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Posted by D Sherman on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 20:44:23 :
In Reply to: Re: Why I like Wallace posted by Jerry in Idaho on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 19:37:17 :
When I went land shopping 15 years or so ago, I looked around Sandpoint, but concluded the same as you just said -- even then it was twice the price per acre as land around here. Of course back then the outsiders thought this area was all skinheads and toxic mine waste. When a big L.A. movie crew was here to shoot "Dante's Peak", they trucked in all their drinking water because they thought ours was leaded. But then suddenly the outsiders didn't care any more, and the developers started building half million dollar houses up Page Gulch and Wardner, and a big condo complex in Kellogg. People are asking $300K -$400K for houses in Wallace now, but nothing sells at that price. $150K is about all that anybody will really pay.
One thing that may keep the Silver Valley safe for normal people is the mines. If the mines keep going like they are today, we won't be stuck depending on tourists and retirees. Plus, unlike retirees, miners usually have kids, and also unlike retirees they're too busy working to bother complaining about their neighbor's messy yard. All the government and economic development experts have been telling us for years that we need to remove all traces of those ugly old mines and promote tourism, because that's the industry of the future. But suddenly silver, lead, zinc, and copper triple in price, which is great for the mines, and gasoline and diesel triple in price, which is bad for tourism, and it's looking like the experts might not be so good at predicting the future after all.