Idaho’s Bunker Hill: The Rise and Fall of a Great Mining Company, 1885–1981

by Katherine G. Aiken

A comprehensive history of a major American mining company For nearly a century, the Bunker Hill Company of Idaho was a leading U.S. mining and smelting corporation that played a key role in the nation’s industrial development. At the same time, it was the catalyst for unprecedented labor strife and environmental desecration. In this richly detailed history, Katherine G. Aiken traces Bunker Hill’s evolution from the mine’s discovery in 1885 to the company’s closure in 1981. Throughout the company’s long history, management’s relentless pursuit of profit and the labor-management conflicts that often resulted were nothing short of legendary. Often a tale of strife, Bunker Hill’s history is at the same time a story of cooperation, dedication, and ingenuity. People literally gave their lives for the production of lead, zinc, and silver. In the end, however, environmental destruction, aging facilities, and mineral shortages, as well as foreign competition, crippled the company’s economic viability. Aiken offers an in-depth profile that illustrates major trends in American corporate culture.

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2005

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having relatives who have both worked and retired from Bunker Hill, I was very interested in reading something about their daily working lives. It didn't really get into the day to day grind but it did explain a lot about the unionization, politics and the hold the company had over the town of Kellogg and the employees who work there.

[Randy White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that was written by a History professor I know, who taught in the department where I received my BA in history. While it focuses on a local story, huge mining complex and how it dominated the local area, it is a common story about how mining companies operated in the American West and how they impacted the people and places where they existed. If someone wants to gain a better understanding of western mining history, how the American West was turned into a place to be dominated and its wealth extracted at whatever the cost, how people can be twisted to support the very thing that will likely kill them, you should read this book. I grew up in the town dominated by this company...and I agree completely with Dr. Aiken's analysis.