Strange find offers link to Burley past

BURLEY, Idaho – A time capsule buried in cement as part of the Idaho territory centennial celebration in 1963 has been opened eight years early after being hauled away as refuse.

“It would have been a tragedy to have lost it,” Brian Tibbets, Burley community development director, told the South Idaho Press.

Officials who buried a time capsule in celebration of the Idaho territory centennial in 1963 encased it in cement to protect its contents for future generations, intending that it be opened in 2013.

But the future generation who accidentally dug it up last year while excavating Burley’s Centennial park didn’t know what it was.

“When we were constructing the park I was the primary tractor driver and dirt mover and I pulled this big chunk of cement out of the ground,” said Tibbets, noting there was no plaque marking the area.

The chunk was loaded onto a truck and taken to Evergreen Nursery & Landscaping, where it remained until about two weeks ago.

“It just didn’t make any sense to have this lump of concrete in the ground,” said Mike Sandmann, owner of the nursery. “It just kind of sat there all winter and I was getting ready to throw it away and started tapping on it. It sounded hollow, so I broke it open.”

Inside Sandmann found a stainless steel cylinder 3 feet long and 6 inches wide that was soldered shut.

The cylinder contained a list of Idaho pioneers that included where they came from and when they settled in the county, a centennial tie, copies of the official centennial program and pageant, and buttons worn by participants in the pageant that had 400 local actors.

Tibbets said the list of pioneers is in good condition but the rest of the contents had some water damage. They have been taken to the Cassia County Museum.