“Please do not underestimate the mountain roads. Do not follow your GPS. BE SURE TO BELIEVE THE SPEED MARKINGS AT THE CURVES!” So warns the website for the Yellow Pine Music and Harmonica Festival where musicians come from all over, making music among the pines.
The road to the festival is not for the faint of heart. I considered attending last year’s event when I was a newbie to Idaho, but chickened out after reading this. I had reservations after living in the flat lands of Louisiana. Another year passed, and, now driving a Subaru Outback instead of a minivan, I felt confident enough this time to take the risk. Plus, a friend was enticing me to come. It would also mean killing two birds with one stone; listening to some good harmonica music, and visiting a proposed open-pit mine that stands to upset the natural soundscape in the area, at least for the short term.
Located way off the beaten path, Yellow Pine had a full time winter population last year of 25 residents. The town swelled to over 1,800 during the four-day festival. It sits two hours east of Cascade in the West Central Mountains of Idaho.
Images from the Festival
What You See After the Music Stops
My weekend beneath the pines (they’re green not yellow by the way) had begun. After finding what I thought was going to be a relatively quiet spot to car camp, where I wouldn’t get blocked in and within walking distance to the festival, made it up to the Midas Gold tent.
Why this tent? Midas Gold wants to conduct an open-pit mining operation in the mining town of Stibnite east of Yellow Pine, digging for gold plus other metals too. My idea is to conduct a long-term sound survey at the site, to get a sense of the soundscape before, during and after operations. The Canadian-based company has been active in the area for years, seeking permits, drilling core samples and installing monitoring wells to go after metal that was before unobtainable with mining techniques of old. Their PR campaign is top-notch. They portray themselves as an environmentally-conscience mining operation, an oxymoron perhaps. Midas Gold claims they will leave the site after mining operations conclude in better shape than it is today. Even so it remains to be seen, and heard.
Midas Gold has their supporters, and stands to make a sizable amount of money on their considerable investment. They also have opposition, like the Nez Perce tribe, who also had a booth at the festival. The tribe claims the proposed mining area as their aboriginal territory. The two groups were seperated by, coincidentally enough, the US Forest Service’s booth. The Forest Service handed out Smokey Bear key rings. Nice. The tribe gets points for handing out harmonicas. Even better. Midas Gold conducted tours of their proposed site. I had arranged to be on one.
Stibnite was a hopping place during World War II. Home to thousands of miners taking antimony and tungsten out of the ground. Tungsten is an alloy that hardens steel. Antimony hardens lead. Think tanks and bullets. Antimony currently plays a critical role in producing lead-acid batteries. Think hybrid car batteries.
I came to do a little recon on the mining site, plus listen to and play a little harmonica. I play tremolo harmonicas. If this festival were in Ireland or Japan, I’d fit right in, but in Yellow Pine, I had the only tremolos around.
Attending the festival was worth the drive in my book. I saw more stars in the sky than I’ve seen in a long time, made new friends and didn’t bottom out my car. If you find yourself in the middle of Idaho’s West Central Mountains next July, grab your harmonica and start making music among the pines.
Further Reading
- The Yellow Pine Times provides a great source of interesting historical photographs and information.
- The Nez Perce Tribe has been outspoken against the project. Here is their webpage detailing their concerns.
- Idaho Rivers is another group against the project. Look here to view their website.
One More Photo
Update June 9, 2025
Midas Gold changed their name in February 2021 to Perpetua Resources. You can read about it at the company’s website.