CDA is a beautiful modern city, adjacent to a huge 28 mile long lake. We took off to tour the CDA Resort which sits on six beachfront acres. It has a ⅝ mile boardwalk that wraps around all of the boats in the marina. They have a golf course with its famous 14th hole, the world’s first movable, floating green. From there we drove to the downtown area and window-shopped. For lunch we ate at Hudson’s, which is a well-known hamburger establishment since 1907. They have an 18 seat counter and you have to wait in line. Only hamburgers (single/double) and cheeseburgers are on the menu – not even fries. It’s unbelievable and the line continues to grow and dwindle, and grow and dwindle. They are juicy burgers, dripping and delicious. Here is living proof of the KISS method of success (Keep It Simple Stupid.) We finally had the courage to try para-sailing. It is really a thrill and one of the crew promised that he would take a picture of us.
One day we had history lessons. We visited the Old Mission State Park in Cataldo, Idaho. The Mission is the oldest remaining building in Idaho. It was built in 1842 by Jesuit missionaries that were welcomed into northern Idaho. It measures about 90’ high and 40’ wide. Wooden pegs were used throughout the building to secure all structural members together. There are panels on the ceiling, each a different design that were carved and then colored with huckleberry juice, as were other items in the church. Chandeliers were made from tin cans and the altar was painted to achieve the effect of marble. The walls of the building are of earth and timber construction. Straw or grass was woven on the timber framework and then daubed with mud, a technique called "wattle and daub,". Interior walls were covered with painted newspaper and fabric and resembled wallpaper.
We got off the highway to see a memorial to the 91 miners that were killed May 2, 1972, when a fire broke out in the Sunshine Mine, the largest silver mine in the nation.
Our next stop was Wallace, Idaho, which is The Silver Capital of the World! We checked out the Wallace District Mining Museum before our tour of the Sierra Silver Mine. It began aboard a classic 18-passenger trolley, bringing us to the mine entrance. After donning safety helmets we met our guide, a retired miner who took us through the mine and explained the operations. He demonstrated some mining equipment and answered any questions we had. It was sunny and probably in the 80s outside, but inside the mine it was 48°. The trolley picked us up and took us around town, explaining certain buildings. The entire city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After 1900, Wallace became the hub of one of the world’s richest mining districts. By 1985, the district had produced one billion ounces of silver. Miners still mine the mountains for silver, lead and zinc. When we got off the trolley we walked around a bit and then off to our next stop.
We then drove on a gravel road to Murray which was quite curvy, very narrow, and had steep drop-offs and visited the Sprag Pole Inn & Museum. A Sprag Pole is a word of Scandinavian origin meaning to support or brace with a stake or pole. It was used to support the building from snow loads in the old days. The museum represented one man’s lifetime collection of everything you could think of from mining machinery to furniture, bottles, baseball cards, guns, clothing, etc, etc.
We just checked out the town of Kellogg which was VERY small and didn’t have much to see.
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