The Destination

Originally inhabited by the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, fur trappers of the Hudson's Bay Company re-discovered the Stanley Basin in the 1820s. Due to the scarcity of beaver it was mostly avoided. Captain John Stanley, a Civil War veteran, led a party of prospectors through the area in 1863, but they found little gold and moved on and discovered the Atlanta lode on the south end of the Sawtooths. The site was not considered a town until 1919 when its streets and lots were surveyed and recorded.