Abandoned Towns
A weathered two-story clapboard house with a rusted tin roof on a grassy slope among pines in Atlanta, Idaho

Gold mining town · Silver mining town

Atlanta

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 people lived here in 1876. A few dozen still do, many of them only in summer, among weathered cabins from the mining years.

43°48′06″N 115°07′32″W · ≈5,430 ft

Photo: Rickmouser45, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Lived in; check forest roads

Atlanta is a small, mostly seasonal community; homes and mining claims are private, so see the old town from its streets. It is reached only by Forest Service roads. The Boise National Forest's Crooked Fire order, in force from September 19 to December 31, 2026 unless lifted, closes roads 316, 321 and 321A and an area of the Idaho City Ranger District; road 327, used by the route from Idaho City below, is outside it, and the order does not name Atlanta. Breaking it is a Class B misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $5,000 and up to six months in jail. Call the Idaho City Ranger District, 208-392-3700, before you go.

Overview

A rich lode at the end of the trail

Atlanta from the hills above, in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Boise River, August 31, 2005
Atlanta from the hills above, in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Boise River, August 31, 2005 · Photo: JSarek, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

In July 1864 a party led by John Stanley crossed from Warren through Bear Valley and found gold on the Yuba River, near the head of the Middle Fork of the Boise River. That November John Simmons found the lode the camp was named for. Southerners in the party called it Atlanta after a rumored Confederate victory over Sherman at Atlanta, Georgia. The victory never happened, but the name stuck.

The Atlanta lode was rich in both gold and silver, and that was its trouble. The silver ore was refractory: the early mills saved only the gold, and later ones recovered as little as a fifth of the value. The camp was so remote that mills had to be packed in over the mountains from Rocky Bar. Investors from London, Indiana, Buffalo and Pennsylvania came and went for decades. The camp boomed in 1876, when two companies employed 60 men and about 500 people lived here, and again from 1878 to 1884 after a wagon road arrived. It collapsed into lawsuits and unpaid wages in 1885.

The answer came only in 1932, when the St. Joseph Lead Company started a flotation plant that could treat the ore. Most of Atlanta's $16 to 18 million in production came after that, helped by the new road up the Middle Fork from Boise. Mining stopped in 1953. Atlanta never emptied: 50 people lived here in 1960 and about 45 year-round in 2005, and summer brings cabin owners, campers and anglers. Some of the weathered original buildings still stand.

Timeline

Ninety years of trying to mill the Atlanta lode

The Monarch Mine at Atlanta in 1992, from a 2004 USGS report on the Atlanta Hill area
The Monarch Mine at Atlanta in 1992, from a 2004 USGS report on the Atlanta Hill area · Photo: T.H. Kiilsgaard and L.D. Bacon, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. John Stanley's party, out from Warren since July 4, finds gold on the Yuba River and organizes a mining district.
  2. John Simmons discovers the Atlanta lode, rich in gold and silver. The camp is named for a rumored Confederate victory at Atlanta, Georgia, which proved false.
  3. The first quartz mills start up but save only the gold. By the end of 1869 all three mills that tried have stopped.
  4. A rich surface find revives the Monarch; Buffalo, New York investors buy an extension of the lode.
  5. The ten-stamp Buffalo mill is packed in over the hill from Rocky Bar. With the Monarch's lessees, the two companies employ 60 men, and the camp grows to about 500 people.
  6. Ralf Bledsoe finishes a wagon road from Rocky Bar. The best years run from 1878 to 1884.
  7. The Tahoma misses its payroll, creditors sue and the mills grind to a halt.
  8. A combine of the main mines is sold to London capitalists, who cannot work the low-grade ore at a profit.
  9. The Monarch's new owners install an electric-powered mill and an aerial tram.
  10. Population: 110.
  11. A new log jail replaces one that burned.
  12. The St. Joseph Lead Company starts an amalgamation-flotation concentrator. Most of Atlanta's $16 to 18 million in output comes after this.
  13. The Middle Fork road from Boise reaches Atlanta: 1936 in the state historical society's history, 1938 in Wikipedia and Western Mining History.
  14. Mining stops.
  15. Population: 50.
  16. The Atlanta Historic District, 10 acres with 12 contributing buildings, is listed on the National Register.
  17. About 45 people live in Atlanta year-round, by the Idaho Transportation Department's count.

What's left

Atlanta today

A weathered two-story house in Atlanta, June 30, 2019
A weathered two-story house in Atlanta, June 30, 2019 · Photo: Rickmouser45, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Atlanta is a living community, though a quiet one. Western Mining History calls it a near ghost town with a mostly seasonal population, and many cabins and homes from the mining era still stand. The Atlanta Historic District, 10 acres with 12 contributing buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Its log jail, built in 1910 to replace one that burned, stands in Jailhouse Park; its two cells keep their original bars and hardware, and the Idaho Heritage Trust funded work on it in 1992, 1994 and 2020. The Forest Service's old ranger station compound, built with the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 and also on the National Register, rents a cabin to visitors.

Nobody has mined here at scale since 1953, though claims remain private and a company leased the main lode in 1985. In place of mining the town lives on tourism and the backcountry. Wikipedia names the Beaver Lodge for meals, and the Forest Service's cabin page names Beaver Creek Lodge; in summer the Atlanta School runs arts and architecture workshops. Homes and claims are private, so look from the streets.

On the historic maps below, the 1894 Rocky Bar sheet draws Atlanta as a cluster of buildings on the Middle Fork, with Grey Lock Peak to the north and the Yuba River to the south. The 1972 Atlanta West sheet shows the town's grid of streets, the Forest Service station, Riverside Campground and a mineral monument, and the 1982 Idaho City sheet adds Powerplant Campground, a landing strip and the Minerva Mine south of town.

  • Atlanta Historic District (National Register, 1978)
  • Log jail of 1910 in Jailhouse Park
  • Forest Service ranger station compound of 1933
  • Mining-era cabins and homes, many private
  • Workings of the Monarch and other mines on the lode
USGS topographic map of Atlanta on the Middle Fork of the Boise River, with Riverside Campground to the north
USGS The National Map, topo. Atlanta beside the Middle Fork, with Montezuma Creek to its east. Riverside Campground and the airport are to the north, Powerplant Campground to the northeast.
Aerial view of Atlanta's scattered buildings among pine forest, with a road along the right side
Aerial imagery, same area. The town's streets and roofs in a clearing in the pines.

Around town

Campgrounds, trails and the Sawtooths

Chattanooga Hot Springs near Atlanta: the river with the Sawtooth peaks behind, June 2016
Chattanooga Hot Springs near Atlanta: the river with the Sawtooth peaks behind, June 2016 · Photo: Intermountain Region US Forest Service, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Atlanta sits at the foot of the Sawtooth Mountains. The Sawtooth Wilderness begins about a mile north of town, at the base of Greylock Mountain (9,363 ft). Power Plant Campground, just north of town, has 24 sites near the headwaters of the Middle Fork; its Forest Service page, updated October 5, 2026, gives a season of mid-May to mid-October and $15 a night, and says the site was accessible until snow closes it, with no water or toilet cleaning. The Middle Fork Boise River Trail and the Powerplant Trail start nearby. The Forest Service photographed Chattanooga Hot Springs, near town, with the Sawtooths behind it.

Historic maps

Atlanta on USGS maps, 1894–1982

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Atlanta, 1894
Rocky Bar sheet, 1894, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Atlanta is about 40 miles from the nearest paved highway in either direction. From Idaho City the route below leaves ID 21 for Forest Service roads 384 and 327 and Atlanta Road. From Boise the router goes the long way, by I-84 and US 20 to Pine and Featherville, then up past Rocky Bar on Forest Highway 61 and James Creek Road. The Forest Service's own directions from Boise take ID 21 to the Arrowrock Reservoir turnoff, then Forest Road 268, the Middle Fork Boise River Road, about 69 miles east.

USGS topographic map of the Boise National Forest between Idaho City and Atlanta, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From Idaho City59.6 miabout 3 h 15 min
  1. From West Wall Street in Idaho City, turn right on Main Street to ID 21.0.3 mi
  2. Turn left onto ID 21 (the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Route) and follow it northeast.17.8 mi
  3. Turn right onto Forest Road 384 (Little Owl Creek Road on the route map) and follow it.13.8 mi
  4. Turn left onto North Fork Boise River Road (Forest Road 327).13.0 mi
  5. Turn left onto Atlanta Road and follow it to town.14.6 mi
  6. Turn right onto West Main Street.0.2 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Every way in is on unpaved Forest Service roads (Wikipedia). The Forest Service calls Road 268, the Middle Fork Boise River Road, narrow and possibly rough (Power Plant Campground page, updated October 5, 2026).
  • Recreation.gov's Atlanta Cabin page calls the roads generally well maintained, with some rough washboard sections, and says to check conditions before driving in.
  • In May 2005 the Idaho Transportation Department reported James Creek Road, on the Boise route, closed to all but emergency traffic by snowdrifts, and runoff washing out parts of the Middle Fork road. Expect snow on the high roads into late spring.
  • The route planner times the drive from Idaho City at about 3 h 15 min for 59.6 miles, and from Boise at about 4 h for 127.5 miles.
  • Homes, cabins and mining claims are private property.

Photos

Atlanta in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Atlanta?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Atlanta

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Idaho index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Atlanta", read October 29, 2026: county, 2WD road, climate, best time, summer residents, a few remnants, the 1864 discoveries, the Rocky Bar road, mining into the late 1930s.
  2. Wikipedia, "Atlanta, Idaho", read October 29, 2026: coordinates and GNIS ID, ZIP 83601, the name, the 1864 discoveries, the unpaved Forest Service roads and the 40 miles to the highways, the Sawtooth Wilderness and Greylock Mountain, the Monarch and Buffalo, the 1938 road, the end of mining in 1953 and the 1985 lease, the populations of 1909 and 1960, the Beaver Lodge and the Atlanta School, the 1978 historic district.
  3. Idaho State Historical Society, Reference Series no. 202, "Atlanta", August 1964 (archived copy): the Stanley party and the July 20 and November 1864 finds, the failed mills of 1867–1869, the 1874 revival, the Buffalo mill and the 1876 boom of about 500 people, Bledsoe's 1878 road, the 1884–1885 collapse, the 1891 London sale, the 1906 mill and tram, the 1932 concentrator, $16 to 18 million in output, the 1936 Middle Fork road.
  4. Western Mining History, "Atlanta, Idaho", read October 29, 2026: near ghost town, the mostly seasonal population, the mining-era cabins and homes, more than $16 million in output, the 1938 road.
  5. Idaho Heritage Trust, "Atlanta Log Cabin and Jail", read October 29, 2026: the 1910 jail in Jailhouse Park, its cells and hardware, the grants of 1992, 1994 and 2020.
  6. Recreation.gov, "Atlanta Cabin", read October 29, 2026: the 1933 ranger station compound and its National Register listing, the road conditions, Beaver Creek Lodge, the nearby trails, the Idaho City Ranger District phone.
  7. Boise National Forest, "Power Plant Campground", updated October 5, 2026: Forest Road 268 and the 69 miles from the Arrowrock turnoff, the season, fee and 24 sites, accessible until snow closes it.
  8. Boise National Forest, "UPDATED Sept. 19 - Crooked Fire Area, Road, and Trail Closure", Forest Order 0402-03-140, read October 29, 2026: the roads closed, road 327 excluded, the dates and the penalty.
  9. Boise National Forest, "Atlanta Area Roads 268M & 268MX1 Closure", December 9, 2025: two short roads by the community of Atlanta's transfer station closed through 2030.
  10. Idaho Transportation Department, The Transporter, May 20, 2005: about 45 year-round residents, the James Creek Road closure and the Middle Fork road washouts.
  11. T.H. Kiilsgaard and L.D. Bacon, USGS Open-File Report 2004-1205: the Monarch Mine photograph of 1992.
  12. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits