Silver City, Owyhee County, Idaho Genealogy

United States Idaho  Owyhee County  Silver City

Geographic Location
Silver City is located in a canyon at the headwaters of Jordan Creek at an elevation of 6300 feet, between War Eagle Mountain on the east and Florida Mountain on the west.

Biography
Biographies of many of the leading men (and a few women) of Silver City during its early history are included in A Historical, Descriptive and Commercial Directory of Owyhee County, Idaho, published in 1898.

Cemeteries
The following are cemeteries in the mining district in the vicinity of Silver City.

Directions to some of the cemeteries are on the USGenWeb site for Owyhee County under Owyhee County Cemeteries.

Burials gathered by June Davies and Wilma Lewis Statham and published in a book entitled "Owyhee Gleanings" have been alphabetized together and are also available at the USGenWeb site for the county under "Owyhee Burials."

Episcopal Church
St. James Episcopal Church operated in Silver City until about 1920. They donated their building to the Catholic Church in 1928.

Roman Catholic Church
The original Catholic Church in Silver City was known as St. Andrews. It was dedicated on 18 December 1868. The building was sold in 1873 and no Catholic church existed there until 1882. In that year, St. Andrews was rededicated as Our Lady of Sorrows. The rededication took place on 5 November 1882.

The building fell into disrepair and was abandoned by 1925. In 1928, the Episcopalian Church donated their building (St. James Episcopal) to the Catholic Church and it was rededicated as Our Lady of Tears, which still celebrates mass monthly during the summer season. It is a mission under St. Pauls of Nampa.

Wagontown Catholic Church

Directories
A directory of the residents and businesses of Silver City in 1898 is included in A Historical, Descriptive and Commercial Directory of Owyhee County, Idaho. A copy of the directory is in the Idaho State Archives, the Owyhee County Museum, and other Idaho libraries. It is also through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and its many family history centers.

The Gem State Rural's 1918-19 Farm Directory of Owyhee County Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon is available online. It lists landowners by town, including those owning land in these two counties, but residing elsewhere. The amount of acreage owned, the location of the land, and a list of crops raised on each farm is also included. The resident land owners of the Silver City area are listed on page 153.

History
The first exploration of the north slopes of the Owyhee Mountains took place in May of 1863 by a party of 29 men. During their exploration, they discovered gold. After they had staked their claims, they returned to the Boise Basin and set off a "stampede" to the Owyhee Mountains, specifically to War Eagle and Florida Mountains, the future site of Silver City.

The first settlement in the area was Booneville (later Dewey). The next was Ruby City which was made the county seat on 31 December 1863, when the county was organized. Although Ruby City was in a rather unfavorable site, by 1864 it had a population of 800-900.

Silver City was laid out in 1864 and gradually absorbed Ruby City. By 1866, Silver City became the county seat.

By 1865, some 250 mining locations had been recorded. In addition to the gold originally discovered, silver was also found in the Silver City area. Mining flourished until 1875 but some of the companies withdrew at the failure of the Bank of California.

Mining rebounded in the late 1800s, lasting until 1912, and again in 1975, but never regained its earlier splendor. At its high point, Silver City had a population of over 2000 and over 60 businesses.

In 1898, Silver City had no resident ministers, but it did have two Masonic Lodges (Chapter and Blue), three Odd Fellows Lodges (Encampment, Subordinate, and Rebekah), and one lodge of the Knights of Pythias.

Historical
The following newspapers have been published in Silver City. Copies for the dates indicated (arranged chronologically) are available at the Idaho State Archives in Boise.

School Records and Yearbooks
A schoolhouse was built in 1892. The museum that was housed there is no longer there.

Websites
Historic Silver City

Wikipedia article about Silver City