Yellow Pine, Idaho

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Yellow Pine is an unincorporated village in Valley County, Idaho, United States.

Yellow Pine is a 247-acre (1.00 km²) "inholder" community in eastern Valley Co., located on the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River, approximately half a mile upstream from its confluence with Johnson Creek. It is bounded on the north by the Payette National Forest and on the south by the Boise National Forest. Located at 4,802 feet (1,464 m), Yellow Pine has historically served as the trade center for the larger Yellow Pine basin mining area, including Stibnite. Many of the early miner-settlers came from Warren.

In 1906 Albert Behne established the first post office and mail service. Behne had a dream. A grower of roses who loved classical music and opera, he envisioned a thriving city complete with street cars. In 1924 he received the patent on the 47 1/2 acres where the village presently exists. In 1930, at the age of 76, he platted the original Yellow Pine townsite.

Other original patentees were Oscar Ray Call, Behne's former mining partner, and Henry Abstein. Abstein, the first patentee in the area, homesteaded 160 acres (0.65 km²) north and east of the present townsite. Although his primary interest was mining, he was also an active horticulturist and many of the apple trees that he planted are still living today. His original holdings have since been subdivided.

Yellow Pine is located 50 miles (80 km) east of McCall, via the Lick Creek road (open seasonally); 65 miles (105 km) from Cascade, via the Warm Lake and Johnson Creek Roads (open seasonally); and 70 miles (110 km) from Cascade via the Warm Lake and South Fork Roads (open year around).

It is home to the Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival, which is held the first weekend in August of each year and draws two to three thousand fans and musicians to the remote back-country of central Idaho. The Festival has a contest in Diatonic, Chromatic and Group categories, as well as open stage activities. There is a "Judges Concert" on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning.

The location of various camping and fishing areas. There are yearly snowmobile trips from Warm Lake to Yellow Pine with an overnight stay at the lodge.

[edit] Local histories:

Cox, Lafe & Emma. Idaho Mountains/Our Home, Life in the Idaho's Back County. VO Ranch Books, 1997.
Sumner, Nancy. Yellow Pine, Idaho, (printed privately).