De Lamar (also DeLamar) is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Owyhee County Owyhee County ( ) is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,913. The county seat is Murphy, and its largest city is Homedale. In area it is the second-largest county in I ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Its elevation is , and it is approximately west of Silver City. The community lies within an area governed by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

. The community formed around the De Lamar Mine, which was established in 1888. Named for mining magnate and former

sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ship, inc ...

Joseph Raphael De Lamar Joseph Raphael De Lamar (September 2, 1843 – December 1, 1918) was an American politician and businessman who owned and operated mines in the western United States and Canada. After working as a ship's captain, a contractor and a trader in t ...

, the mine and community quickly boomed and busted, declining after 1890. Despite the community's decline, it continued to exist as a populated community for several decades; it was the location of a summer-only

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

from 1917 to 1930. In 1976, the ghost town was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

. Although the district included an area of approximately , only four of the community's buildings remained in sufficient condition to qualify as

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

References

External links

Ghosttowns.com profile for De Lamar
Populated places established in 1888 Ghost towns in Idaho Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho Mining communities in Idaho Geography of Owyhee County, Idaho 1888 establishments in Idaho Territory National Register of Historic Places in Owyhee County, Idaho Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho {{US-ghost-town-stub