Silver Valley Books: "Coeur d' Alene Diary: The First Ten Years of Hardrock Mining in North Idaho" by Richard G. Magnuson

I own a large library of books about the Silver Valley.

I have a list of them at the bottom of my blog (that does need updated, I realized!!).  But recently I did a program on some of my favorite Silver Valley history books, and it made me think people might be interested in knowing some books that are out there that they can read about our area's history.

So about every week or so I am going to tell about one of the books I have, and why I like it.

"Coeur d' Alene Diary: The First Ten Years of Hardrock Mining in North Idaho" by Richard G. Magnuson is a great book that the author researched using local newspapers and shows the history through the newspaper articles.  There are also pictures from the first ten years.  He covers a bit of history when the Jesuit Priests arrived and built the Cataldo Mission. Then he shares about the building of the Mullan Road.  The Gold Rush up the North Fork is also mentioned.  The rest of the book focuses on the years from 1884 to 1893.  In the forward of the book, the author, Richard Magnuson, says, "This, in its small way, is my effort to chronicle the first ten years of the Coeur d'Alene, a mining camp and its people".

I enjoyed the photographs in the book as well, showing the early days of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District.  If you want to know some history of the early days of the Silver Valley, this book is a great place to begin.  There are many copies available through the local libraries.

If you have ever read the book, or have a comment about this publication, I would love you to write a comment and tell me what your thoughts are on this book.