Pocatello time capsule sealed until 2076

POCATELLO (KPVI) — The Pocatello time capsule was sealed on Friday afternoon and put on display at the Marshall Public Library. The box will remain unopened until America’s 300th anniversary, in 2076.

“It really does make you think about the past and how Pocatello really had that entrepreneurial spirit and that strong togetherness that built the community,” Pocatello Mayor Mark Dahlquist said of the event.

Chair of the America 250 Ad Hoc Committee Representative Rick Cheatum first had the idea for the time capsule last year as Pocatello prepared to celebrate the semiquincentennial.

“We advertised, put a committee together and began weekly meetings to figure out: How do you dedicate a time capsule?” Cheatum says.

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The committee went to work at hammering out the details, which included answering several big questions.

“What is a time capsule?” Cheatum says. “What goes at it? How do you make sure you preserve all the stuff that’s in there? And are there things that shouldn’t go in a time capsule?”

To answer the question of what a time capsule is, the committee worked with Partner Steel in Pocatello in constructing the box.

Partner Steel designed, built and donated the steel airtight box, with the manufacturers signing the inside of the lid. Cheatum says once they completed construction, the box ended up being even larger than the committee had anticipated.

Hundreds of items ended up being donated and placed in the capsule.

“We have letters from a lot of people in the community,” Cheatum says. “We have donations of artifacts. Things from the First Ward, the LDS Church here in Pocatello. We have a lot of commemorative things that have been created for Idaho 250, America 250 and Pocatello 250.”

The last thing to be figured out was where to put the time capsule. The key to open the locks will be kept over the next half century by the city clerk’s office. As for the box itself, it was originally planned to be buried at the Brady Chapel in Mountain View Cemetery. When committee member Michael Thiel pointed out the box could be damaged by fertilizer, water and other environmental elements, a new plan was made.

A deal was worked out with the Marshall Public Library, where the box will remain on display until it’s opened in 50 years.

While the contents inside the box will remain unchanged, the city around it could be quite different in 50 years. In the meantime, the city’s left to wonder: What will Pocatello be like in 2076?

“There’s a sense of entrepreneurship in Pocatello that hasn’t existed until just a few years ago,” Cheatum says. “And I see that moving forward and gaining momentum.”

“I won’t be around in 50 years, I don’t think,” Mayor Dahlquist laughs. “But I envision that culture and that spirit and that attitude of Pocatello remaining. The hardworking, entrepreneurial spirit. I think in 50 years, our community will be just great. Like it is now.”