{"id":11872,"date":"2019-08-09T16:41:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=11872"},"modified":"2019-08-09T16:41:50","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:41:50","slug":"100-year-hailey-celebration-hosts-popular-historian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/09\/100-year-hailey-celebration-hosts-popular-historian\/","title":{"rendered":"100-Year Hailey Celebration Hosts Popular Historian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Blanchard talk to focus on the impacts of mining<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Hayden Seder<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Bullion union members celebrate Fourth of July in Hailey roughly 100 years ago. Photo credit: Tom Blanchard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

B<\/span>ack by popular demand, mining historian Tom Blanchard will speak at the Hailey Public Library on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 5:30 p.m., on local Idaho mining history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blanchard gave a talk on the subject in the spring of this year that had so many people interested, folks had to be turned away. The talk is one of a series of lectures about the early history of Hailey and the Wood River Valley given to commemorate the Hailey Library\u2019s yearlong Centennial Celebration. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people had to be turned away when Tom gave this talk last spring that we wanted to offer it again,\u201d said Kristin Fletcher, Hailey Public Library program specialist. \u201cHis breadth of knowledge about state and local mining history is remarkable.\u00a0He\u2019s always digging up new stories to share, so it\u2019s never the same talk twice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Blanchard holds a master\u2019s degree in American history with a specialty in the American West as well as a degree in historiography from San Francisco State University. He has also taught these same subjects at the College of Southern Idaho for several years and has done programming on Idaho mining throughout the state for the past 30 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Bellevue and the Wood River Valley began as mining communities, it is hard to talk about local and state history without talking about mining,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cIn the process of specializing in Idaho mining, I have gathered a personal library and shelves of mining documents from multiple sources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Blanchard\u2019s talk will be on the history of mining in the early period throughout Idaho and will focus specifically on the importance of mining in Hailey. In the period of 1879 to 1885, Hailey, Bellevue and Ketchum were all in competition to be the prime community of the Valley. Each community was just taking off and mining was an important function of that. Hailey was fueled by Bullion Gulch, Bellevue fueled by Galena Gulch and Ketchum by the Independence\/Warm Springs Mine as well as Triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBullion came on quickly and produced high values very early, so a lot of money was coming into Hailey,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cMining had a positive effect on Hailey\u2019s early growth and helped it set some values that have continued today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Blanchard explains that Hailey is an example of what was happening in mining communities across Idaho at that time. Like a young child being imprinted on by its parents, Hailey imprinted values like optimism, opportunity and high expectations on itself during its formative years throughout the early 1880s, something that has stuck with it for the duration of its life.<\/span><\/p>\n

While there hasn\u2019t been mining in the Wood River Valley in years, there are mining practices in Idaho. Two large mines are in development phases and another has gone through the permitting process and is starting construction. Phosphate mines in eastern Idaho have been going continuously since World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMining is a successful industry in Idaho and in its success it has mechanized; machinery has replaced manpower,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cIt\u2019s considered one of the most efficient industries there are. As a result, cost has gone down. Its profitability has been hinged on replacement of labor with technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For those interested in learning more about Idaho history, the Hailey Public Library will host several more lectures before year\u2019s end, including \u201cThe Life and Work of Ezra Pound, Hailey\u2019s Native Son,\u201d with Ted Dyer on Aug. 29. Historian John Lundin will speak on the Oregon Short Line railroad, the history of the Wood River Valley\u2019s resort hotels, Sun Valley: Hailey Hot Springs and Guyer Hot Springs, and Blanchard will speak in the fall about early water rights battles and the arrival of electricity in the Wood River Valley. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Blanchard talk to focus on the impacts of mining By Hayden Seder Back by popular demand, mining historian Tom Blanchard will speak at the Hailey Public Library on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 5:30 p.m., on local Idaho mining history. Blanchard gave a talk on the subject in the spring of this year that had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hailey","8":"category-news","9":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}