Mudslide Multiplies Costs for Idaho Business

SPOKANE, Wash. — For Erv Madsen, the mudslide that wiped out two miles of Highway 95 Oct. 16 is more than just an inconvenience.

It could be enough to put him out of business.

The president of Selkirk Seeds, a wheat and barley seed wholesaler, Mr. Madsen normally trucks his grain eight miles south on U.S. Highway 95 to Bonners Ferry, where it’s loaded on freight trains.

After the hillside swept a thousand feet down to bury the Idaho panhandle’s only north-south highway, the 110-mile detour through Montana makes the trip 14 times as long, adding costs Selkirk Seeds isn’t prepared to handle.

“We really got us a pickle up here,” said Mr. Madsen, who said he spent most of a day looking for alternate routes along gravel roads. “It’s basically got us out of business. If this kept on for any length of time, there’s no reason for us to be here.”

The mudslide was triggered by construction to realign the roadway in the unstable area, according to the Idaho Transportation Department. Gov. Phil Batt declared a disaster for the region Oct. 19.

While few situations are as drastic as the one that faced Selkirk Seeds and its five employees, the avalanche of dirt and mud sent ripples to businesses throughout North Idaho and beyond.

Central Pre-Mix, a Spokane concrete company, had been using that stretch of highway to enter Canada, where it is shipping pre-cast concrete components for a potato processing plant in Taber, Alberta. Over a three-month period, Central Pre-Mix will send 400 truckloads of concrete north of the border, said Kevin Anderson, the company’s vice president of operations.

After the slide, Pre-Mix had to send its trucks through Libby, Mont., and enter Canada at Roosville, which added about 100 miles to the trip and thousands of dollars to the job, Mr. Anderson said.

“I don’t think we’re going to pass that along (to the customer),” he said. “That mountain slide is really throwing a monkey wrench into our project.”

Other companies that ship in and out of Canada along Highway 95 were similarly affected.

For Metro Freight Lines, a Spokane trucking company, a load in Moyie Springs, Idaho, destined for Tacoma was sent through Troy and Noxon, Mont., said Linda Whitmore, terminal manager. At $1.75 a mile, Ms. Whitmore said the cost of the detour can add up in a hurry.

“I don’t expect everybody to be able to pay,” she said.

n Bonners Ferry itself, north-south traffic dropped dramatically. Dawn Widner at the Texaco Food Mart said the gas station’s business was a third to a quarter of normal.

“We usually have a lot of Canadians coming down and now there’s no one,” Ms. Widner said.

The slide also tore out the Union Pacific Railroad.

ive to six trains normally use that route each day, hauling freight from Canada. They were being routed onto Burlington Northern-Santa Fe tracks.

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