Smelterville, Idaho — Name Is an Environmental History Lesson

Smelterville's name makes no attempt to disguise the Silver Valley's industrial past.

Ore from surrounding mines had to be processed, and smelting became part of a regional system producing enormous quantities of lead, silver and zinc.

That economy created jobs and towns while releasing metals and other contaminants into air, soil and waterways.

The environmental consequences eventually became part of the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund cleanup, one of the country's largest.

Modern Smelterville remains an incorporated community beside Kellogg, with homes and businesses occupying ground shaped by both industrial development and decades of remediation.

Some towns make visitors hunt for their history.

Smelterville put it on the sign.