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State hub · Idaho
Most of Idaho's ghost towns are mining camps. The first of the territory's gold rushes began at Pierce in 1860, and from 1860 to 1866 Idaho produced about 19 percent of the gold mined in the United States. Idaho City, founded in December 1862 in the Boise Basin, had about 7,000 people by 1864. Silver City followed in the Owyhee Mountains in 1864, and Bayhorse and Custer in the Salmon River country in 1877. In the north, lead and silver finds in 1884 opened the Coeur d'Alene district, the state's richest, where Burke grew up in a narrow canyon above Wallace. A few sites are farm towns instead, such as Chesterfield, settled by Mormon families in 1881 and empty by the end of the 1930s.
The camps cluster in the Boise Basin north of Boise, the Owyhee Mountains to the southwest, the Yankee Fork and Lemhi country in central Idaho, and the Silver Valley in the panhandle. What survives ranges widely. Silver City keeps about 70 standing buildings, Bayhorse and Custer are protected in Land of the Yankee Fork State Park, and Idaho City is still a small town. Many others are a cemetery and mine dumps at the end of a mountain road that is snowed shut for part of the year.
Town guides
Our complete guides, most-read first: history, what's left, current access, photos, maps and directions.
GuideBoise County
In 1864 Idaho City was the largest town in the Northwest, with about 7,000 people. By 1920 it had 104. It never quite emptied, and its brick and…
GuideOwyhee County
The silver town of the Owyhee Mountains, county seat for 67 years, with about 70 buildings still standing in a gulch at 6,000 feet. A dirt road…
GuideShoshone County
A silver, lead and zinc town crammed into a canyon about 300 feet wide, where the railroad ran down Main Street and through a hotel lobby. Mining…
GuideElmore County
A gold and silver camp of 1864 at the head of the Middle Fork of the Boise River, about 40 miles of forest road from the nearest highway. About 500…
GuideIdaho County
The gold camp of 1861 that drew about 9,000 people to a basin over 6,000 feet up and made itself Idaho County's first seat. Little is left but a…
GuideCaribou County
A Mormon farm town laid out on a grid of ten-acre blocks in the 1880s, emptied by drought, panic and a railroad that went elsewhere. A volunteer…
GuideCuster County
A silver and lead camp that peaked at about 300 people in the 1880s and emptied when its mines closed in 1915. The state bought it in 2006, and it is…
GuideLemhi County
A lead and silver town at the head of the Lemhi Valley that grew around the end of a Montana railroad, then emptied when the Depression closed its…
GuideCuster County
The company town of the General Custer mine, a ghost town since 1911 and now kept by the Forest Service and Idaho Parks and Recreation. The…
Watch
Mountain gold camps, wooden storefronts, and surviving main streets. Explore the history, maps and access notes before you go.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Owyhee County
Silver town of 1864 below War Eagle Mountain, with about 70 standing buildings, privately owned, and the Idaho Hotel, open Friday to Sunday on its 2026 hours. The town's site says the dirt road is closed from November 1 until the Friday before Memorial Day. There is no gas station in town.
Custer County
Silver camp of 1877 with about 300 people in 1885. The state bought it in 2006, and it is now part of Land of the Yankee Fork State Park, opening for the season on May 1.
Custer County
Gold town of 1877 on the Yankee Fork, a ghost town by 1911. The Forest Service and Idaho Parks and Recreation run it as part of the Land of the Yankee Fork Historic Area, with free walking tours from Memorial Day to Labor Day (Forest Service page, June 2025) and Custer Days every July.
Boise County
Boise Basin gold town of 1862, with about 7,000 people in 1864 and 466 at the 2020 census. Boot Hill Cemetery and other historic sites draw visitors.
Shoshone County
Silver Valley mining town of 1887, famous for a hotel the railroad ran through. Mining ended when the Star mine closed in 1991. State Highway 4 runs through the townsite, and the state's Superfund cleanup at the Hecla Star complex was expected to finish in fall 2026, by its 2025 reports. We found no owner or agency source on access to the buildings.
Caribou County
Mormon farm town settled in 1881 and abandoned by the end of the 1930s. A local foundation has restored buildings and gives free tours from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Monday to Saturday. The 2026 season is over; its site says it opens again on Memorial Day 2027.
Lemhi County
Mining community whose post office ran from 1902 to 1957. It had 50 people in 1909 and 5 in 1960; Idaho Magazine reported in July 2024, from visits in 2019 and 2020, that a number of historic wood-frame buildings remain beside Highway 28, a few restored as vacation homes, with trailers parked on bought lots and history signs from the Lemhi County Historical Society. Access to the buildings is not verified.
Near a city
Driving distance and time from downtown, routed over OpenStreetMap roads. Dirt roads are usually slower than the estimate.
Directory
Every town, camp and settlement in our Idaho index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
Most Idaho camps sit high in the mountains. Custer is at 6,470 feet and Silver City at about 6,180. The road to Silver City is closed from November 1 until the Friday before Memorial Day, the town's official site says, and Owyhee County expects to reopen it by Memorial Day weekend. Bayhorse opens for the season on May 1.
Silver City has no gas station, grocery store or phone service. Bayhorse, Custer and Bonanza are within an hour's drive of Challis on roads that climb a few thousand feet into the mountains. Fill up and carry water and an offline map.
The Bureau of Land Management manages nearly 12 million acres, about 22 percent of Idaho. Land of the Yankee Fork State Park charges a $7 motor vehicle entrance fee unless you have an Idaho State Parks Passport. Silver City's buildings are privately owned, so look from the street unless a building is open to visitors.
On federal land, objects of archaeological interest at least 100 years old are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Old adits and shafts are common around mining camps; look from outside and keep children and dogs close.
FAQ
There is no official count, and totals depend on whether you include mining camps, mines and abandoned farm settlements. Our index lists 96 sites. 47 of them have reliable coordinates on our map so far.
Silver City is a good first choice: about 70 buildings stand, and the Idaho Hotel opens in summer. Bayhorse and Custer, in Land of the Yankee Fork State Park, are the easiest to visit with interpretation, and Idaho City shows a gold-rush town that never emptied.
Idaho City and the Boise Basin camps of Placerville, Centerville and Pioneerville lie north of Boise on the way into the mountains. Silver City and De Lamar are southwest in the Owyhee Mountains; the dirt road to Silver City is closed from November to late May.
Not by car. The town's official site says the road is closed from November 1 until the Friday before Memorial Day, and the Idaho Hotel opens only for the summer season.
Some are. Silver City's buildings are privately owned, and one listing describes Chesterfield as private property. Bayhorse and most of Custer belong to the state park. Treat locked gates and posted signs as closed.
Abandoned