Route 26

In Southern Idaho, between Blackfoot and Arco, Highway 26 crosses this desolate landscape, once a hotbed of nuclear research and development. The Idaho National Laboratory is nearby as is the nuclear ghost town of Atomic City, the location of the world’s first electricity-generating nuclear power plant, Experimental Breeder Reactor-1, built in 1950 and already in 1955 the scene of the world’s first partial meltdown.

Craters of the Moon

Volcanic eruptions occurred here between 15,000 and as recent as 2,000 years ago. This lone limber pine, dubbed the Triple Twist Tree, which began to grow after the lava of the last eruption cooled, helped to date the flow. The tree itself is some 1,350 years old. Radio-carbon dating and paleomagnetic measurements further indicated the flow took place 2,000 years ago. The tree was still alive in the late 1950's.

Inferno Cone

An eerily looking cinder cone in the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

North Crater Flow

Rafted blocks, most likely carried by the lava flow to this spot from the wall of North Crater in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

Up periscope !

The nearest ocean is at least 800 kms away, yet in Arco, Idaho you find a conning tower of a nuclear submarine. Arco was the first city to be lit by electricity generated entirely by nuclear energy., for one hour on 17 July 1955. Moreover, during the Cold War, the Arco region in southeast Idaho was a hotbed of nuclear testing and development. To commemorate the city's history in nuclear power development, the sail of the USS Hawkbill sub - the 666 "Devil Boat" - was dedicated to Arco in July 2003 and now adorns its main sqaure as Idaho's "Submarine in the Desert".

Clayton, Idaho

Clayton is the smallest incorporated city in the USA. A former smelter location on the Idaho 75 in Custer County in central Idaho, booming between 1880 and the 1930s, but now virtually a ghost town, yet still hanging on with a population of seven. And they do have a nice park for the annual picnic.

Idaho 63-548

Not everybody seems to be doing well in Clayton, Idaho. Joel E. Clayton located a smelter here in 1880 following lead-silver mineral discoveries in the Salmon River area. By the 1930s Clayton had become the most important silver producer in Southern Idaho.

River of No Return

The Salmon River, or the River of No Return, seems to be cooking this morning near Stanley, reminiscent of the feverish gold rush that started in the 1860s in this area. Every year Chinook and Sockeye salmon travel from the Pacific up the river in an epic 900-mile journey to spawn and die in the Sawtooth lakes. It gave its name to the 1954 Otto Preminger picture starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe.

Sunbeam

Sunbeam is one of several ghost towns in the Salmon River valley. Flourishing briefly in the late 19th century when miners settled in the area, most locations were abandoned before World War I. Near Sunbeam a dam was built on the Salmon to power a local mine in 1910, yet only used for a year and finally breached in the 1930's.