Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Clayton, ID

Clayton is a city and hamlet in Custer County, Idaho, and it had a population of 10 at the 2020 census, up from 7 in 2010.

Clayton was founded in 1881 as a smelter site for the nearby mines, and it sits adjacent to the Salmon River.

Clayton covers just 0.01 square miles, all of it land, which makes it the smallest incorporated city in Idaho and the smallest incorporated city in the United States.

The Clayton Silver Mine, in the Bayhorse Mining District, was historically one of the most active producers of silver, lead, and zinc in Idaho outside of the Coeur d'Alene district.

The mine was discovered in 1877, but development was sporadic until the Clark Mining Company began prospecting in 1927, when the property was known as the Camp Bird Group and consisted of 25 patented and seven unpatented claims.

The mine was largely operational from 1935 to 1986, when operations ended due to low metal prices, although the mine remained in mineralized zones at the time of closure.

Recorded production between 1935 and 1986 totaled approximately 7 million troy ounces of silver, 86.8 million pounds of lead, 28.2 million pounds of zinc, 1.7 million pounds of copper, and 1,454 troy ounces of gold from roughly 2,145,000 tonnes of ore.

Clayton's population peaked at 311 in 1930 and fell steadily afterward, reaching 27 in 2000 and just 7 in 2010 before rising to 10 in 2020.

Clayton sits at an elevation of 5,729 feet on State Highway 75, the Salmon River Scenic Byway, between Stanley to the west and Challis to the northeast.

Clayton has a humid continental climate, with large seasonal temperature differences, warm to hot summers, and cold, sometimes severely cold, winters.