Millions in gold, mined mostly in one big year, came from the high mountain basin around Florence, fourteen airline miles east from here. Early prospectors, fanning south from Pierce, Idaho’s first gold camp, came unexpectedly upon rich ground in August 1861. Their secret leaked, golden rumors started an eager rush that fall, and winter famine followed. Next spring, thousands stampeded to Florence, even from the California mines, but the rich claims soon worked out, and the camp had only 575 men by 1863. Today scarcely a trace of the town remains among scars of the old diggings.