FORT SHAW — From history to art, even reliving parts of the Lewis and Clark expedition, there's something for everyone to enjoy this weekend during the 25h annual Sunday Sampler. People can visit 12 Great Falls area museums for the event, free of charge. It includes a museum scavenger hunt.
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People who visit at least 3 museums and find answers to questions at each one, at your 3rd museum, you can turn in your passport answer sheet and you'll be entered to win a prize.
From noon to 4:00 p.m., vistitors can explore the C.M. Russell Museum, Galerie Trinitas at the University of Providence, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, Malmstrom Air Force Base Museum, Montana Museum of Railroad History, Paris Gibson SquareMuseum of Art, The History Museum and Research Center, Great Falls Public Library/Montana Room, Children’s Museum of Montana (Pop-up located at Great Falls Public Library), the Ursuline Centre, First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park near Ulm, and for the first time, the Sun River Valley Historical Society in Fort Shaw.
“Fort Shaw was here before Great Falls was around. The fort was built in 1867,” said Burnette Batista is a charter member and President of the Sun River Valley Historical Society which was established in 1977. Like many who have heard about Fort Shaw, she didn’t always know the military outpost’s rich history.
“I grew up here and went to school here for eight years and learned absolutely nothing about the fort,” said Batista. “So, we're trying to educate the younger people.”
According to local historian Dick Thoroughman, Fort Shaw was the third of a dozen military posts constructed in Montana between 1866 and 1890, a period defined in American History as the Indian Wars. Soldiers from Fort Shaw were involved in three major military campaigns.
The last of the fort’s soldiers left in December of 1891 and for the next 18 years, the site became the Fort Shaw Indian Industrial School, home of the 1904 world championship girls' basketball team.
From 1908 to 1925 it was the headquarters of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The site housed a high school and even served as a prisoner of war camp during World War two housing some 400 German prisoners.
Visitors on the tour will be able to see the commanding officer building as well as the nearby officer quarters which have been modified to help tell the Fort Shaw story.
“The duplex next door, has one bedroom, but we have converted one room into a hospital room because we don't have the hospital anymore,” said Batista. “So, we have a hospital room and we have, a doctor's room, an operating room.”
The original hospital building now serves as the grade school.
“We have a school room over there. Somebody has donated a piano for that,” said Batista of the adjacent officers quarters.” We've got a post office room, we've got a lot of artifacts there, for people to see. Lots of transportation. Mainly mule and horse drawn things.”
The Fort’s gift shop features postcards and historical books, including a book dedicated to the 1904 World Championship girls basketball team.
For those unfamiliar, a slight detour off Highway 200 can bring an important piece of Montana history into perspective.
“If you don't study history and know what it's about, you're bound to repeat it good and bad,” said Batista. “We are trying to save this for the future, for the public, and to let everybody know what we've got here.”
