Wallace, Idaho is a city in and the county seat of Shoshone County, Idaho, in the Silver Valley mining district of the Idaho Panhandle. Founded in 1884, Wallace sits alongside the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River (and Interstate 90), approximately above sea level. The town's population was 784 at the 2010 census. Wallace is the principal town of the Coeur d'Alene silver-mining district, which produced more silver than any other mining district in the United States. Burke-Canyon Road runs through historic mining communities – many of them now deserted – north and eastward toward the Montana state line. The ghost town of Burke, Idaho is located to the northeast. East of Wallace, the Route of the Hiawatha (rails-to-trails) and the Lookout Pass ski area are popular with locals and tourists. History Wallace came into being on a river plain where four streams and five canyons converge onto the course of the South Fork. The earliest known white interest in the area was the construction of the Mullan Road, which followed the South Fork from near Cataldo almost to the pass that crossed into Montana. John Mullan did observe promising quartz outcroppings along their route when he passed through in late 1859. However, he later frankly stated that he downplayed the possibility of gold to his building crews because he "feared that any rich discovery would lead to a general stampede" to search for it. A long hiatus followed until Andrew J. Prichard entered the country in search of gold. After several years of searching, he finally found pay-dirt on a stream about twelve miles north of the future Wallace in the spring of 1882. That set off a "general stampede" into the region, especially during the following year. Eagle City, Prichard, Murrayville (quickly shortened to Murray) and other mining camps sprang into existence and claims proliferated. It did not take long for knowledgeable miners to discover that the value of the placer gold in the region would be dwarfed by the riches in silver, buried in vast silver-lead lodes. Naturally, prospectors spread further and further afield. Founding and early years In the spring of 1884, Colonel William R. Wallace built a cabin at a site he called "Placer Center." A Civil War veteran, Wallace was heavily involved in mining ventures after the war. The spot's central location in the mining district clearly offered promise as a town site.