KELLOGG - The man spent hours, days and months pouring over tattered back issues of the Wallace Miner dating to 1907. He ventured into the dark, uninhabited recesses of the University of Idaho book repository.

Sometime in the 1980s, after his public relations job was killed by the collapse of the Bunker Hill Mine, the scholar had contracted a consuming quest for forgotten knowledge of the Silver Valley's mining culture.

Almost 30 years later, Ray Chapman has thrown away his pen and sold the rights to his four publications, "Uncle Bunker," "The History of Kellogg, Idaho," "History of Idaho's Silver Valley" and "Golden History Tales."

The transaction between the Silver Valley historian and Wallace District Mining Museum Director Jim McReynolds was finalized April 8.

"I'm going into retirement. I'm not going to write or do anything anymore - it's because of age," the 89-year-old Chapman said. "Getting around now I have to use a cane and I've got arthritis in my legs. It's not something you can do anything about - it's just part of getting old."

The author said he passed the literary torch to the museum because he wanted to ensure the history of Silver Valley and its mining endeavors remains intact indefinitely.

"I wasn't trying to make money nor I did I make much money from writing them," said Chapman. "It was just something to keep me occupied and out of mischief."

Chapman became a historical writer as an employee of the News-Press in the 1980s. At the time the late Wendell Brainard, editor of the Kellogg Evening News, was tasked with writing weekly stories that documented the history of mining in the valley.

Chapman, a long-time member of the chamber of commerce, saw a need for a publication to inform tourists of the valley's prosperous past. He had an idea to compile the published newspaper stories into a book. The result was "Golden History Tales," which Brainard wrote and Chapman edited.

"There wasn't anything written on the history of Kellogg for visitors," said Chapman. "There was no way for them to understand what the community was like before the EPA."

After the first project was completed, Chapman decided to write his own works beginning with "Uncle Bunker" - a book dedicated to the former mine king of the Silver Valley and largest employer in Idaho. When the publication sold 3,000 copies, he re-invested the money.

"I didn't spend the money," he said. "I wrote another book."

"History of Kellogg, Idaho" followed and the author's final work, published in 2000, was the "History of Idaho's Silver Valley: 1878-2000."

In addition to relentlessly researching, writing and editing the manuscripts, Chapman also hand-distributed them to local businesses at "wholesale prices." Each Silver Valley school and library received free copies.

"I just wanted (the history) to continue on," said Chapman. "It's not about me, it's about this place."