About 75 miles east of McCall, lies a range of high mountains between Marble and Monumental Creeks. The elevation ranges from 8,000 feet to over 9,000 feet high. It's an area of extreme weather conditions, deep snow in winter and cloud bursts of rain in summer.
A creek ran through a Mountain underground cavern with such force that it caused an enormous and constant roar. The sound reverberated across the narrow valley from Mountain talk to mountaintop. The Indians, with their superstitious beliefs, gave the valley a wide berth. The region was known as Thunder Mountain. In later years the water was diverted, which silenced the roar.
Gold was discovered at the mouth of Mule Creek in 1894 and in 1901 at the mouth of Monumental Creek. Prospectors decided that the source was Thunder Mountain. The gold rush was on!
Yellow Pine and Stibnite mines yielded gold, antimony and cinnabar. A wagon road linked those mining camps with McCall and south to Warm Lake. Only a trail that into the Thunder Mountain mining camp, "Roosevelt," which was named in honor of U.S. President Roosevelt.
The town was considered one of the wildest and wide open mining camps of the West. It boasted seven saloons, two dance halls with saloons and girls. One saloon served food and drinks. All had wide open gambling. There were two general stores, a post office, blacksmith shop and a newspaper office that printed a weekly paper. He could read about the antics of such characters as "Pick Handle" Mike, "Brown Gravy" Sam, "Hot Food" Davis, "Fool Hen" and "Flying Squirrel."
Because of the inaccessibility of the town in winter, the 1901 winter prices soared. He paid six dollars a dozen for eggs, one dollar a gallon for milk, butter was hard to get and tobacco prices multiplied more than four times. One packer, Asa Clark, used milk cows for pack animals. Milk was sold in the summer and the animals were butchered for the town's winter meat supply. A 1,000 foot steel cable required 30 mules to haul it in for a mine. In 1903 a wagon road was constructed as far as Johnson Creek. The rest of the way was a trail, so all supplies had to be transported by pack animals. Soon there were over 5,000 people in the town of Roosevelt seeking their fortune.
The two biggest mines were the Dewey and the Sunnyside. There were other small mines - all producing gold. The Dewey Mine was owned by E. H. Dewey, son of millionaire Col. W. H. Dewey. The son persuaded his father to give a check for $100,000 to the Caswell Brothers for their mining claims. A 40 stamp mill was built, 160 yards from the mine’s entrance, which could handle an average of 120 tons of gold-bearing ore per day. The mine produced about $325,000 in profits, and in later years revenue exceeded over a half million dollars.
By 1906 a huge cavity had been excavated in the hillside, about 400 feet deep and 60 to 70 feet wide. The enormous side pressure at the walls caused them to collapse in July, 1906. The mine location was two miles downstream from Roosevelt and 2,000 feet higher than the town.
A cloudburst, early in 1909, caused a massive landslide near the mine site. Trees, mud and rocks slid down the steep gulch of Mule Creek and into Monumental Creek, creating a damn 125 feet high and 500 feet wide. The water began to back up towards the town. Mining activities had slowed down by 1909, so the few remaining town residents scrambled for safety.
With the melting snow pack the creeks were swollen. The rising water began to inundate the town of Roosevelt. Residents had three days and nights to put their belongings and store supplies on pack animals and leave. Soon the entire town was under water and the site became Lake Roosevelt.
The roofs of submerged buildings can be seen today in the crystal clear water - a lasting memorial of those hardy man and women who trekked down the trail to seek their fame and fortune in Idaho gold.