City Populations
in Shoshone County, Idaho

The Silver Valley
and Interstate 90
connect
Fourth of July Pass
and Lookout Pass
in northern Idaho

current highway map

The Census only considers towns over 2000 population as "urban," so by their count, the Silver Valley is now only 16.6% urban. Alternatively, use of the above city populations can show that the amount of "city folk" in the county has dropped from 60.5% to 60.0% to 59.4% from 1990 to 2000 to 2010. However, to anyone who has actually lived in a real city, the thought of anywhere in this county being called "urban" is just plain "silly."

The 5,180 people who don't live in the above "cities," live for the most part in the following unincorporated communities:

• Avery      (on the Saint Joe River)
• Big Creek      (between Kellogg and Osburn)
• Burke, etc.      (up Canyon Creek from Wallace)
• Calder      (on the Saint Joe River)
• Clarkia      (on Highway 3, SW corner)
• Elizabeth Park      (Kellogg suburb)
• Enaville      (North Fork townsite, pop. ~10)
• Murray      (site of 1883-4 Gold Rush, pop. ~50)
• Page      (Pinehurst suburb)
• Prichard      (historic North Fork site, pop. ~20)
• Pine Creek      (Pinehurst suburb)
• Kingston      (Pinehurst suburb)
• Silverton      (Wallace suburb)

The county contains a total of 2,635.50 square miles, 0.06% (1.59 sq mi) of which are lakes and streams. So we currently have 12,765 people spread over 2,633.91 sq mi, for a population density in Shoshone county of 4.8 people per square mile! Eighty-seven percent (1,888,941 acres) is classified as "forest uplands." Less than one percent (6,027 acres) is "urban or developed."

Click on the interactive image of the current highway map to open a larger, printable map of Shoshone County in a separate window (3.1 MB pdf file).