Travel With Me! The Center of the Universe DOES Exist! But It's Not Where You Might Think It Would Be...

photo credit goes to: Theodysseyonline.com

The idea of visiting the Center of the Universe could conjure up images of Matthew McConaughey in his space suit passing through a worm hole. Or maybe standing on the bridge of some Federation ship hurtling through space at warp speeds. You could think it's all science fiction and that we humans can't possibly possess the technology to visit the Center of the Universe, much less even determine where it is!

But you'd be wrong. Surprisingly, you don't even have to travel that far to get there...relatively speaking!

And you have a clever Mayor and some legal technicalities to thank for it!

The little town of Wallace, in the center of the Idaho panhandle, has a long history as a mining town. In what is known as the Silver Valley region, the mines surrounding Wallace are reported to have extracted over a billion ounces of silver over the course of mining operations. Eventually, this level of production will take its toll on the environment and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set its sights on Wallace and other surrounding towns.

From Knowledgenuts.com:

Wallace and the surrounding silver mining towns needed to prove that their streets were a healthy environment for their citizens, or else be subject to more rules and regulations from the EPA. More than one billion ounces of silver have come from the mines of the towns along the Silver Valley, but along with the silver and the mining operations came some less-than-desirable chemicals like lead sulfide. It’s led to a long-standing debate about just how dangerous the compound is, and while the towns say their miners have been working with the stuff for decades with no ill effects, the EPA says that it all needs to be cleaned up—and the town needed to prove that it was a safe place to live.

And since they couldn’t conclusively prove that, the EPA said that their safety value was effectively disproved by a lack of proof.

Understandably miffed, [2004 Mayor] Garitone then declared that since there wasn’t the smallest shred of evidence indicating that Wallace wasn’t the center of the universe, that by the same reasoning, it clearly was. They went so far as to contact scientists as far away as Moscow, looking for some bit of proof that Wallace wasn’t actually the center of the universe. Since they couldn’t find anything, they made it official.

They even dedicated a manhole cover at the intersection of Bank and Sixth Street.

photo credit goes to: city-data.com

But even without the "Center of The Universe" moniker, this little mining town has its charm.

And if you're like me, you appreciate the chance get out of the city and head to a town where the population is under 1,000.

While you're there, feel free to stand on the manhole cover...and you, too, can be the Center of the Universe!

But until then, keep exploring!

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