Museum board plans special events during Great Northern Fair

The Hill County museum board is setting up two special events tied to local history on the Saturday of this year's Great Northern Fair.

The Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump archeological site will hold its dedication ceremony for its new Interpretive Center that opened this year, and the H. Earl Clack Museum will open two special exhibits housed on the fairgrounds, a homesteading shack and the original Faber Schoolhouse used in the Bear Paw Mountains 100 years ago.

Anna Brumley, who manages the archaeological bison kill site north of the Holiday Village Mall, said the grand opening of the Interpretive Center will start at 10 a. m.

Along with the grand opening of the center and celebrating new exhibit houses on the site, Wahkpa Chu'gn is celebrating its 50th anniversary of excavation. Brumley's husband, John Brumley, brought the site to the attention of the newly formed Milk River Archeological Society in the late fall or early winter of 1961, when he was about 12.

Excavations at the site began the next summer. John Brumley went on to earn degrees in archeology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, and returned to Havre in 1995, and now is the curator of archaeology for the Clack Museum, which is charged with overseeing the operation of Wahkpa Chu'gn.

Anna Brumley said surviving members of the archaeological society have been invited to attend the grand opening, along with other key players in the site's development and promotion over the years.

She said speakers are being invited to address those at the ceremony. She is working to arrange some demonstrations at the site and discounted tours will be offered all day at $5 for adults and $4 for students.

Museum board member Gary Wilson said the other special museum attractions will be opening the same day.

The country Faber Schoolhouse and the homesteading shack will be open for visitors from noon to 6 p. m., he said.

Wilson said he thought the fair was a good time to give people a chance to visit the buildings.

With the recent focus on upgrading Wahkpa Chu'gn and the museum, which moved to a new location this spring on the eastern end of the Holiday Village, near the bison kill site, it seems like some of the items on the fairgrounds have "kind of gotten lost in the process, " he said. "We kind of thought it was time to try to start doing a little more over there. "