MONTANAS SHARED HERITAGE Fourth Biennial Report on the

MONTANA’S SHARED HERITAGE Fourth Biennial Report on the Status, Condition, and Stewardship of Montana’s State-owned Heritage Properties 2016 - 2018

Report Format and Objectives In this, as well as previous reporting cycles, the biennial state agency reports provide a comprehensive and continuing understanding of the state’s heritage properties and their management. • Analyzed and synthesized agency heritage property reports • Abstracted the most salient findings and best practices • Formulated recommendations to agencies, the Legislature, and the Governor to improve heritage property management Agency reports can be accessed at: http: //mhs. mt. gov/Shpo/Review. Comp/State. Heritage. Properties.

Montana Heritage Property Facts ~370 recorded state-owned heritage properties including seven historic districts comprised of more than 25 contributing buildings each. State-owned heritage properties include not only buildings, but also historic roads and bridges, battlefields, dams, fish hatcheries, and pre-contact native archaeological sites. DNRC manages the most know state-owned heritage properties (45%), especially archaeological sites on trust lands. State agencies consider the status of 65% of state-owned heritage properties to be satisfactory; while 10% are either threatened or endangered. Less than 10% of state-owned heritage properties are classified as high priority assets by state agencies. Outside of general maintenance, use, and administrative costs, generally less than $1 million is spent biennially by all state agencies on heritage preservation projects. Moss Mansion, Yellowstone County

Cascade County First Peoples Buffalo Jump Fort Shaw Canal Bridge Giant Springs Park Hardy Airway Beacon Hardy Bridge MDT Great Falls District Office & Shop MDT Monarch Maintenance Section Shop Milwaukee Railroad (Lewistown-Great Falls Branch - grade) Missouri River Bridge at Cascade Missouri River/O. S. Warden Bridge Morony Dam camp: Apartment House Novak Creek Bridge Old US Highway 91/Recreation Road Prewitt Creek Bridge Tower Rock (Lewis & Clark 1805) Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 1 First Peoples Buffalo Jump

Hill County Highway 2 (abandoned segments) MDT Havre Area Office & Shop MSU: Fort Assiniboine -MAES NARC (44 contributing buildings and sites) MSU-Northern: Gymnasium Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump (DNRC easement) Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 3 MSU: Fort Assiniboine -MAES NARC

Missoula County Alberton Airway Beacon Big Blackfoot Railway Bonita Airway Beacon Clinton Mining District (portion) Don Steele Residence MDT Missoula District Office & Shop Orange Street Underpass Rattlesnake Creek Bridge Rice-Thompson Farmstead Traveler’s Rest UM-Missoula Campus Historic District (34 contributing) UM-Missoula: Charles Prescott House UM-Missoula: Fort Missoula Historic District (4 contributing) University Mountain Airway Beacon UM-Missoula Campus Historic District

Lewis and Clark County 1219 8 th Ave, Helena (Howey House) Alice Creek Historic District (Cokahlarshkit Trail) Custer Avenue FWP Facility stone building Elk Creek Bridge Great Northern Railroad (grade) MDT Mac. Donald Pass Section House Missouri River Bridge near Wolf Creek Montana Aeronautics Commission Operations Building Montana State Capitol Campus HD (27 contributing) Morgan Homestead ice house Mountain View School for Girls (6 contributing buildings – Montana Law Enforcement Academy) Nilan Reservoir & Smith Creek Canal Old Lincoln Road Old US Highway 91/Recreation Road Original Governor’s Mansion Reeder’s Alley/Pioneer Cabin (19 contributing) Sheep Creek Bridge Stedman Foundry (FWP Wildlife Education Center) Wegner Creek Bridge Willow Creek Patrol Cabin Wolf Creek Airway Beacon Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 7

Montana State Capital Campus Historic District

Yellowstone County Big Horn River Bridge N of Custer Ft. Benton – Billings Stage Route Ghost Cave (archaeological) MDT Billings District Office & Shop MDT Maintenance Section Shop Moss Mansion (Preston B. Moss House) Mossmain Overpass E of Laurel MSU-Billings: Academic Support Center MSU-Billings: Apsaruke Hall MSU Billings: Mc. Mullen Hall MSU-Billings: Physical Education Building Old US HWY 87 - Old Hardin Road Pictograph Cave (archaeological) Van Duzer Homestead Yellowstone River Bridge at Huntley Yellowstone Trail/Old US HWY 10 Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 1 Pictograph and Ghost Caves

Silver Bow and Jefferson Counties Butte, Anaconda, & Pacific Railroad SILVER BOW Browns Gulch Bridge Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad Milwaukee Railroad (grade) UM-MT Tech Campus (9 contributing) (Engineering Hall & Museum Building) JEFFERSON Fraternity Hall, Elkhorn Historic Roadside Sign (painted) Jefferson Canyon Highway/MT Hwy 2 Montana Central Railroad (grade) Montana Deaf & Dumb Asylum, Boulder (Main Hall) Montana State Training School HD (5 contributing state-owned buildings – Dept. of Corrections) Yellowstone Trail/Secondary 359 Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 5 Jefferson Canyon Highway/MT Hwy 2

Lake County Jocko Fish Hatchery Logan Marshall Place Swan River State Forest Unit DNRC HQ Jocko Fish Hatchery

Toole, Chouteau, and Liberty Counties TOOLE Marias River Bridge south of Shelby Great Northern Railroad (grade) Great Northern Railroad Viaduct Marias River Bridge S. of Shelby US Highway 2 (abandoned segments) Whoop-Up Trail (segment) Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 2 CHOUTEAU Citadel Rock Eagle Butte School Great Northern Railroad (grade) Judith Landing HD (Ft Clagget/ Ft Chardon) Whoop-up Trail (Teton River Crossing) Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: 3 Eagle Butte School

Best Practices, Overall Findings, and Recommendations Best Practices Preservation efforts that epitomize consistent, invested, and creative approaches to upholding an agency’s legal responsibilities in the identity, care, and management of its heritage properties. Overall Findings Patterns of agency compliance practices, achievements, difficulties, concerns, and investments, as well as statistics on heritage property numbers and conditions. Recommendations Generated from the information and patterns gleaned from the 2018 reports, these are considered the most important and most directly achievable goals for the next biennial period.

Agency Voices “It is recognized that the Montana Legislature intended the State Heritage Stewardship statute as a management tool for state agencies to administer their heritage properties” --Montana Department of Transportation (2018: 18) “The MT Dept. of Public Health and Human Services’ biggest challenge in identifying, evaluating, and protecting state-owned heritage properties is balancing the needs to preserve heritage places while meeting the agency’s primary mission, which is to improve and protect the health and well-being and self-reliance of all Montanans. ” –MT DPTHHS (2018: 5) “Of the approximately 5. 2 million acres of state land administered by the DNRC, only 288, 365 acres (6%) have been inventoried to date for cultural and paleontological resources. ” –MT Dept. of Natural Resources and Conservation (2018: 1)

Best Practices Examples of successful preservation efforts continue to emerge and can serve as guidance for all agencies. • Reporting • Developing and Employing Expertise • Building Re-use • SHPO Consultation • Creative and Collaborative Funding Mountain View School for Girls, The Law Enforcement Academy

Overall Findings The agency reports yielded several patterns, both encouraging and challenging, of agency practice. • Relationships and consultation with SHPO • Importance of a designated heritage preservation position • Quality of stewardship is agency specific • Deterioration, loss, and looting • Designated vs. yet to be inventoried or evaluated • Creative solutions to stewardship problems • Recognition and acceptance of legal mission Virginia City, Montana Heritage Commission

Recommendations To continue developing the improvements in agency stewardship efforts and reporting practices, we offer the following recommendations generated from the information and patterns noted in the agencies’ 2012 -2018 reports: • Agencies work with SHPO to develop Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) • Agencies implement Heritage Strategies and Strategic Plans • State recognition of the potential for archaeological sites to be heritage properties • Legislative allocation of funds for an updated survey of unrecorded/unevaluated state-owned properties Montana Trust Lands National Parks

Acknowledgements The State Historic Preservation Office and Historic Preservation Review Board are grateful for the efforts of the agencies that reported in this and previous cycles of documentation and analysis, and the Montana State Legislature for the enabling legislation. MONTANA HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEW BOARD C. Riley Augé, Missoula – Chair Charles “Milo” Mc. Leod, Missoula Carol Bronson, Great Falls Jeffrey Shelden, Lewistown Patti Casne, Helena Marcella Walter, Helena Zane Fulbright, Lewistown Timothy Urbaniak, Billings MONTANA STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER Mark Baumler, Helena