some colorful ladies like Terrible Edith, Molly B. Dam, and Calamity Jane.
Virgil and Wyatt Earp had some mining claims in the area, and they ran a saloon in nearby Eagle City. An 1884 newspaper ad for their saloon called it the "finest appointed saloon in the Coeur d'Alenes... with the finest brand of foreign and domestic liquors to be found in the United States." The ad also suggested that customers of the Earp brothers' White Elephant Saloon, should come "and see the Elephant."
Virgil and Wyatt Earp didn't stick around long, though. Murray boomed for about a year and a half, then just hung on for another 25 or 30 years. During its life as a mining center, about $1 million worth of gold came out of Murray, though.
The little town is still worth visiting. The Sprag Pole Museum has a fascinating collection of mining tools, whiskey decanters, and guns. It also claims to have the world's longest wooden chain. It's 120 feet in length. Can your wooden chain beat that?
Murray, Idaho, located in the mountains just north of Wallace, has fewer than 100 residents nowadays, but in the mid-1880s it was a thriving boomtown. A gold rush came to Murray in 1883. Gold meant miners, and miners meant saloons, supply stores, and a red-light district. The latter attracted some colorful ladies like Terrible Edith, Molly B. Dam, and Calamity Jane.
Virgil and Wyatt Earp had some mining claims in the area, and they ran a saloon in nearby Eagle City. An 1884 newspaper ad for their saloon called it the "finest appointed saloon in the Coeur d'Alenes... with the finest brand of foreign and domestic liquors to be found in the United States." The ad also suggested that customers of the Earp brothers' White Elephant Saloon, should come "and see the Elephant."
Virgil and Wyatt Earp didn't stick around long, though. Murray boomed for about a year and a half, then just hung on for another 25 or 30 years. During its life as a mining center, about $1 million worth of gold came out of Murray, though.
The little town is still worth visiting. The Sprag Pole Museum has a fascinating collection of mining tools, whiskey decanters, and guns. It also claims to have the world's longest wooden chain. It's 120 feet in length. Can your wooden chain beat that?
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