We wound up riding 16.2 miles today. We rode on a portion of The Coeur d'Alene trail, between Cataldo, ID, almost to Smelterville.The full trail is almost 73 miles long. It was built on top of an old railroad line.
The area where we rode was highly contaminated from lead, cadmium and I'm sure other heavy metals. During world war 2, they mined heavily for those metals and transported them via train, to build ships and whatever else they needed for the war. The poisons from running the smelters decimated the vegetation in that area. Sadly, that was not the worse thing that happened. For many years children born in that area had very low IQ's and I would assume other health issues. The vegetation is back and the area is beautiful again. My husband's uncle was a miner.
This was the prettiest section!
We think this is a mound from the tailings after the ore went through the smelter. There are a lot of these.
They have places to stop and rest if you want. With signs about the location. Top right of the sign has a warning about the contamination in the soil and river.
Heading back and getting ready to pass under I-90.
It was a beautiful day for a ride, a little cool, but not too much so.
The area where we rode was highly contaminated from lead, cadmium and I'm sure other heavy metals. During world war 2, they mined heavily for those metals and transported them via train, to build ships and whatever else they needed for the war. The poisons from running the smelters decimated the vegetation in that area. Sadly, that was not the worse thing that happened. For many years children born in that area had very low IQ's and I would assume other health issues. The vegetation is back and the area is beautiful again. My husband's uncle was a miner.
This was the prettiest section!
We think this is a mound from the tailings after the ore went through the smelter. There are a lot of these.
They have places to stop and rest if you want. With signs about the location. Top right of the sign has a warning about the contamination in the soil and river.
Heading back and getting ready to pass under I-90.
It was a beautiful day for a ride, a little cool, but not too much so.
