THOUGHT I was cleaning these...

[willong]

I have totally been in old mining camps in the area. The majority of these bottles pictured are from White Knob, which was a camp and then a town just above Mackay, Idaho. The others in the shot are from Gem, a ghost town near Wallace, where there were mining camps, multiple little towns, and even a Calvary encampment during a miner's revolt.

I seem to recall reading about the cavalry encampment, but I can't recall for certain. Decades ago, I read a book about Sylvan Hart, more commonly know as Buckskin Bill, who homesteaded in the Salmon River country during the Great Depression and lived a 19th Century lifestyle there for the balance of his life, not counting time that he spent during WW2 working on the Norden bombsight.

The book was called "Last Of The Mountain Men." A significant portion of the book was Bill recounting stories of the local history. Of course, mining featured heavily in that history. Not only did Buckskin Bill relate anecdotes of the old mining camps, but he salvaged materials from them that he used in his crafts--Bill was a trained Mechanical Engineer and quite the craftsman. I always wanted to visit some of the sites mentioned in the book, Dixie being one whose name I recall. I think the miners' revolt might have been covered in that book. If not, I almost certainly read an account in one of the many ghost town guides that I devoured during the 1970's.

The Last Mountain Man Idaho Salmon River's Buckskin Bill

 

[UncleBruce]

If I were to become a mountain man then Buckskin would have to rename the book to the second to last mountain man... nah... I like living in town and the internet... Bills book is safe for now.

 

[willong]

nah... I like living in town and the internet...

The book about Bill was written by a Harold Peterson, a sports writer, in the 1960's.

Satellite access now, and Amazon drone deliveries when the technology is fully matured, could satisfy just about all of my urban needs. I like the life that old Buckskin Bill had, particularly in light of the fact that when he died in 1980 it was still ten years before introduction of the World Wide Web.

 

[relic rescuer]

Brushes…. My problem is finding a brush that will work in those teeny tiny necks but still reach to the bottom of the tall bottle, because I guess that very tall bottles with such tiny necks were a thing then- (they didn’t have to clean them?!) then the shoulders are square so u need something that can bend as well as be strong enough to scrub with, without breaking that teeny tiny neck! Has anyone found anything like that? I am working on a design I thought up- someone should make this: a flexible (more flexible than this in the pix- and maybe have a soft silicone sleeve over the Metal part so you don’t scratch your bottle)-small, say 5-6mm max, over all- in width, yet a couple feet long) with a cylinder shaped extremely strong magnet (n52 neodymium rare earth magnet) on the end, and the magnet could be 1-2” long but no more than 5-6mm thru, as to fit thru that neck? That u could put pieces of steel wool into your dirty bottle and slide your magnet tool too into it too- steel wool will jump on it- you need enough steel wool to just blanket the magnet as to not scratch the glass- and scrub away! You might have to remove the steel wool part at a time, to fit thru the neck, but that would work….
If someone makes that let me know where I can buy one!

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I just use BB's and a stack of Neodimiums with the soft part of velcro, so as to not scratch the outside. For the larger necks, I use a pouch stapled together, full of BB's made out of Scotchbrite.

 

[Kevin S.]

I seem to recall reading about the cavalry encampment, but I can't recall for certain. Decades ago, I read a book about Sylvan Hart, more commonly know as Buckskin Bill, who homesteaded in the Salmon River country during the Great Depression and lived a 19th Century lifestyle there for the balance of his life, not counting time that he spent during WW2 working on the Norden bombsight...

Yes. Growing up around here, we learned about Buckskin Bill. My dad actually had a gold claim near his old haunts.

I'm not sure about it, but I believe there are photos from the Calvary Encampment I'm talking about. I'll look around.

 

[Wildcat wrangler]

I just use BB's and a stack of Neodimiums with the soft part of velcro, so as to not scratch the outside. For the larger necks, I use a pouch stapled together, full of BB's made out of Scotchbrite.

I have used and still use bb’s even thought they don’t recommend it. I really like your idea of the scotch bright pouch. Last night I was using a small chain and magnet, but thought I was never going to get it back out of that super narrow neck.


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[relic rescuer]

I have used and still use bb’s even thought they don’t recommend it. I really like your idea of the scotch bright pouch. Last night I was using a small chain and magnet, but thought I was never going to get it back out of that super narrow neck.


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It works really well, and is re usable for a long time, even if the BB's get rusty.