Wilbur Bassett was one of the Elias Davidson Pierce party was part of starting the gold rush to the Pierce area.

According to John Bradbury's Clearwater County History series, Bassett was born in Connecticut. He was a 30-year-old Portland carpenter who had served in the First Regiment of the Oregon Mounted Volunteers in 1855-56.

Though Pierce as the leader of the party was much more well known, Bassett was the one who in September of 1860 found the gold in Canal Creek. That discovery was much more significant than the party realized and was destined to set off one of the largest migrations in American history, changing forever the state that would become known as Idaho, according to otisgold.com. Mining became the state's first industry.

Six months after Bassett's discovery of gold, 1,600 claims had been staked along Canal Gulch and Pierce City was growing by hundreds of wealth seekers.

Bassett was also a millwright and helped build the first sawmill in Spokane, farmed in the Four Lakes-Cheney area and is credited with naming Granite, Silver and Clear lakes, according to the Spokesman Review web site.