Valley County ID Archives News.....John Shaffer Drowned/Well Known Pioneer Meets Death in the South Fork. April 8, 1905
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Sharon McConnel gem.idgenweb@gmail.com January 30, 2020, 1:58 pm

The Prospector And Thunder Mountain News April 8, 1905
John Shaffer Drowned

Well Known Pioneer Meets Death in the South Fork.

John Shaffer was drowned in the South Fork of the Salmon River on March 29th.

Mr. Shaffer was one of the best known citizens in this part of the state and leaves
many friends to regret his death. He was universally liked; always generous and
genial he made friends on every hand and kept them.

He spent several years at Custer in its palmy days, and before the wagon road was
built carried the mail there on snow shoes.

During the first excitement at the Coeur d'Alenes, he went to that camp. He was an
expert miner as well as an all round frontiersman, and at one time was foreman of
the famous Bunker Hill mine. In 1898 he came to the South Fork of the Salmon and
bought what afterwards became widely known as Shaffer's ranch. Hundreds of people
stopped there during the rush to Thunder Mountain and all will remember his hearty,
kindly ways. While he made much money he was generous to a fault, and did not
accumulate a large property though he left a good ranch and considerable stock.

On the afternoon of his death he had been taking up the planking of his bridge
across the South Fork, deeming it unsafe, and was crossing on one of the timbers, or
stringers, of the bridge; he lost his balance and fell into the stream which at this
point is a boiling torrent. The water is icy cold at this time of year and it is
thought he either became cramped at once or was stunned by the fall; he apparently
made no effort to save himself but was swept down the stream. The body was found the
next evening at 5 o'clock some distance down the river.

Mr. Shaffer leaves a wife and two little boys who were at their home on the ranch at
the time of his death, also a sister, Mrs. Julius Cross, who is postmistress at
Custer, in this state.

The funeral took place the next day after the body was found. Near the house on the
ranch is a rounded knoll on which stands a beautiful, wide spreading pine tree. Mr.
Shaffer had spoken of this spot as an ideal burial place, and here he was laid to
rest.

Additional Comments:
courtesy Sandy McRae and Jim Collord and
https://yellowpinetimes.wordpress.com/history/thunder-mountain/


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