Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Members of the Clack Memorial Museum Board and the Clack Foundation Board were working Sunday renovating a bit of history a homestead shack displayed on the Great Northern Fairgrounds. “We will do as much as we can before winter,” said Gary Wilson of the Clack Foundation Board. “We would love to have it all done.” The work will continue along with pursuing funding for a feasibility study on building a new home for the Clack Museum, planned to be constructed next to a visitors center on the fairground. The museum is now housed in the Holiday Village Shopping Center. Fundraising is under way for the visitors center, which had an initial cost estimate from the architets designing the building, L’Heureux Page Warner, of about $4 million. Wilson said Murray Barkus of Barkus Home Center donated six gallons of stain, mixed to match the original color of the shack as close as possible, for the renovation of the shack. The work is one part of ongoing projects, including continuing to repair the inside of the shack and working to preserve the Faber Schoolhouse, a log building constructed in 1905 in the Bear Paw Mountains, which is also displayed at the fairgrounds. Allan Ost of the Museum Board said he hopes to spray linseed oil on the cedar shingles on the shack by the end of fall, and Wilson said another project is to spray clear preservative on the outside of the schoolhouse. Museum Board Chair Val Hickman said the inside of the homestead shack, which has period items donated by local community members displayed inside, still needs some work. Keith Doll repaired the eastern plaster wall in the main room of the shack, but the other three walls are also in need of repair. The shack contains items including a period bed, a mannequin with a period dress, an old stove and a wooden washing machine. Hickman said she is also discussing with musuem manager The museum has sponsored events this summer including having Blaine County entertainer Ken Overcast perform in July, and the Montana National Guard was scheduled to put on a presentation about the journey of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery Monday. Hickman said if the schedule is made year-round, the presentations would be made as people became available, possibly every two to four months throught the fall and winter with more events occuring in the summer.
