Leesburg, Idaho facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Leesburg
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Leesburg's old school
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 Location in Idaho
Location in the United States
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| Location | Lemhi County, Idaho |
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| Nearest city | Salmon, Idaho |
| Architectural style | Rocky Mountain |
| NRHP reference No. | 75000634 |
| Added to NRHP | April 4, 1975 |
Leesburg is a small, historic place in Lemhi County, Idaho, United States. It's not a big city but a quiet community located in the Salmon National Forest. You can find it along Napias Creek, west of the town of Salmon. Leesburg sits high up, at about 6,653 feet (2,028 meters) above sea level. Its exact location is 45°13′26″N 114°6′50″W / 45.22389°N 114.11389°W.
The Story of Leesburg
Leesburg became a community because of gold! On July 16, 1866, gold was found at the Leesburg Mine. Many of the first settlers came from the Southern United States. Because of this, they named the new mining town after General Robert E. Lee.
A Bustling Gold Town
At its busiest, Leesburg was a very lively place. It once had a population of about 7,000 people. This number even included Chinese miners who came to seek their fortune. The town was home to 100 different businesses. Its main street stretched for about a mile!
Miners worked hard to get the gold out of the ground. They dug over 400 miles of ditches. These ditches were used to carry water to "sluice" out the gold. Sluicing is a method where water washes away lighter materials, leaving the heavier gold behind. By 1930, miners were using powerful water jets, called hydraulic methods, to find gold. Before 1938, the Leesburg mine produced nearly $16,000,000 worth of gold.
Leesburg Today
Over time, the gold became harder to find, and the town's population began to shrink. In 1909, only 75 people lived there. Leesburg had a post office until 1942, but it has since closed. Today, very little remains of the original community.
Even though it's mostly a ghost town now, Leesburg is still important. The entire site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. This helps protect what's left of this historic gold mining town.
