Here's to you, Murph
Photo courtesy of ARNOLD BIRCHER From left: Dave Waldo, Bob Kraus, Chris Burmeister, Arnold Bircher, Ed Pommerening, Jake Bekel and Bud Ramsey stand under the new “Murphy’s Corner” sign on Sierra Nevada Road in Wardner after installing it on June 21. Murphy’s Corner is located at the only switchback on that road.
Photo courtesy of ARNOLD BIRCHER Arnold Bircher adds the finishing touches to the sign after it was placed in the ground.
Daniel “Murph” Murphy
WARDNER — The year was 1966-67. Thanks to the development of the Jackass Ski-Bowl in the hills above Kellogg, the neighboring town of Wardner was receiving a brand new road that would take people to the new winter sports complex.
Now known by all as Sierra Nevada Road, this strip of packed dirt and rock grants land access to not only the Silver Mountain Gondola House, but also to the large Kellogg “K” sign and “radio hill.”
While many had a hand in the construction of the road back in the day, a new sign recently placed at its only switchback pays tribute to the man who had arguably the biggest role.
Daniel “Murph” Murphy, who passed away in 2017, was a longtime Silver Valley resident and worked on several construction projects throughout the area over the course of his life. He was a Wallace Elks Lodge No. 331 member for 59 years, a former member of the Wallace Elks Drum and Bugle Corps, a member of the Teamsters Union and a 25-year employee of Zanetti Brothers Inc.
Arnold Bircher, the man responsible for creating the sign, explains that he first got the idea to make this new tribute to his late friend after visiting Murphy’s wife, Rena Murphy, at Mountain Valley of Cascadia in Kellogg.
It was during this visit a few months back that Rena asked Bircher if he could make a sign and set it up at that famous corner on Sierra Nevada Road.
“When they built the road in 1967, he (Murphy) was in charge of the whole thing and designed the switchback,” Bircher said. “Radio contact on the road was not so good, so he would always have to come down to Murphy’s Corner and talk to his truck drivers or CAT operators from there.”
Bircher pondered Rena’s request, then agreed after he remembered that he already had the raw material ready to make it.
In the fall and winter of 2017, Bircher had felled a tree in the area of Sierra Nevada Road to chop up and sell as firewood. Unfortunately for his plans, heavy snow forced him to leave the tree until the weather got better.
Fast forward to spring 2018, he then returned for the tree, but now with the purpose of turning it into a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.
With the help of Chrid Burmeister, Bircher recovered the tree and cut a slab out.
Following a few months of work, the sign was finally finished and placed at Murphy’s Corner on June 21 with the help of a few other friends of Bircher and Murphy.
While the sign itself is currently up, Bircher has plans to give it an even more personable touch in the not so distant future.
“We are going to build a bar there this summer,” he said. “Then we’ll put a big bench all the way across (under the sign) and invite everybody who works on Silver Mountain for a beer!”
Bircher would like to thank Zanetti Brothers Inc. for donating the three-and-a-half yards of concrete used to secure the sign in the ground.