Hiking through History at Galena

by Pat Murphy

Built around the remains of an 1870s general store, Galena Lodge and its pastoral setting some 22 miles north of Ketchum reveals no hint of the bustling town of 800 hardy adventurers who lived there in the settlement’s flourishing, but brief, existence between 1879 and 1885. Gone is the Daisy Saloon, Mrs. Murray’s small hotel, John Carey’s livery stable and Nelse Weaver’s meat market, as well as the active mines and smelter.

Galena, more than a century ago, was the heart of a boom-and-bust mining rush that drew hundreds of fortune hunters into untamed and uncharted country in search of silver. By 1881 the settlement consisted of log houses on both sides of the Big Wood River and two tributaries, Titus and Gladiator Creeks. However, disappointment awaited many of the eager, but inexperienced and unfit, novice miners rushing into Mother Nature’s wilderness in search of hidden riches.

Scores of men, perhaps even hundreds, according to legend, simply vanished in the wilds around Galena, their spirits broken when their luck ran out, when their pokes ran empty and when their handheld picking tools struck rocky failure. In an oral history many years later, Charlotte Rice, a child of that late 19th century rush to riches who lived in Galena, recalled the mystery of the missing miners and of lives sacrificed to dreams.

“I always did wonder, ‘Where did they go?’ and ‘Why didn’t they come back?’ They went up and up—numbers and numbers of them past our place and up into the hills. I’ve often wondered if the hills aren’t full of them up there.”

By the turn of the century, the rush for galena—an ore rock containing both silver and lead—was over. The lode turned out to be smaller and more expensive to extract than previously thought. Instead, men and women began to be drawn to the serene beauty of the area, the bountiful hunting and fishing and the lush meadows for sheep grazing.

It was, in fact, the good fishing that brought Pearl Eva Barber and her husband Charles to the area. In 1923 the Barbers purchased the Galena Store for $500, an outpost that sold staples such as coffee, tobacco and milk. For the next dozen years the Barbers ran the store and maintained a few guest cabins during the summer months only. There was little connection to the outside world but for an old toll road, built in the 1880s, over Galena summit to Sawtooth City (near what is now known as Smiley Creek). And that journey was not for the feint of heart. Wagon drivers routinely tied logs to the backs of their wagons to serve as brakes for the descent from the 8,701-foot summit. Today, that toll road is a popular hiking and mountain bike trail that splits off either side of the summit.

With the building of the Sun Valley Resort in 1936, the Barbers saw more visitors from the south to their store and guest cabins and decided to keep them open for winter use as well. Though work on the highway from Ketchum north to Galena was begun in the 1930s, it wasn’t completed until 1954. By the end of the project a two-lane blacktop stretched over the summit into the Stanley Basin. Though her husband died in 1944, Pearl Barber continued to run the store until 1960.

As towns to the north and south were growing, life bypassed Galena and its struggle to remain an outpost of civilization. The store changed hands three times after the Barber tenure until the Gelsky family purchased it and built the Galena Lodge in its current location. They used many of the old timbers from the town site in the construction of the lodge.

In 1976 a seven-member ownership group purchased the lodge and developed a trail system on the roadbeds of old mining and logging roads. It was the dawn of Galena Lodge as a Nordic skiing center. A few years later the lodge changed hands again, an expansion plan was submitted to the Forest Service, but it was not approved.

Then in 1987 valley resident Steve Haims purchased the lodge and spent over $300,000 renovating the lodge and trail system. For the next five years Galena Lodge became a premier Nordic center, with state-of-the-art grooming, a full ski shop, special events and a restaurant which became known for its gourmet fare. Haims’ master plan for the resort included overnight lodging and more new trails, however, it was not to be, and in 1992 the lodge was closed and put up for sale. For 18 months the building sat empty.

Galena Lodge was rescued from an uncertain future when a community-wide effort to save the lodge was mounted in 1994. In that effort, a proverbial angel appeared. Teresa Heinz, widow of condiment heir U.S. Sen. H. John Heinz III of Pennsylvania, donated $325,000 from the Heinz Family Foundation to purchase and preserve the lodge in the name of her late husband. Now married to U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Heinz has been visiting the area for 30 years. When she heard of Galena Lodge’s plight and agreed to save it, she described Galena as “holy and innocent.” The community agreed and anted up a matching donation.

Refurbished and opened again with resident managers, dining facilities and sports equipment rentals and sales, the Lodge has become the hub of the sprawling North Valley Trail System, operated and maintained by the Blaine County Recreation District.

The network of winter and summer trails for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing totals more than 110 kilometers, with the 31-kilometer Harriman Trail as its backbone. The trail system lures world-class Nordic skiers from afar each year for the 32-kilometer Boulder Mountain Tour marathon race, now in its 29th year. The 2003 race attracted more than 1,000 skiers.

Trail names are unforgettable. Among them are Gladiator Creek Loop, Titus Creek Loop, Nello’s Cut, Psycho, Emma’s Gulch, Tilt-a-Whirl, Yurt Trail and Rip and Tear.

Not that Galena Lodge needs any more glamour added to its reputation, but it also can rightfully claim to be one of the most romantic spots on earth several times a year. Its wintertime Full Moon Dinner provides cross-country skiers with a scrumptious meal followed by skiing in brilliant mountain moonlight along groomed trails in the sort of silence that humans enjoyed when exploring the uncharted mountains and valleys.

In summer the ski trails become challenging mountain bike trails, with notable mountain bike events like the Galena Grinder being held there. On Wednesdays there are wildflower walks with regional cuisine dinners held afterward. Thursday evenings an Idaho barbecue dinner is prepared and wagon rides are provided. Plans are also in the works for “Murder Mystery Dinners.” In addition to other special events like weddings in the lush meadows nearby, the lodge is open for lunch everyday.

To geographers, Galena constitutes hundreds of square miles of jagged peaks rising as high as 9,200 feet, covered mostly with pine forests nourished by snowmelt, the home to roaming wildlife and seasonal flowers, and the remnants of mining diggings.

But to ardent nature preservationists and devotees of the outdoors good life, the Galena Lodge and surrounding area represents a legacy for generations yet unborn to enjoy, to protect and share.