Burke, Idaho facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Burke, Idaho
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East hillside of Burke as seen in 2017
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 Burke, Idaho
Location in Idaho
Burke, Idaho
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Idaho |
| County | Shoshone |
| Elevation | 3,700 ft (1,100 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code |
83807
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| Area code(s) | 208, 986 |
Burke is a ghost town in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, established in 1887. Once a thriving silver, lead and zinc mining community, the town saw significant decline in the mid-twentieth century after the closure of several mines.
In its early years, Burke was home to the Hercules silver mine, the owners of which were implicated in the Idaho mining wars of 1899. Both the Hecla and Star mines also operated out of Burke, and the town was a significant site during the 1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike. Burke's location within the narrow 300-foot-wide (91 m) Burke Canyon resulted in unique architectural features, such as a hotel built above the railway and Canyon Creek, with the train track running through a portion of the hotel lobby.
After several natural disasters and years of decline in the mid-twentieth century, Burke mining operations finally ceased in 1991 with the closing of the Star mine. In 2002, about 300 people lived in or nearby Burke Canyon, though Burke itself had no residents.
Burke is located about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Wallace, at an elevation of 3,700 feet (1,130 m) above sea level. It is accessed from Wallace on Burke-Canyon Creek Road (State Highway 4). The town is located approximately 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) west of the bordering U.S. state of Montana.
Contents
History
Hard rock miners in Shoshone County protested wage cuts with a strike in 1892. Two large mines, the Gem mine and the Frisco mine in Burke-Canyon 1 mile south of Burke, operated with replacement workers during the strike. Several lost their lives in a shooting war provoked by the discovery of a company spy named Charles A. Siringo The U.S. Army forced an end to the strike.
Hostilities erupted once again in 1899. In response to the Bunker Hill company firing seventeen men for joining the union, the miners dynamited the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mill. Lives were lost once again, and the army intervened.
One of more famous images of early Idaho were the train tracks in Burke running through the main road. The narrow main part of town had to share its boundaries with the Northern Pacific rail spur.
When the railroad had to widen, instead of destroying the main hotel, the railroad and hotel came up with a unique situation—i.e. the railroad ran through the area where the Tiger Hotel's lobby was, with an enclosed walk way constructed above for hotel guests to move between the two halves of the hotel with out worry about the train or the weather. The hotel became increasingly unprofitable in the 1940s and was torn down in 1954.
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 482 | — | |
| 1900 | 1,081 | 124.3% | |
| 1910 | 1,400 | 29.5% | |
| 1920 | 1,135 | −18.9% | |
| 1930 | 1,027 | −9.5% | |
| 1940 | 963 | −6.2% | |
| 1950 | 800 | −16.9% | |
| 1960 | 300 | −62.5% | |
| 1970 | 150 | −50.0% | |
| 1980 | 80 | −46.7% | |
| 1990 | 15 | −81.2% | |
| source: | |||
Climate
| Climate data for 2 Miles ENE of Burke, Idaho (1907–1967) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 48 (9) |
63 (17) |
65 (18) |
83 (28) |
86 (30) |
98 (37) |
95 (35) |
99 (37) |
92 (33) |
78 (26) |
62 (17) |
50 (10) |
99 (37) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 28.7 (−1.8) |
34.3 (1.3) |
39.0 (3.9) |
47.7 (8.7) |
57.7 (14.3) |
65.6 (18.7) |
76.3 (24.6) |
74.1 (23.4) |
65.5 (18.6) |
52.0 (11.1) |
37.3 (2.9) |
30.9 (−0.6) |
50.8 (10.4) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 15.9 (−8.9) |
19.5 (−6.9) |
21.6 (−5.8) |
27.5 (−2.5) |
32.9 (0.5) |
39.0 (3.9) |
44.2 (6.8) |
43.2 (6.2) |
38.6 (3.7) |
32.2 (0.1) |
24.7 (−4.1) |
19.1 (−7.2) |
29.9 (−1.2) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −24 (−31) |
−21 (−29) |
−15 (−26) |
8 (−13) |
13 (−11) |
26 (−3) |
20 (−7) |
23 (−5) |
21 (−6) |
4 (−16) |
−13 (−25) |
−26 (−32) |
−26 (−32) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 6.69 (170) |
5.41 (137) |
4.92 (125) |
3.02 (77) |
2.95 (75) |
3.32 (84) |
1.23 (31) |
1.38 (35) |
2.54 (65) |
4.35 (110) |
6.02 (153) |
6.18 (157) |
48.01 (1,219) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 59.9 (152) |
45.6 (116) |
42.4 (108) |
9.5 (24) |
3.7 (9.4) |
0.5 (1.3) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.2 (0.51) |
4.3 (11) |
27.7 (70) |
48.7 (124) |
242.5 (616.21) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 20 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 17 | 18 | 157 |
| Source: Western Regional Climate Center | |||||||||||||
Gallery
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The Poorman, Burke, Idaho 1890
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Map of Northern Pacific's route, circa 1900
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A closed business in Burke
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An abandoned mine shaft in Burke
Notable people
- Wyatt Earp (1848–1929), lawman, lived in a camp adjacent to Burke, known as Eagle City, circa 1885
- Lana Turner (1921–1995), actress, lived in Burke in her early childhood
Images for kids
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Burke, c. 1891, showing the railway track running on the street through town.
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The Tiger Hotel, a 150-room hotel with the railway running through the main lobby.
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1907 Geologic map of Burke, which includes the locations of the Helena-Frisco, Standard-Mammoth, Tiger-Poorman, Hecla and Hercules mines
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1904 image of Burke, Idaho, including the Tiger-Poorman (left) and Hecla (right) mine shafts
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Hecla Mine Co. building
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Skyway bridge connecting buildings
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The Star mine shaft
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