Silver Rails and Flour Gold
Free productive land and the railroad were major driving factors in
developing and civilizing the western United States. The closest railroad
depot was on the main line of the Union Pacific in the bustling city of
Minidoka, 15 miles northeast of Rupert. Passengers and freight found
their way across the sagebrush desert to Rupert and the new Minidoka
Dam by horse-drawn freight wagons and carriages.
The Minidoka and Southwestern Railroad branch line through
Rupert was completed in mid-summer of 1905. It reached Twin Falls in
late July. It was purchased by the Oregon Short Line (OSL), and later by
the Union Pacific in 1914. This line, still active today, is operated by the
Eastern Idaho Railroad.
The first depot at Rupert was established September 10, 1905,
when a boxcar was placed near the east side of the tracks a short
distance southeast of the town Square. C. H. Burgher from Belleview,
Idaho was the first agent, with Harry W. Morrison as his assistant.
Morrison would later rise to world-wide prominence as the head of the
Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company. Another boxcar was used as a freight depot. In the first 20 days it was open, 90
cars of lumber and construction material arrived, along with many other goods and settlers.
A new depot was completed February 15, 1906. This depot, built at a cost of $4,500, was touted as the best on the OSL
line. It is still in use as part of the Minidoka County Museum, located one mile east
of town. When it was completed, Burgher and his family moved into the rooms
above the depot. Later, Mr. Burgher would recall the Rupert Square was a barren
patch with a few frame buildings scattered around it, while the pioneers of Lincoln
County (now Minidoka and Cassia counties) were staking out homesteads and
grubbing off sagebrush from the land.
The Burroughs Gold Dredge
Four miles east of Rupert, still visible up and down the Snake River, are long
narrow islands. They are all that remain of the work done by the Burroughs gold
dredge. Several mining operations were attempted in the Snake River. They were
abandoned due to the fact that the gold in the river sediments was extremely fine
"flour gold." Edgar Rice Burroughs, who later gained national fame with his novel
Tarzan of the Apes, worked for a time with his brother on the dredge.
[Picture Captions]
Rupert Railroad Depot - The Best on the Oregon Short Line
The Burroughs Gold Dredge
