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ITD From the Vault: 60 years ago
1958: Dreamers, workers, and Déjà vu

Elvis Presley was beginning a stint in the U.S. Army. The average home price was under $13,000. Wages, on average, were approximately $4,600 per year. A gallon of gas cost about a quarter. NASA was created. And the Idaho Highway Board was being skewered, except in Twin Falls.

From our newsletter in 1958:

Perspective
The dreamer laughs at the worker, and the worker laughs at the dreamer, neither realizing that the one is useless without the other. The practical would have nothing to do if it were not for the idealist, and dreams would never come true if it were not for the "worker. Poetry and ideals were not intended to take the place of work but to give inspiration for greater work. No matter how much you may do, you can do more.

No one has ever yet applied all the ability of which he was capable. If only a small portion of your mind is alive and active, you will continue to live in a mediocre environment. As you wake up more of your mind, more opportunities will unfold for you.

Bits of humor
- Grade crossings are meeting places for headlights and light heads.
- If you don't do your own thinking, you may do someone else's work.
- Doing nothing is the most tiresome job in the world, because you can't quit and rest.
- Edison was a genius. He invented the phonograph so people would stay up all night playing it -- and use his electric light bulbs.

Words of Wisdom
"It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent."

Editorial taken from the November 1958 Times News of Twin Falls:

OUR INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
The Times-News calls special attention once more to the business-like manner in which the Idaho Board of Highway Directors goes about building a modern system of roads.

Now that the board is approaching a final decision on the route the new interstate highway will follow through Magic Valley, it's interesting to note how thoroughly the preparations have been made for such a determination.

In addition to setting up hearings in all communities interested in the three different routes proposed for the interstate highway through this section of the state, the board has prepared a 14-page brochure with an additional 10 pages of maps and charts to familiarize the public with all details.

Two of these maps have appeared in the Times-News. One shows the route the state department of highways is recommending, including the 10 interchanges contemplated between points just north of Declo on the east and just west of Jerome.

Although the state board favors what it considers the most direct route and the one best serving the concentration of population in that part of Magic Valley through which the interstate highway will pass, two other alternate routes are proposed for consideration.

There will be arguments for and against each of these alternate proposals, beyond any doubt, but we think everyone attending the public hearings should give serious consideration to the route the state highway department has recommended.

Undoubtedly, as the department will point out, it has good reasons for the particular route it favors.

It is gratifying for the Times-News to observe that there has been no serious protest against the highway department's planning for this particular project, from the communities along the south side of Snake river canyon. While Twin Falls, Buhl, Kimberly and Filer represent the far greater proportion of the population in the lower Magic Valley, these communities have made no attempt to get the interstate highway located on the south side of the canyon.

It's not that these towns are idealistic in such matters, or that they are asleep to the importance of highway locations. But they do recognize that the interstate highway is designed to serve a purpose far different from the usual primary state highway. As part of a national system of express highways to facilitate the flow of cross-country traffic, it should not be difficult for anyone to understand why the interstate highway through Idaho cannot be designed to make everyone happy. Quite to the contrary, we should be thankful that we are located as near as we are to such a trunk thoroughfare.

Unfortunately, however, there are communities in Idaho, including Jerome in our own valley, and Boise, Caldwell and Nampa, which have waged a relentless fight against the state highway department for the part it has played in helping to lay out the interstate highway.

In that connection, it may or may not be a coincidence that the Jerome North Side News and the Boise Statesman have been availing themselves of every opportunity to condemn our present state highway administration for years.

To their way of thinking, these newspapers will admit there's nothing good about the department. Both have gone to great lengths in trying to tear the highway board to pieces.

They raise the common cry that the board is dictatorial in not locating and building highways in keeping with the wishes of individual communities.

They even suggest a return to the old system, under which the governor would be given virtual control over the department. That, as we all know, would only mean putting the department back into politics with all its waste and inefficiency.