Center of universe is right next door

WALLACE - Bet you didn't know this:

The Center of the Universe is in Wallace.

It's right there at the intersection of Bank and Sixth Streets. Sure, it looks like a manhole cover, and well, it is.

But what better monument to celebrate the silver mining industry that keeps the Silver Valley's economy afloat.

David Nosler of Hern Iron Works in Coeur d'Alene was the man who crafted the manhole cover honoring Wallace as the "Center of the Universe,"

"They gave us a drawing of what they wanted it to look like, and we made a pattern of it, and from there we had to pre-draw the carving of the miner in the middle and use various techniques to finish it," he said. "It took about 35 hours of carving on the little guy in the middle, and the whole thing took about a month to process. It came out beautifully."

The monument, a 130-pound custom-designed manhole cover, was dedicated in 2004 by then-Mayor Ron Garitone. It features the initials of four of the more prominent mines in the region: Bunker Hill, the Sunshine, the Lucky Friday and the Galena.

Inside of that, the inscription, "The Center of the Universe: Wallace, Idaho," is centered around an elaborate, hand-carved, silver miner.

Nosler said he enjoys doing projects for the local community, even if the custom piece didn't net a huge profit.

"We're probably the only foundry in the country that would do this for a one piece - most would require a production run because there's no profit in doing one-off pieces," he said. "Everybody is proud of where they live. I suppose that a person in the community is entitled to look at their town any way they'd like to."

The monument in Wallace isn't the first original job that Nosler and Hern Iron Works have done in Northern Idaho. They are also responsible for custom municipal covers in the cities of Post Falls and Coeur d' Alene, though the Center of the Universe monument is easily the most intricate of those projects.

"I got to tell my granddaughter I made this cover," Nosler said. "She was excited, and wanted her picture with it like anyone else. That's what it's all about.

"Last summer there were people standing in the middle of the street to get their picture taken with it - it was crazy, not just one person but lots of them. This is definitely one of the cooler projects we've done."