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Orogrande Historical Pictures
Orogrande:
The name of Orogrande means "coarse gold". Scenic Drive on the Gold Loop. Orograndea newer settlement than Elk City or Dixie is located eleven miles to the south
west of Elk City.Leave hwy. 14 and drive up Crooked River Road to Orogrande This drive along the river will usually have
you stopping to watch the wildlife along the river (river otters, moose, deer, elk and other critters).
Orogrande was a trading center for the Buffalo Hump mining town. Need some old pictures please.
If someone recognizes anyone in pictures would appreciate information on who, what year etc.
Presented on these pages are pictures sent by Neysa Le Beekman whose father was a school teacher
way back in the 1930's. We are very fortunate to have her loan the pictures for scanning and copying.
If anyone would like to email Neysa let me know (Cynthia Sherrer).
The following information about this area was taken from Idaho's Golden Road to Adventure Magazine
second edition - Brink and a Half Club1950s. The information still pertains to area today except you
will find populations have dropped and so has accommodations - too many people going on ocean cruises.
But that makes it feel like we are on vacation all the time to the full time residents left here.
Orogrande Mines New Pictures 01/20/07
OROGRANDE AND BUFFALO HUMP
MARYBELLE FILER
Orogrande, gateway to the Buffalo Hump country, is a tiny
settlement that has served as a center for mining trade
since 1906.
It offers a typical mining set-up: 4th class post office, the old western store that houses groceries, beer, shoe strings and pot-bellied stoves;
there, are cabins dotted here and there among the trees. (All businesses have disappeared - so make sure you fill your gas tank
and take a picnic lunch these days) Nearby runs Crooked River, a small stream that is stocked yearly.
This small settlement lies 12 miles southwest of Elk City and fifty miles easterly from Grangeville.
From Orogrande one enters the Buffalo Hump -a vast area of mountains in which exploratory mining activities occurred in prewar years.
Now it lies dormant and temporarily crippled by the abnormal times.
Seven miles south from Orogrande one reaches a summit where there is an adequate campground.
From this point five lakes are available for fishing. Each of the lakes may be reached in one day's hike, and all are stocked every year.
Most years it will be mid June to July 1st before you can access these lakes with encountering snow. Roads are not plowed during the winter.
Orogrande Frisco Mill 1937 / 38
Ralph Kenneth McCallum pictures from the past (1936) found by his daughter recently (March 2005)
Rainbow Lake
Two miles from the Orogrande Summit is another ideal camping ground called Lake Creek. This leads into Fish Lake, which is perhaps the most popular of all the some twenty fishable lakes in the Hump area. A prolific moose family has inspired many photographers to make the three-mile trek to this lake. It is good fishing.
Calendar, three and one-half miles from Orogrande Summit, still sports the remnants of the -boom town of 1898 to 1908. At one time it supported a hank and several saloons. It also had a 20-stamp mill, which handled ore from the Big Buffalo, Vesuvius, and Crackerjack mines. From this point Crystal Lake is an easy one-mile walk.
ADVICE TO TOURISTS: You will find numerous lake and points of interest but you are in the mountains, fella. So come without your big trailers and non-collapsible boats, do come with proper footgear and warm clothing.
These days we use snowmobiles to reach Orogrande Summit this time of year. No one that I know of spends the whole winter in the Hump Area but there are a few who have a cabin in the wilderness free corridor that snowmobile in for a winter vacation. The trail up is not groomed and the mail does not run these days like it did a century ago.
Fish Lake is a good swimming spot plus the fishing is good. The roads are not near as good so where you could go in the 50s in a car you would need a jeep, dirt bike, 4-wheeler, or just good hiking shoes and backpack in 1999.
Neysa won a photo contest with this one (Joe cougar) Click on the link to read the story behind the picture. A wonderful summer vacation story.
The Oro grande Mill - Is there anyone that remembers working here and looking at these pictures if so maybe you would give us a little historical information to include here?
As more people come forward with information on the area this page will grow. Are there any old members of the club below that would like to put their stories in? I will in near future get a page started on Golden itself and area.
Brink and a Half Club
MADQUARTERS
Golden, Idaho
CLUB'S HISTORY
This club was organized on September 27. 1947, in the small mining communities of Fall Creek and Golden by a group of local residents, who had unintentionally landed with their cars in the Clearwater River-plus those who had driven the River's roads. From these episodes, originated the club's name, meaning if you're on the road, you're on the brink, take away half and you're in the river-thus Brink and a Half. Those who have accidentally entered the Clearwater River as passengers in a car are Charter members, Prospective members are those who have driven the banks of the Clearwater River.
From the initial twelve, it
has grown to a membership of several thousand and is still growing.
Every state
in the Union is represented in its membership, as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
The club is nonpolitical,
non-denominational and nonprofit. The original intentions of the
organization were to hold parties and get-togethers during the winter months. As
Packers, mine operators,
fishermen, and hunters joined, a close contact was established with the
neighboring towns of Elk City, Orogrande. and Dixie. These factors led to the
decision that the outside world would like to hear of the beauties of our
country, and that many folks would like to spend a vacation at a modest cost,
without the tinsel which goes with luxurious resorts.
To the following. we dedicate this booklet: The fisherman who enjoys a well stocked stream with elbow room, the hunter of elk, deer, and mountain sheep, who likes to return with game; the men, women and children who enjoy hikes over mountain trails to visit old placer diggings, ghost towns, modern dredges, and quartz mines in operation, or a trip to Buffalo Hump with its riot of colors and many lakes; to those who enjoy comfortable hotels, cabins, home cooked meals and friendly western hospitality-All within a few hours' drive from the Metropolis of Lewiston with its luxurious hotels and smart clubs or from Camas Prairie with its prosperous farms and busy towns. This is the Clearwater country. This is The Golden Road to Adventure.
Kay E. Wilson President
Below is the Orogrande School house from back in the 30's
I
think when you visit you will see that things have not changed much over the
past 50 years. Population has decreased and some of the places have become total
ghost towns instead of tourist attractions. The mines are no longer in operation
- unless the exploration that is being done just above Orogrande ever pans out.
To this day there is still no electricity other than home generators and no
phone service unless you climb to top of mountains with cell phone.
Soon Orogrande will have phone service (2000).
At least 23 applications have been submitted for service to the area.
Hotel school diamond hitch mine B&O mine
