Wallace, Idaho has 800 people, a silver mine you can walk into, and a very bold manhole cover

Idaho’s Silver Valley town that’s got it all

About 800 people live in Wallace, Idaho, 84 miles east of Spokane in the folds of the Bitterroot Mountains. The whole downtown sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

There’s a former silver mine you can walk into, a rail-trail named to the Hall of Fame, and a manhole cover that the mayor officially declared the Center of the Universe. That’s not a metaphor.

It’s engraved. Start at the corner of Bank and Sixth Streets, and go from there.

Silver and gold brought a boomtown to the mountains

Colonel William R. Wallace arrived in 1884, and the mountains around him held more silver than almost anywhere on earth. By 1887, downtown was booming and railroads connected the town to the outside world.

Since the 1880s, Shoshone County has produced more than 1.2 billion ounces of silver.

When federal highway planners threatened to tear down the Victorian-era brick buildings in the 1970s, city leaders fought back by getting the entire downtown listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The buildings are still standing.

The stoplight that outlasted an interstate highway

For decades, Interstate 90 ran straight through Wallace’s downtown streets, making it the last stoplight on I-90 between Seattle and Boston.

When the elevated viaduct opened in Sept. 1991, the town sent that stoplight off in style: a horse-drawn hearse, bagpipers, and a mock funeral.

The retired light now sits in a coffin at the Wallace District Mining Museum.

Thirteen years later, Mayor Ron Garitone declared the town the Center of the Universe, partly in response to the EPA’s Superfund designation of the area. The manhole cover at Bank and Sixth Streets marks the spot.

Ride 15 miles of mountain rail-trail on the Hiawatha

The Route of the Hiawatha follows a former Milwaukee Railroad line through the Bitterroot Mountains, crossing from Idaho into Montana and back.

The trail runs 15 miles, drops at a gentle 1.6 percent grade the whole way, and takes you through 10 old train tunnels and across seven trestles with open mountain views below.

You start by riding 1.66 miles through the St. Paul Pass Tunnel, under the state line, in the dark. The Rails to Trails Conservancy put the Hiawatha in its Hall of Fame, and it’s easy to see why.

Walk into a real silver mine in downtown Wallace

The Sierra Silver Mine Tour puts you inside an actual working mine in the heart of the Coeur d’Alene Mining District.

A retired hard-rock miner leads the way, talking you through the real methods that pulled silver out of these mountains and made this the richest silver district on earth. You get there on an open-air trolley from downtown.

Tours run daily from May through mid-October, and the whole thing moves at a pace that works for anyone, not just hikers or history buffs.

Hike the forest trail Ed Pulaski blazed to save 45 lives

In August 1910, the largest wildfire in American history tore through these mountains. Forest Ranger Ed Pulaski led about 45 men through the smoke to an abandoned mine tunnel and kept them alive.

The roughly 2-mile Pulaski Tunnel Trail follows that same route along Placer Creek, through pine, cedar, and fir, with interpretive signs filling in the story at each turn. The trailhead sits a short drive from downtown Wallace.

Some sections climb steeply, but the hike is moderate overall.

Pulaski also refined the axe-and-hoe firefighting tool that still carries his name and still goes into wildfires today.

The bordello that closed in 1988 and stayed frozen in time

The Oasis Bordello Museum on downtown Wallace’s main street operated from 1895 until 1988.

When word spread that an FBI raid was coming, the occupants left in a hurry, and left behind everything: personal belongings, open soda cans, beds still made. The place has stayed that way ever since.

Guided tours walk you through it with straightforward, factual context about what life looked like in a mining-camp town where several establishments like this one once lined the street. The Oasis is open May through October.

Two museums cover 130 years of silver, lead and gold

The Wallace District Mining Museum spans more than 130 years of production in one of the most productive mining districts in the world.

More than 50 exhibits, thousands of historic photographs, and the actual one-billionth ounce of silver mined in the district are all inside.

A short walk away, the Northern Pacific Railroad Museum fills a beautifully restored chateau-style depot built in 1901. The depot was physically relocated to save it when the freeway came through.

Both are in downtown Wallace, easy to hit back-to-back.

Ziplines, off-road rigs, and backcountry riding above town

Silver Streak Ziplines sends you above the town and surrounding mountains on courses that give you a wide look at the Silver Valley.

Down on the ground, off-road vehicle rentals put you on hundreds of miles of old mining, logging, and forest service roads in every direction.

Mountain biking runs from beginner-friendly paths to rugged backcountry terrain. Wallace sits within 600 miles of national forest land, so the options stack up fast.

You can spend a full day out there without retracing a single mile.

Pedal 73 flat miles on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes

Where the Hiawatha is tunnels and trestles in mountain wilderness, the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is something else entirely.

This 73-mile paved rail-trail runs from Mullan through Wallace to Plummer, near the Washington border. It’s flat, smooth, and fully accessible to cyclists, walkers, runners, and wheelchair users.

The route passes through mountain valleys and forest, crosses prairie, and rolls across Lake Coeur d’Alene on a 4,000-foot bridge. The trail is part of the planned coast-to-coast Great American Rail-Trail network.

Ski, hike, and catch live theater all year long

Winter brings skiing at two resorts within 20 minutes of downtown. Lookout Pass Ski Area, about 12 miles east, gets heavy snowfall and draws families.

Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, about 20 minutes west, runs more than 70 trails and has an indoor waterpark.

Come summer, the Huckleberry Festival brings a 5K, pancake breakfast, live music, and food vendors into town.

The Sixth Street Melodrama, Wallace’s only live community theater, runs out of the oldest surviving wood building in the Silver Valley. Blues Fest, Gyro Days, and a Christmas festival round out the calendar.

Four blocks wide, nine blocks long, and worth your time

Wallace sits right off Interstate 90, making it a natural stop on a drive between Spokane and Missoula. The whole town runs four blocks by nine blocks, and you can cover the highlights on foot.

Downtown has gem and mineral stores, antique shops, and locally owned curiosity shops tucked into the same brick storefronts that have been here for over a century.

Travel and Leisure and Smithsonian have both put Wallace on their lists of the most beautiful small towns in the country. You can see it in a day.

Most people wish they’d stayed longer.

Visit Wallace, Idaho and find the Center of the Universe

You can start your visit at the Wallace Visitor Center at I-90 Exit 61, where the free outdoor Mine Heritage Exhibition stays open year-round. From there, downtown is a short walk.

The Sierra Silver Mine Tour departs daily from May through mid-October.

The Route of the Hiawatha is accessible from Lookout Pass, 12 miles east of town, and runs from mid-May through mid-September. The Center of the Universe manhole cover sits at the corner of Bank and Sixth Streets.

Check the official website for current hours and admission prices before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Every building in this Idaho canyon town is on the National Register of Historic Places
• 170 shops, a National Historic District, and Lake Michigan at the end of every block
• Why does a Virginia town of 8,000 people pull in 140,000 visitors a year? Walk Main Street