‘Textbook blast’ at rock quarry caused rumble Friday

It caused a bit of a stir in the Lewiston Orchards, but the rock blasting carried out Friday afternoon is just a normal part of business for Atlas Sand & Rock.

The Lewiston company that sells gravel and other rock products occasionally blasts at its quarry just south of the city limits along the Sixth Street grade to create the raw material. The blasting is done “once a year, once every other year,” Atlas operations manager Tim Jasper said, depending on how quickly the material is sold.

The most recent blasting happened at about 3:30 p.m. Friday. It caused a rumble that some Lewiston Orchards residents thought might be an earthquake, and the shaking registered as a magnitude 2.3 on the Richter scale. That figure was provided Friday by the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, but one of its geophysicists also said the readings looked “like quarry activity” — which was indeed the case.

For Atlas, it was a routine operation, Jasper said.

“It was a textbook blast. They’re pretty boring, except for the second where it goes off. There was no damage or anything.”

The blasting is done by a company that is hired by Atlas. The company sets up ground sensors and has legal parameters it must operate within, Jasper said.

Atlas also informs the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport and CCI Speer — neighbors of its quarry — when a blast is scheduled.

“It’s all according to Hoyle. It’s all legit,” Jasper said. “We’re not just out there rednecking.”

The material that was created by the blast will be ground into gravel and other products, which Atlas will sell for a variety of uses. Gravel is used in driveways and to chip-seal roadways, but also used in practically all construction projects, Jasper said.

Baney may be contacted at mbaney@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2262. Follow him on Twitter @MattBaney_Trib.