1957 Map of Placerville

About this map

Placerville stands as the central hub of this mid-century Idaho landscape, reflecting the heavy legacy of the Boise Basin gold rush within the Boise National Forest. The map documents a terrain deeply altered by mining activity, visible in the extensive tailings that line Grimes Creek and Mud Creek. To the west, Quartzburg serves as a northern anchor for a cluster of lode mines, including the Gold Hill Mine and Iowa Mine, while the southern reaches transition into smaller settlements like Centerville and New Centerville. The intricate network of ravines and gulches—such as Confederate Gulch and Slaughterhouse Gulch—reveals how prospecting dictated the local geography. Between these industrial sites, family-named locations like Brassey Ranch and Star Ranch hint at the agricultural life that coexisted with the extraction efforts along the creek forks.