Gold was discovered along Prichard and Eagle Creeks back in 1882, sparking a small rush to the area. The town of Murray was established in 1884 and named for a local miner, George Murray. 5000 miners made their way to the valley, but the placer gold soon played out and the town’s population would drop to about 500 by 1910. Mining would continue in the area until the late 1950s. Wyatt Earp spent some time in Murray at the end of the 19th century. Perhaps the most loved and remembered citizen of Murray was the prostitute turned madam Maggie Hall, AKA Molly Burdan, AKA Molly B’Damn. Maggie was born in England to Irish parents and moved to New York in 1870. She came west a few years later and made her way to Murray during the gold rush in 1884. While quite a popular prostitute in town, Molly was also known and remembered for her kindness and generosity, being sure that everyone in town was fed and clothed. She died of tuberculosis in 1888 at the age of 34 and was buried in the town’s cemetery. Murray still celebrates their favorite lady every year during the annual Molly B'Damn Gold Rush Days.
There isn’t much to Murray these days, but what there is is fantastic. The Sprag Pole Inn and Museum is a sprawling complex stretching through several buildings and containing the personal collection of Walt Almquist. It displays everything from old matchbooks and cigarette packets to one of the world’s longest wooden chains. Down the road is the Bedroom Goldmine which has a plexiglass covered mine shaft in the back room. Guests were allowed to pan for gold until a flood washed out all of the support structures. I thought Murray was just the coolest little town and I’m glad I stopped to check it out. I hope you enjoy these photos of tiny Murray, Idaho, an old gold rush town in the Silver Valley.
Hello everyone! Thanksgiving Week is upon us here in the United States, and turkeys are being rounded up by the thousands. Pecan and pumpkin pies are going in the oven and families are preparing for long drives to relatives houses around the country. It is our busiest travel weekend of the year, so please be safe on the roads out there. It’s also a distinctly American holiday, which I’ve always been fascinated by. As I mentioned at Easter, many Americans don’t give off a lot of hints as to their ethnic background until you visit them at Christmas or Easter and then you’ll see old family recipes they don’t even consider as anything but “what we’ve always eaten”. Of course millions of Americans don’t celebrate these Christian holidays at all, celebrating their own religion’s holidays instead. This is am amazing time to visit these Americans’ homes and learn their traditions. It’s really only the 4th of July and Thanksgiving we celebrate all together with some form of consensus on the menu. So Happy Thanksgiving America. Eat lots and get extra exercise this week to make up for it. Watch some football and throw the ball with your kids. Enjoy your family and friends and ask them how they are and if they’re happy and healthy, laugh out loud and hug often while you are together. Leave the politics and B.S. off the menu for a day and just enjoy each other and our special American day.
I’ve spent lots of Thanksgivings on the road, so I’m ready for it. Two that were particularly memorable had me fixing a traditional American Thanksgiving meal for tour groups of 13 people. One was around a campfire in Key Largo in Florida and the other was in a ski lodge in Stowe, Vermont. In the first instance my group was out snorkeling all day and in the second they were skiing. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope it’s where you want to be.
I will be here in Georgia! I have made my way into the Peach State and had a fabulous first week in Georgia’s Far North. Most people probably don’t associate mountains and Georgia, but they certainly go together well. My week has been spent out in the woods, enjoying cool but sunny weather in Georgia’s State Parks and natural areas. It’s been an amazing week exploring this region and has really whet my appetite for the rest of my stay here.
