Rest in pieces, rock

POST FALLS — Bruce Kauffman remembers seeing a large boulder just about every day on the drive in and out of town. It was in a stand of trees off the Interstate 90 and Highway 41 interchange in Post Falls.

"It just seemed like an unusual object," Kauffman said Friday. "Why was it even there? How did it get there?"

The roughly cube-shaped rock was about 5 feet tall. Kauffman, of Post Falls, said he could imagine ancient people traveling through the area using the boulder as a landmark to know where to turn north on their way to the prairie lands. After viewing historical photos of businesses in the Ross Point area, he envisioned families in the early days of Post Falls stopping at the rock on their long journeys to or from Coeur d'Alene, kids running around it during a much-needed road trip break.

"As someone who has traveled and worked on the other side of Spokane for 10 years, it's just something I saw every morning and every evening when I came home from work," Kauffman said. "It was just a familiar object."

The rock was there when Kauffman moved to Post Falls 20 years ago, long before that strip of Highway 41 became populated with fast food joints and other commercial entities.

"There was the gas station on the corner, and nothing else, but there was that rock," Kauffman said. "I just kind of miss it."

The Idaho Transportation Department is reconstructing that area to improve the interchange and its connecting roads for safety and capacity purposes. As this work has continued, Kauffman noticed when the trees were taken down.

Then, as of earlier this week, the rock was gone.

Kauffman said he wondered if it was set aside to return to that spot, or if the construction teams had other plans for it. He said he has contacted several local historical, civic and transportation entities to inquire, but has not heard back.

"I can't be the only person who’s driven past that and wondered," he said. "You just assume it’s always going to be there. It has a history."

Idaho Transportation Department public information officer Megan Jahns confirmed Friday: "The rock is no more."

“As part of the construction, the contractor did dispose of the rock,” she said. "It sounds like it got destroyed."

She said it is customary for contractors to assume ownership of rocks and trees when they are part of the land under construction.

Jahns said it doesn't happen often, but community members sometimes contact ITD asking what will happen to these natural landmarks and resources.

"This rock drew interest from a couple people," she said. "It happens probably more frequently with tree cutting. People are interested in what happens with the wood."

She said it's all part of the highway-building business.

Highway building on the interchange began in 2022 and is expected to go through the summer of 2025.

"We are preparing to shift work in the work zone to the Seltice Way area," Jahns said. "It will have more impacts on businesses. Up until now, people have just had to slow down."

She said ITD is expected to share a construction update in early August.