Day 3: Wallace, Idaho: The Center of the Universe

July 5, 2015

We saw off Laurie, Dave, and Evelyn, all of whom needed to return to Seattle. This left the Grampies, Avi, and Violet- with only a tent and their bikes, to make it over the next week to Plummer. After having had two vans full of food and supplies parked nearby, it was actually a liberating feeling, despite losing half our family. We are far more used to working from the compact and organized world of bikes and tent, than from the mess that comes from having almost unlimited space.

Checking out the way ahead for us . Where is Plummer, anyway?

The trail runs right under the interstate

This slope was too crumbly to climb - but fun still

Today was our day to get immersed in the mining culture and history of Wallace. The whole town of wooden structures had burned in 1890 and reconstruction began immediately, this time with brick. (Shades of the Three Little Pigs). That has graced Wallace with a large number of turn of the century buildings, and a more historic feel than the vast majority of American towns.

Wallace was the main population centre of the Silver Valley, where a huge mining industry thrived for a hundred years. The town is still full of remnants and reminders of this, from an office selling mining shares, to a bordello that operated until 1988, to numerous shops selling local and imported minerals.

We started off with the tour of the very nearby Sierra silver mine. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our guide was an actual former silver miner, and that the presentation was not dumbed down at all. Rather, even we were a little overwhelmed by all the information about how to drill and blast a rock face, the structure of the various galleries, the makeup of the rock and ore, fire and deaths in the famous Sunshine mine, safety equipment, lighting equipment, air monitoring equipment, etc. etc. The "party trick" of the tour was the actual operation of three bits of power equipment. These were powerful, loud, and bloody dangerous industrial items. Impressive, and when the man said "cover your ears" he really meant it!

Freddy points up to an upper shaft of the mine

The machine behind Freddy could fill that cart awfully fast

A mine bicycle. Apparently this type opf conveyance is still in use.

We followed with a circuit of the mining museum in town. Now that we were "experts" following the mine tour, all the displays of stoping patterns and drill designs seemed very familiar. ( Stoping is the process of extracting the desired ore or other mineral from an underground mine, leaving behind an open space known as a stope.[1] Stoping is used when the country rock is sufficiently strong not to cave into the stope, although in most cases artificial support is also provided.) The museum had the great idea of engaging kids in a "scavenger hunt", in which they tried to locate a dozen or so items that were part of the displays. This really helped to focus the kids' attention - pretty good, because of all the technical information they had already been bombarded with.

Violet gets the official seal of approval for her scavenger hunt at the museum

The last traffic light on I-90 was a Wallace. Thet held a funeral for it when it came down, and it now resides in this coffin,

In a miscellaneous building in Wallace - many moose and elk antlers

Amusing oneself during a lull in activities

Wallace also claims to be the Center of the Universe - a marketing ploy dreamed up by a past mayor. He dared anyone to prove it was not so, and imbedded a silver medallion in the middle of the intersection of 6th and Bank Streets. The idea took hold, and someone even wrote a book about it!

Overall, probably the most interesting thing in Wallace, for the kids anyway, was the flying saucer lodged in front of the Red Light Garage restaurant. The place itself started (as with many buildings) as a bordello, but this was replaced by a succession of garages before being converted to a restaurant. The saucer started as part of an eclectic nearby house that burned. However it got there, it magnetically attracted the kids, who crawled over it and in it for at least an hour. It had attracted Laurie also, earlier, but she declared the coffee to be dishwater.

On the player piano at the Red Light Garage

Trying out an old phone at the Red Light

Suitably fortified by Kraft Dinner and hot chocolate, we are preparing for tomorrow's launch of our little expedition down the the trail. The days are planned to be short, and we should reach Plummer with no strain, despite the huge load of the WeeHoos, kids, and kid gear that let's face it, the Grampies will essentially be hauling. The first part of the route follows I-90 and passes by the several mining towns that are strung out along the way. Our first target is Osburn, just down the road, but exciting nonetheless.

A classic motel sign- part of the Wallace ambiance

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