Custer Ghost Town: Idaho's Yankee Fork Mining Country

Gold first drew seekers to the Yankee Fork country starting in 1870, and within a few years frontier communities sprang to life. Custer was founded in early 1879 by gold speculators and grew on the strength of mines like the Lucky Boy and Black, reaching a peak of 600 residents in 1896. As the easy gold played out, the town faded, and Custer was largely a ghost town by 1910-11. The state park notes the rapid growth of the 1880s gave way to restored buildings, miners' tales, and secluded cemeteries that remain today.

Today Custer sits inside Land of the Yankee Fork State Park, managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Many of the buildings are open to the public, with a self-guided tour that walks you through Custer's place in Idaho's mining history. The park bundles several sites together: the Bayhorse ghost town is also part of it, and the enormous Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, a 988-ton barge that worked the stream gravels through 1952 and recovered roughly a million dollars in gold and silver, sits nearby with guided and self-guided tours.

For RV travelers, this corner of central Idaho rewards an unhurried visit. You can travel the Custer Motorway Adventure road between sites, explore the ghost towns and dredge, and stop at the museum and visitor center. Time a July trip and you can catch Custer Days, when food, music, and historical reenactments bring the old mining town back to life.