MURPHY, Idaho — It’s been two years in the making — here’s your first look at the new printing shop at the Owyhee County Museum in Murphy, preserving over 160 years of Idaho history.
Idaho News 6 was here last year when the foundation was built for the new printing shop. Eriks Garsvo, the director of Owyhee County Museum, says the new printing shop will give visitors more room to see the old printers in action; printers that came from the Hawes family in Marsing.
“The museum is preserving all of Owyhee County’s history that dates back to 1865, almost the birth of Idaho," Garsvo said.
Bob Schaffer has spent a good portion of his adult life working in the backrooms of newspapers, and now volunteers with others who have knowledge of how these old printers work. I asked Bob, even though print media is still around, does it make him sad that newspapers themselves are slowly going away.
“Yep, it does," Schaffer said. "There was a skill involved that was based on individual aptitude and ability.”
Bob explains why the historic German Heidelberg printing press revolutionized the business. “If you run one of these machines, the pet name for it is called a windmill. These arms go around like this. This arm will pick up a piece of paper, swing it down here, and stop. It will print while this arm is over here delivering."
It’s a popular attraction for the hundreds of school children who come to Murphy to learn about Idaho history. Garsvo explains. “We can set things up for school field trips with ink, and they can do stuff on this. With the Heidelberg, we can queue in a wanted poster, and we can even have an opening here where we can put in a name. So, during the Outpost Days, we can put kids' names in. Wanted: for stealing cookies from their parent.”
Eriks says they’re not done. Up next is a new building to store historic wagons from the Old West. And a reminder, everyone’s invited to come to Murphy on June 7 for Outpost Days and the official ribbon cutting. It’s going to be fun day for the whole family.
