Dam! Boundary County holds one of Idaho's most mysterious places

March 1, 2023

KIDO Talk Radio, Boise, ran a piece today on their website, "The Fascinating True Story About This 'Abandoned' Idaho School," just one of ten of Idaho's most mysterious places hiding in plain sight. Places like the Terra Nativa subdivision, a modern Boise neighborhood that became a ghost town, Arco's Number Hill, The Idaho Hotel in a ghost town not quite entirely abandoned, a hiker's paradise where you can stop and see a crashed World War II era B-23 bomber and the seven concrete arrows you can see in the satellite images on Google maps.

One of those places is in Boundary County.

"Like many of the other mysterious places on this list, the Eileen Dam in Boundary County came about because of mining," They write. "Naturally North Idaho explains that construction on the dam below a box canyon on the Moyie River began in 1923. The goal was for the arched dam to provide power for nearby mines. While the dam itself was structurally sound, it was unfortunately built against shale rock on one side. When the snow began to melt and water pressure got too high, it broke through the shale rock. The cost of repairing it was just too great, so everything valuable was removed from the power plant and the dam was left abandoned.

"Today, the abandoned dam is a popular attraction for whitewater rafters looking to enjoy both Class III rapids and a little bit of history during their adrenaline pumping adventures."

To read the rest of this fascinating story, click here.