Water Extended To Boat Ramp

Visitors to the Coeur d’Alene River boat ramp near the Cataldo mission next year will find a tidier site, and a place to wash their hands.

The Idaho Parks and Recreation board has agreed to allow a water line to extend from Old Mission State Park to the ramp area.

The park will also maintain the boat ramp area, with the help of some money from the Shoshone County waterways fund. Shoshone owns the boat ramp property.

“We’ll clean up the litter, clean the restroom, keep an eye on it,” said park manager Bill Scudder. “We do it almost anyway … We want it to look nice.”

Health officials believe it’s important for people in the area to have clean water for drinking and washing. The site is built upon metals-contaminated tailings that washed downstream from Silver Valley mines.

Clean topsoil has been spread on part of the site, and it will be landscaped to keep people away from contaminated areas. Shoshone County officials will seek another waterways grant to equip the site with a vault toilet and picnic tables, Scudder said.

Although the land lies within Kootenai County, it was deeded to Shoshone County by Bunker Hill Co. in lieu of back taxes.

, DataTimes