Preservation in Progress
by Jim Jenks
The Whaley Homestead Gets TLC
MPA, in partnership with the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge, completed another round of rehabilitation work at the historic Whaley House, moving another step forward in the long-term stewardship of the homestead. In July, Refuge staff and community friends, volunteers and partners gathered at the farmhouse to re-glaze, paint and reinstall original wooden sash windows; build and whitewash a 200-foot long, traditional picket fence; rebuild the front porch; and chase the last pigeons from the interior of the house. With assistance from an enthusiastic Youth Conservation Corps crew on loan from the Refuge, all of our planned efforts were completed.
MPA’s special projects historian Jim Jenks was our trusty crewboss, ably assisted by YCC crew leader Bruce Murray. Bruce was truly an expert, a third-generation window glazer who treated all the volunteers to a lively course in window repairs. Later that month, the Whaley family held a reunion at the homestead, and the family had a bonding experience while whitewashing the fence. The potential for the renewed use of the farmstead grows as Refuge managers consider putting the historic house back in service under their forthcoming Refuge management plan.
Glacier National Park/Many Glacier Hotel Historic District Addendum
This summer, MPA journeyed to Glacier National Park to study the Babb-Many Glacier Road, the sole roadway between Babb, MT and the stately Many Glacier Hotel, completed in 1915 by Great Northern Railway magnate James J. Hill. MPA historians traversed the grand Many Glacier landscape, surveying the road and the rustic Appekuny and Emanon Bridges, and the Swiftcurrent Bridge built at Many Glacier in 1930. MPA produced a National Register of Historic Places document that would expand the Many Glacier Hotel historic district to include the Babb-Many Glacier Road, its fine bridges and other key features.
Yellowstone National Park, Determination of Eligibility Study
In late 2008, MPA, in cooperation with Yellowstone National Park resource staff, launched a project to evaluate National Register eligibility for a group of remote backcountry cabins and lookouts, and buildings at two entrances to the park. In summer 2009, Jim Jenks completed some intrepid field visits – traveling by boat across the storm-tossed waters of Lake Yellowstone to the 1934 Trail Creek Patrol Cabin, hiking through the Pelican Valley bypassing its resident grizzly bear population to survey the 1919 Pelican Springs Patrol Cabin, and bushwhacking across the southwestern portion of the park to locate the 1913 South Riverside Patrol Cabin, perhaps the last backcountry cabin built by the U.S. Army during military’s era of park management.
Assessing the preservation needs for hidden-away heritage properties in YNP will enable park staff to develop strategies to manage and protect them. Our project will enhance the park’s ability to provide long-term stewardship for the buildings, and the draft study will soon be submitted to the park for review.
American Battlefield Protection Program/Skirmishes and Battle Sites across Montana.
Following on the heels of our successful 2007 historic preservation plan for the Rosebud Battlefield, MPA has again partnered with the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Preservation Program. We have undertaken a project to document, assess and evaluate historic battlefields large and small around our state. We are currently working with federal and state agencies, tribal governments and cultural representatives, and local landowners to identify new battlefields and skirmish sites, confirm the locations of known battlefields, verify boundaries, and recognize threats to these landscapes which hold such deep and complex significance in the history of our country.
