Legion repairs, replaces crosses

Members of the American Legion at Thompson Falls spent a few hours working on marker crosses along Prospect Creek Road last Friday morning.

It was a chilly time as Bill Beck of Plains and Bob Kunch of Thompson Falls, both members of American Legion Post 52 of Thompson Falls, worked a few feet off the road, sometimes in blowing snow, repairing, painting or replacing crosses that are part of the American Legion Highway Fatality Marker Program.

The markers, which are 16-inch white crosses resting atop bright red metal posts, and that range from 6-7 feet tall, mark the site of a traffic fatality. The program started in 1953 and has been adopted by the state of Montana, said Jim Kelly, the Legionnaire in charge of the program for this area who takes care of the markers on Highway 28 all the way to Hot Springs. He said that of the 3,700 cross markers in Montana, there are 45 in Sanders County, which Posts 52 and 129 in Paradise handle, though most are done by the Thompson Falls post, headed by Ken Matthiesen. 

The markers represent a fatality at or near the site where the crosses are placed. Most of the Legion posts in Montana participate in the program. Post 52 is responsible for markers from the intersection of Highways 28 and 200 west along 200 to the Idaho border and up Prospect Creek Road to the Idaho border. 

There are seven crosses on the 22-mile long Prospect Creek Road. Beck and Kunch checked all of them, stopping at the last one located around 60 yards from Idaho, where some two feet of snow surrounded the marker post. The marker near the border had a square steel post and a steel cross, something the Legion will replace. The Legion has specific guidelines for the markers, including the placement site, position on the post, color and materials. Most are just a few yards from the road. Beck said they try to put them as close to where the tragedy occurred, but sometimes there are obstacles, like large rocks, a steep incline or decline, water, or the club doesn't know the exact spot. 

Each spring, Legion volunteers check on the crosses. They clean them and touch them up with white paint. Kelly said they want the crosses to stand out so people recognize why they are there. The Legion volunteers often find the markers covered with flowers and other objects, which they remove. Legion members worked on the markers along Highway 200 earlier this month. The Highway Fatality Marker Program is not designed to be a memorial, said Kunch, who served in the Navy from 1959 to 1964. "It's supposed to be a marker that shows there was a fateful crash there," he said. The 81-year-old Kunch has participated in the program for about 10 years. "It's a warning to other drivers," he said. The Legion has decided to remove the old heavy square and round posts and replace them with a bendable crash proof post, according to Kelly, who added that the new posts are safer. 

Kunch and Beck, who served in the Navy for 26 years, started out Friday morning by removing two markers that were side by side on Prospect Creek Road about a half of a mile from Highway 200. Instead of two separate posts, they needed to make it one post with two crosses at the top. After trying to yank the posts out by hand, which didn't work, Beck attached a heavy rope to the posts and pulled each one out with his truck. They pulled a second one by hand that was made of steel and was rusted and replaced it with an aluminum cross. Beck, who will be the post's chaplain, has helped with the marker program for six years. 

The marker at the end of the road needs to be replaced because it has the old square steel post and has a steel cross, said Beck, but because of the cold and snow, he said it would wait. However, Kunch gave it a quick spray of new paint. "We'll get back to this one when it's warmer," said Beck.