Riggins
Nestled on a flat in the Salmon River canyon at the confluence of the Little and Big Salmon rivers.
A group of Riggins citizens put together the Salmon River Heritage Walking Tour to capture and share the town’s story.
take the tour
To take the tour, leave your vehicle at the parking lot above the city park where a couple of the monuments are located. From there, walk south along Main Street, stopping to read the monuments as you go.
Cross the highway after reading the monuments at Salmon Rapids Lodge and start back up the other side.
what you’ll learn:
By the end of the self-guided tour you’ll have a new appreciation for Riggins and its history. Among other bits of knowledge, you find out:
• Why Riggins was called “Gouge Eye” in the early days.
• How city founder Charlie Clay got the lumber to build his home in 1919.
• What the big white building across from the grocery store used to be, and who is rumored to have worked on its construction.
• Which restaurant served as the community center for many years, hosting dances, movies, roller skating and sports.
• Who traded a watch and two horses for the land that later became the Riggins townsite.
In 1922 a two-room schoolhouse was built in the area behind today’s post office. There was no playground equipment but the children scrambled over and around a huge rock on the edge of the riverbank during recess. Walk back to the bank and see if you can see what’s left of the rock after fill dirt was added.
Riggins owes its existence to the rivers. the first group of settlers saw the spot as a rich gold mining possibility.