1/24/2012
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Long-dormant whistles were once a vital part of everyday life at ITD
BOISE - They are often overlooked today, relics of a bygone time. But in another era they may well have been as critical to the Idaho Transportation Department as the working men and women and the equipment they used to build and maintain the roads.
One hangs inside at ITD's Southwest Idaho maintenance shop, and the other is mounted on the roof. Here's Photo 1 and Photo 2 of the whistles.
Although the pair of whistles have not been used for work in decades, at one time they were used extensively and served a critical daily function.
Elden Dormier, who has spent considerable time in the shop since starting in 1957, said the whistles have been in place ever since he began work, and were likely installed when the shop was built in the current location a few years earlier. Prior to that, the shop was located just south of Main Street & 27th in Boise.
Dormier said the whistle mounted on the roof was intended to serve as an air raid or emergency siren, providing civic warning in the event of a military and other public emergency.
“It was meant to warn you to get out of the building ASAP,” explained Rich Rabe, Shop Manager.
Marvin Kerns, who served as shop foreman from 1958-1987, also said the whistle on the roof was intended to dispatch folks to “designated spots in the yard, where they would get hoses and carts to fight fires on the premises.”
He said in those situations two men would grab each cart and one would grab the hose.
Dormier said the whistle inside was used for an equally important function – to signal breaks and when to go back to work.
“They rang it at 8 a.m. to start work, at 9:30 a.m. for coffee break, 9:45 to go back to work, at noon for lunch break, at 1 p.m. to go back to work, in mid-afternoon for a break, and at 5 p.m. when it was time to go home.”
ITD Southwest Idaho District Engineer Dave Jones, who recently discovered the whistles, said the inside whistle is a four-barreled copper or brass unit in the “light” section on the west side of the shop. It has a semi-chord medium octave sound. He said the other is a small barrel unit on top of the roof above the inside whistle, and it is loud enough to be heard all around the yard, with more of a baritone sound.
Jones said he was testing them the other day, and stopped because although the "break" whistle didn't garner much attention, the booming baritone of the "air raid" whistle was enough to cause panic in the maintenance men who had worked there long enough to know what it meant.