COEUR d'ALENE - The impact of mining on the Idaho Territory will be discussed on Wednesday, June 12, at 7 p.m., at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.

Tom Blanchard will share his presentation, "Mining in Idaho: Today and Yesterday."

The program, in the Community Room at the library, 702 E. Front Ave, is part of a lecture series marking the 150th anniversary of the territory, "The Road to Statehood," continuing through June 27.

The series is offered in conjunction with the featured exhibit at the Museum of North Idaho, 115 Northwest Blvd., "Shaping the Handle: Idaho Territory 1863-1890." The museum is open through Oct. 31.

Blanchard received his graduate training in history with emphasis on U.S. and Western history at San Francisco State University. He has worked in local history, doing projects and research in Idaho for the past 15 years, and teaching U.S. and Idaho and the Pacific Northwest history for the College of Southern Idaho.

In addition, Blanchard served three terms as county commissioner from Blaine County, adding a very contemporary public policy perspective to historical issues which shade our lives.

By the 1870s, Idaho Territory had seen several major gold rushes that accounted for its creation, yet its growth was not sufficient to justify statehood.

This changed by 1880. Gold discoveries in the Yankee Fork area and lead-silver in the Wood River Valley and the Coeur d'Alenes attracted thousands of miners who changed the political climate as well as the landscape.

"The impact of both political and environmental decisions of that early period remain with us yet today and deserve evaluation as we move into the 21st Century," Blanchard said.

The current lecture series will conclude June 27 with "Idaho Migration and Settlement," by Dr. Ron Hatzenbuehler from Idaho State University.

The series is funded through a grant from the Friends of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. The participation of scholars Blanchard and Hatzenbuehler is made possible by funding from the Idaho Humanities Council, the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.