Kellogg is a former silver-mining town in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County, Idaho, about 36 miles east-southeast of Coeur d'Alene along Interstate 90. The town takes its name from Noah Kellogg, a prospector whose wandering jackass — legend holds — led him to a massive galena (silver-lead ore) outcropping in 1885. That discovery became the Bunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex, which operated for nearly a century and made the Silver Valley one of the richest mining districts in the world.
The mines closed in 1981 after catastrophic environmental contamination — the lead smelter left the valley heavily polluted, and the cleanup became one of the largest Superfund projects in US history. Today, Kellogg has reinvented itself as a resort town. Silver Mountain Resort, accessible by the world's longest single-stage gondola from downtown, has skiing and snowboarding in winter and mountain biking and hiking in summer. The gondola ride alone, rising nearly 3,400 feet, is worth taking for the views.
The surrounding Coeur d'Alene National Forest offers fishing, hiking, and camping. The Miner's Hat, a 1950s drive-in shaped like a giant mining helmet, is a National Register landmark that captures the town's heritage in a more cheerful form than the Superfund site next door.