Nice article in Treasure State "Lifestyles" magazine that just came out. See at  http://treasurestatelifestyles.com/the-150th-anniversary-o…/

We have many projects in mind and in progress.  With your help, financial, donations, and/or labor we will continue to make headway.  Recently we have cleaned up and cleaned out buildings and grounds, have many repairs, including new roofs, electrical wiring, new doors on the wash house and outhouse,  and many other efforts. We have a big project going on now with an adobe wall repair, and have additional inside work to get underway soon.  It all takes time and all takes money, donations and sweat effort on the part of volunteers.  We are excited about our progress and especially hope to make significant progress before our big 150th Anniversary Celebration scheduled for August 13, 2017.

On this page I will post pictures and some text relating to our efforts.  Click on individual picture for full view and text.

The adobe wall renovation was completed in time to meet the requirements of the grant we had received. Lots of cleaning, patching and painting has been done on the officer's duplex.  Security measures have been updated and most recently our worker/volunteers have been doing some painting and finishing upstairs in that building.  Below are a few photos showing recent work.

This excellent write up posted by Ken Robison on our Facebook page.   Thanks Ken
October 15 at 4:17pm ·

Our Sun River Valley Historical Society is in the process of emergency repairs on a major section of an original 149 year old adobe wall in the Officers Quarter...s at Fort Shaw National Historic District. This is a fascinating glimpse at the way Fort Shaw was constructed in 1867 of adobe blocks (basically large mud and straw bricks). In the words of historical architect Ken Sievert:

"The Commissioned Officer’s Quarters (COQ) at Fort Shaw was listed on the National Register of HistoricPlaces as a contributing property within the “Fort Shaw Historic District and Cemetery” on January 11, 1985. The basic structure was constructed in 1867 - 1868 as part of the Fort Shaw complex that was entreated with protection of western immigrants, and the newly completed Mullan Road. Built by the Army 13th Infantry, the design of the COQ is indicative of the technology and styles of architecture that were incorporated on Military Posts of the era. It is a rare example of adobe wall construction within the State of Montana that remains in its original condition.

A historic structures report (HSR) was completed for the Commissioned Officer's Quarters at historic Fort Shaw in 2014. The "condition assessment" section of that report identified stabilization of a portion of the east wall of the west wing of the structure as the highest priority for the building. It was noted in the report that a portion of that wall had failed and was in danger of collapse. Family members of one of the directors of the Sun River Valley Historical Society installed temporary bracing along the interior of the wall, and in the early summer of 2014 a local contractor installed timber shoring at the exterior of the failed section of wall.

Subsequent to the installation of bracing / shoring, the Sun River Valley Historical Society entered into a contract with Gittens Foundation Specialists of Great Falls to provide permanent support below the failed wall and to re-build the adobe brick along the affected section of wall. Design of the supporting structure and historic / cultural guidance for the work was provided by the Great Falls office of Sievert & Sievert CRC. On site work was initiated in mid September of 2016. Related stability problems have been discovered and documented after the work started, including a center floor girder that had fallen over and on-going movement of the heavy tall adobe wall that will require further protection for workers that are disassembling the adobe.

If we are to protect and preserve this historically significant adobe army structure, additional funds will have to be raised and invested to properly address the unforeseen problems, as well as the other deficiencies noted in the Historic Structures Report."

 The 219th Red Horse Squadron hit it hard April 20-22 and did a fantastic job on the Officers' Duplex interior.

What a GREAT service - THANK YOU RED HORSE!

Click on individual picture for full view.

Adobe wall repair of the Officers' Quarters

Allow time for pictures to download.

Scroll to bottom to see all.

Scroll down to see pictures and text about improvement project on the Officers' Duplex done by the 219th Red Horse Squadron.

And progress is being made on the Memory Wall on the old vault. Work done by Tim Locke and his crew, Steve Stokke, and Dan Sands. 

Masonry work is being done by Cindy Skelton.  Thanks to ALL!

Great articles about our celebration and projects.

Workday ~ May 10th  2017

East Wash House Repair

July 26, 2017 Workday

REPAIR AND PRESERVATION OF FORT BUILDINGS

 AND

SAFE KEEPING OF ARTIFACTS AND RECORDS