[Vision2020] Tunnels

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the April 3, 2006 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Uncovering the hidden, discovering the history; University of Idaho 
brimming with unique corners to explore

Mark LaBolle's job takes him to strange places all over the University of 
Idaho campus, but he doesnt know of any myths or secret passages.

Theres only the legend of the fake Hunchback of Notre Dame, he said.

The playful electrical supervisor concocted a special welcome for new 
employees in the UIs electric shop during his 14 years there. He shoves a 
few towels up the back of his shirt and mimics the most memorable tower 
guard of literature Quasimodo.

I'd hobble across parking lots telling them Come on, follow me, I know the 
way. 

LaBolle is a guide to the sometimes mysterious, sometimes deserted, 
corners on campus from the old clock tower to hidden fall-out shelters.

Electrical shop employees take their first trip into the clock tower at 
the Administration Building with LaBolle.

Their first impression about the space is how large it is, LaBolle said. 
You shouldve seen it before the renovation.

His attitude acknowledges and heightens the human curiosity and fun behind 
exploring.

LaBolle opened the clocks wooden cover with a practiced flourish, 
revealing a small motor and gears that turn the giant arms. Below the 
mechanisms sat a narrow shelf that held a few spare fuses and an old-
fashioned oil can the tools that keep the clock running.

I'd bet my own money the gears with the clock are original, he said. Its 
not nearly so sophisticated as people think it is.

But most people will never have the chance to know.

College of Art and Architecture grad student Katie Ridge, 24, said the 
urge to explore comes from wanting to know about history.

Her fellow grad student, Megan Compton, said she hasnt been in the attic 
of the Administration Building but she has been in its basement.

She said she went through the little gated thing under the stairs.

It was cool but had that dark and gloomy kind of space, she said.

Like others in her field, the 26-year-old likes exploring the lesser known 
places on campus to look at the structures and design.

Have you taken technical integration? asked Charles Baxter, 26, one of her 
classmates.

He said the class allowed him to take a tour into one illegal space on 
campus the tunnel system. The class also let him climb into the vaulted 
roof of the Kibbie Dome.

He said it was impossible to compare the spaces because one is 
subterranean and the other is aerial with a view of the whole campus.

Baxter is practiced at urban exploring. He has even rapelled down the wall 
of an abandoned casino.

You can almost feel what was happening before in vacated spaces, Baxter 
said.

One vacated space on campus is a relic of the Nuclear Age.

Below the Wallace Complex sits abandoned fallout shelters that have been 
nothing more than storage space for the past few decades.

Some call it the Ballard bomb shelter, or the Ballard bunker.

People go down all the time, said Michael Griffel, director of university 
residences. We use them for storage.

Griffel said it held civil defense supplies like miniature kit field 
hospitals, sanitation packages, bathrooms and the like. Much of what was 
contained there has been removed over the years.

Building Superintendent Steve Spencer is one of those in charge of 
clearing out the place.

The end wall was packed clear across, Spencer said while looking around at 
the few supplies left. He held up an old roll of toilet paper.

This was from 1958, he said.

He began pulling items out of old boxes littering the floor of the sparse 
room. Only odds and ends like gauze, iodine, bandages, and safety pins 
remained.

Boxes of tongue depressors, said LaBolle. These would be handy if you were 
trapped in here.

Spencer pointed to a vent high in the wall.

What good is this going to do in a nuclear war? he asked.

Spencer said the signs that used to lead people to the room had been 
removed. The U.S. Army also came through in 1967 and pulled all the drugs 
out because of limited shelf life, he said.

The university has no plans to use the rooms as a shelter, Griffel said.

But at one time it was ready for war. Its interesting how buildings change 
uses, Ridge said.

Compton suggested students explore places with unique environments they 
can legally get access to like the old arboretum and the granite staircase 
south of the Administration Building.

And Alices Room, Compton said of a meditation room on the fourth floor, 
north side of the Commons Building. Everyone should check it out. Space 
isnt necessarily defined by walls. 

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho



> Don't forget about the old fallout shelters on campus  :-)
> 
> I wish I could remember the details, but there was a good story several
> years back in the Snooze about cool hidden places on the UI campus.  The
> steam tunnels were mentioned (some class toured them), as were the 
fallout
> shelters,  the clock tower, the basement in the Admin building, and some
> other places I don't recall.
> 
> 
> 
> Saundra Lund
> Moscow,
ID

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