There you are, N. Idaho

By MIKE PATRICK

Hagadone News Network

You’re a fourth-grader who’s never heard of the great Pacific Northwest writer Timothy Egan, let alone the devastating blaze he chronicled that scorched parts of Washington, North Idaho and Montana 107 years ago.

Soon enough, though, you’ll be able to feel the burn.

You’re an old man — sorry, a male with substantial experience — who once had an Aunt Nell but can’t recall a darn thing about a former Priest Lake resident named Nell Shipman.

When summer next invades the Gem State, though, you’ll see mighty Nell dangling from a cliff or pulling a drowning man from an Idaho river, captured in the pioneering actor/filmmaker’s stunning celluloid creations a century ago.

North Idaho has a massive footprint in the state’s history, and sometime near the middle of 2018, the region’s story will play a significant role in the new Idaho State Museum.

The Big Burn of 1910 and a tale of two Nells — Shipman and Wallace photographer Nellie Stockbridge — are just a couple of the many fascinating displays highlighted this week during a presentation by Janet Gallimore, executive director of the Idaho State Historical Society. Gallimore was hosted in Coeur d’Alene by Judy Meyer, an emeritus historical society trustee who asked the most pressing question from a provincial perspective:

“How do we in northern Idaho connect with a museum in Boise?”

It was a setup, of course.

“We are designing technology that will reach out,” Gallimore said, smiling.

While the museum’s 48,000 square feet will reside a 450-mile drive from Coeur d’Alene, the minute its doors open, portals via the internet will connect visitors with virtual tours and other long-distance eavesdropping opportunities. At a cost of $17 million, with the state and donors acting as equal partners, the museum will blend the best of modern technology with lore-packed Idaho history. And that’s all of Idaho.

“This project was a way to reimagine and reinvent the museum for the entire state,” Gallimore emphasized.

Responsibility for that inclusiveness fell partly on the shoulders of Don Pischner, a Coeur d’Alene resident, former state legislator and now Idaho State Historical Society trustee representing the five northernmost counties.

“It belongs to all the people of Idaho,” Pischner said. “I’m proud that I’ve been able to be a voice in telling the story of North Idaho. We have a tremendous history in the north and I think it’s overlooked once in a while.”

Not with the new museum, it won’t be.

The massive Big Burn display, for instance, will actually radiate heat. Visitors will hear deathly crackles and the roaring wind as it sweeps the fiery tempest across North Idaho forests and down the abandoned streets of Wallace.

“This does make you feel like you’re there,” Gallimore said. “When you see it large, it’s terrifying.”

Now, back to that fourth-grader. Gallimore and Ryan Gerulf, ISHS development administrator, said the displays’ relevancy is tied to Idaho’s public education curriculum — with a turbo-boost.

“We’re borrowing hands-on ideas from science centers around the country,” Gerulf said.

What that means is that kids of all ages will be able to check out (and feed coal to) a locomotive; mine gems; climb into a fire tower; ask questions of the living, breathing historic figures greeting them in the museum’s various sections.

“This is not a walk, stop and read experience,” Gallimore said. “It’s immersive.”

From any distance, teachers will have access to downloadable content.

Timing is everything. Gallimore explained that exhibits in the new structure will start to be installed in January. It’s a six-month process because of the detail and complicated nature of the exhibits, she said.

When it does open next summer, culminating what has been more than a four-year project thus far, the state and many of the museum’s supporters will expect a decent return on that $17 million investment. Gallimore and Gerulf said the organization’s goal is 115,000 visitors annually, about three times the current number. Adult admission could rise from $6 to around $10, they said, but with the full intention that every penny will be well-spent.

Yes, the new museum will be in Boise, but it’s for you, too, North Idaho.

“We’ve done everything possible to include the whole state,” Gallimore said.

Information: history.idaho.gov