Love the kilns even though it's downright shocking how quickly forests were denuded for structural support timbering in the underground mines and to produce charcoal to fire the smelters. You're probably aware of the Canyon Creek kilns up in Montana. Seeing mention of Gilmore on the sign brings back memories of that mine which was, like the Viola and the kilns, near present-day Leadore, along ID 28. The Gilmore mine was the terminus of the Gilmore & Pittsburgh Railroad which ran from 1910 to 1939 between Armistead, MT and Gilmore, ID and Salmon, ID, with Leadore as its switching facility and mechanics shops. The pass over the Beaverhead Mountains forming the MT-ID border, Bannock Pass, was formidable enough that a tunnel was build about 100' in elevation below the pass. A wye was constructed on each side of the pass to enable the train to approach the tunnel's elevation, pull engine first into the wye. back up out of the wye, go through the tunnel in reverse, back into the wye on the other side of the pass, and descend engine first. The grades were so steep, and the winter snows so bad, that the locals claimed the railroad's name G&P stood for Get out & Push. Today, MT 324 follows the tracks corridor from Clark Canyon Reservoir (which inundated Armistead), through Grant to the pass. The tunnel entrance portals are visible on both sides of the pass. On the ID side, the route is ID 29, also known locally as Railroad Road. The badly weathered remains of a passenger car (or more than one?) can still be seen in Leadore.
