Keeping the cross lit

The Sundance Chamber of Commerce is working to secure monthly sponsorships from local businesses that will be used to fund the cross on the summit of Sundance Mountain.

The cross has lit the night sky for more than 60 years and has been a popular landmark to city residents since it first appeared. The current effort is not the first time the community has come together to keep it shining in the darkness.

Crews from the Tri-County Electric Association originally erected the giant cross just in time for the Christmas of 1960. It was intended to be a temporary fixture for the holiday season.

Though it faced the city, the cross was designed such that the lights could be seen for miles. It stands around 20 feet high, with a 12-foot crossarm.

A wooden structure with light fixtures attached, it at first used 60 to 70 watt bulbs, until it was found that these were too bright.

"One person thought the Ku Klux Klan was in town!" states a Sundance Times article by Mary Jean Wilson in 1994.

The wattage was first cut down to 15 watts and then halved again. Pappy Bernd and Buster Popham took on the task of changing out the bulbs and maintaining the cross.

According to the late Glen Wyatt, the cross was a hit with the community and the decision was made to keep it up and for the Commercial Club to pay for the electricity. This continued for several years, until Tri-County (now known as PRECorp) picked up the tab.

Three decades later, however, technology threatened to bring an end to its tenure. The cross was removed in 1994 to allow for the installation of cellular phone towers.

The community missed it immediately. In her "Today's Teens" column for the Sundance Times, Kenda Fuhrmann wrote that her older brothers had told her ghost stories about vampire bats when she was small, but said the cross was there to protect her from them.

Though she knew this was just a ghost story, Fuhrmann said she was angry that it no longer shone in the night sky. She pointed out that the cross was comforting, and that it let people know when they were close to Sundance and garnered compliments from people in the surrounding area.

Jim Durfee led an effort to restore the cross, though he said that it was old and in need of repair.

Durfee said that the effort was possible because, though some controversy had existed about the land it was on, it was now owned by Tri-County Electric.

Durfee and Norval Waller worked to repair the cross, with the help of others including Jim Clark using materials supplied by Energy Electric. Tri-County Electric and Dillon Hardware also assisted, with maintenance money donated by Jody Thernes as a memorial to her husband.

Fittingly, the cross shone from the mountaintop once more at Christmas, to fanfare from the community. "The lighted cross has been a lovely symbol for our town for many years. It is especially beautiful at the holiday season to be shining down on us," wrote Helen Snell in a letter to the editor after seeing the cross on a drive around town to admire the Christmas lights.

"For as long as I can remember, that cross has shown as a light and a symbol of our town. When it was gone there seemed an emptiness and now the fullness of the season and the spirit of Christmas the cross brings shine like an old friend returning home," wrote Vicky Adams in another letter.

A flurry of cards of thanks followed, including from Dugan Riley and Kylie Elizabeth Hughes, Ray and Shirley Buckman and Mil Schloredt.

The memorial funding contributed by Thernes was exhausted by 1996, when Waller put a call out to community members who might wish to contribute to the Sundance Chamber of Commerce's new "Keep the Cross Lighted" fund.