Custer City, Idaho August 20, 2010 Just a few miles east of Stanley off Highway 75 are two ghost towns (Bonanza and Custer City) that have been preserved as historic museums. Both were part of the Yankee Fork Gold Mining District established in the 1870s. They were booming towns of 600 and 300 residents in their day, but by 1912, there was little left of them. Kate and I took a 20-mile detour (10 miles each way on a mostly dirt road) to check it out. We stopped at Custer City and took a self-guided tour of the area. The Yankee Fork Historical Association has done a wonderful job of restoring just enough of the ghost town without making it feel like it's been made over. After our leisurely tour, it was back on the road to Swan Lake, Montana.