The Idaho occurrence is located at 1874 metres elevation in the Idaho basin of Howson Creek. New Denver, British Columbia is located 5 kilometres to the northwest. The claims covering the Idaho occurrence include the Idaho (Lot 472), St. John (Lot 473) and Cumberland (Lot 478).

The occurrence was first discovered in 1892 or earlier by Al Behne and associates and subsequently Crown granted in 1896. In 1895, the Idaho and St. John claims were held by Idaho Gold Mining and Smelting Company. Scottish Colonial Gold Fields Limited acquired the Idaho, Cumberland and Alamo (082FNW008) claims in 1897 and a branch tramline was built. Property ownership was transferred to Idaho-Alamo Consolidated Mines Limited in 1903 with mining work continuing until 1908. Various lessees continued work until 1916 when Property ownership was transferred to C. Cunningham. A new mill was built from 1917 to 1918 and a new tramline was connected to the No. 6 (lowest) level. Cunningham Mines Limited was incorporated in 1924 and ownership included the nearby Queen Bess occurrence (082FNW010). Consolidated Queen Bess Mines was incorporated in 1928 to continue further development work. Hemsworth and associates obtained the property in 1947, after the death of Mr. Cunningham. Work was reported on the No. 5 adit by Alamo Silver-Lead Mining Company Ltd. in 1948. An agreement was reached between Cunningham Mines Ltd., Bralorne Mines Limited and Kelowna Exploration Company Limited to incorporate Bess Mines Limited in the following year. An option was acquired on the Idaho, Alamo and Queen Bess properties with development work confined to the latter. A small amount of ore was shipped between 1962 and 1964, under option to J. Nesbitt and associates. The Idaho occurrence was developed by six adits over 244 vertical metres. The No. 5 adit also explores the adjacent Cumberland lode and two lodes on the St. John claim.

The Idaho occurrence is hosted by massive, banded argillites and quartzites of the Triassic Slocan Group. Two quartz diorite stocks lie north and west of the occurrence.

The deposit consists of three lodes, the Idaho, Cumberland and St. John, all continuations of the Standard lode (082FNW180). The Idaho lode strikes 045 degrees and dips about 55 degrees to the southeast. The lode forms a strong shear or fracture zone varying in width from less than 30 centimetres to 7.6 metres. Evidence indicates downward and eastward motion along the faulted hangingwall. It has been explored over 762 metres length. The lodes carry lenses of galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and pyrargyrite in a gangue of principally calcite but also quartz and siderite which are locally dominant. The vein is commonly brecciated. The main shoot was up to 3 metres thick and included up to 61 centimetres of clean galena on the hangingwall side. Ore from lower levels contained abundant calcite gangue. Hostrocks are locally silicified.

The St. John and Cumberland lodes are branches of the Idaho lode on the footwall or north side. The St. John is nearly parallel with the Idaho and diverges to the west. It was explored by two adits and little is known about the lode. It is located 46 to 61 metres northwest of the Idaho lode. It is reported to have consisted of a vein carrying galena, sphalerite and pyrargyrite in a gangue of siderite, calcite and quartz. The Cumberland lode merges with the Idaho lode near the No. 5 adit and diverges to the northeast. It was explored by two adits and in the No. 5 adit over 442 metres length. It is a steep, well-defined fissure with little or no fault displacement, cutting argillite and quartzites at low to moderate northeastern dips. The best section was composed of 30 centimetres of siderite with seams of sphalerite and a little galena.

The majority of ore was mined from the upper two levels and on surface above the No. 1 and 2 adits of the Idaho. Production records for the Idaho occurrence show 26,866 tonnes of ore was mined intermittently between 1893 and 1984. Recovery from this ore included 50,643,149 grams of silver, 715 grams of gold, 2,316,299 kilograms of lead and 225,235 kilograms of zinc.