In the early twentieth century, one of the most famous opera singers in the world appeared throughout Idaho--even dropping by in Blackfoot in 1914. She was interested in investing in gold mining enterprises, and Gold Point, near Meek's Ferry (located at the TIlden Bridge/Ferry Butte), which was at the time being mined with the aid of the Power City boat.
A story of her 1908 Idaho visit appeared in the (Wallace Miner in January 21, 1915 (Page 5), detailing her interest. She and her fiance, a man named Young, invested with ten other New York people in a stock company in Idaho, formed by Captain Morgan of the geological survey, who'd passed through and "knew" the area to be rife with flour gold "mixed with the black sand" of the river bed. At her two week stay in Wallace, sandwiched around a Portland performance, she rose late, did her vocal exercises, was read to by her fiance, and even panned a bit of gold.
She died in May of 1915.
Marston Records released a CD of her compiled recordings in 2003.
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