Living History offers a look into the past

Living History offered many activities to visitors and residents of Havre Saturday.

Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump

At the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump, visitors were offered a discounted rate to take the tour of the historic site and were also given a chance to watch a demonstration of stone boiling, an ancient Native American technique of cooking food.

Vince Woodwick was the master of the hearth Saturday and was preparing the stones for boiling the water.

"It's one of the ways Native Americans would have cooked their food," Woodwick said.

The stones would sit in a fire for a half-hour to a full hour and then be placed in a container of water to set it to boil.

The boiling water would be used to cook food, as Woodwick was doing with buffalo meat Saturday, and also to make salves, remove marrow from bone and other tasks.

Anna Brumley, one manager of the site, said they offered the stone boiling as a special event for Living History, but would offer it to anyone who requested it during their tour of the buffalo jump.

Everything Antique

At the Everything Antique Show at the Great Northern Fairgrounds, a selection of antique tractors and cars were showcased on the main lawn and then paraded around the perimeter.

"This is probably our best year yet," said Mark Weston, one of the organizers of the event. "We've had more tractors than we've ever had."

The show saw many antique steam engines, tractors, machines and cars on display Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Anything that could move was invited to take part in the daily parade around the fairgrounds and an antique calvary cannon was shot every hour as part of the show. There was also a threshing demonstration put on for the showgoers to observe.

Frank DeRosa Railroad Museum

Havre Beneath the Streets was also offering discounted rates on their special version of their tour, which had actors acting out history for those partaking.

The basement level of the Frank DeRosa Railroad Museum was also open to visitors. The lower level held an extended world of model trains and towns. The models were operated and created by the model railroad club that meets at the museum every Tuesday.

Bob Henderson, a club member who now resides in Great Falls, said the lower level is usually closed off during normal museum and tour hours, but people can make a special request to see it if they would like.

The model trains wound through miniature towns with intricate, small details. The model town, decades old now, was fully operational and visitors to the museum could watch as the trains went in and out of tunnels and through towns on a loop.

H. Earl Clack Museum

There was a lot of excitement at the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Saturday as the museum displayed its new exhibits.

But no one was quite as excited at 6-year-old Dani Tade, who went to the museum she visits quite often with her mother.

"Look at this," she exclaimed. "It's a bear. Look how big its teeth are," she said, looking at a display on the museum's wall.

Then she ran over to another display.

"It's a dinosaur," she yelled out to friends.

"His name is Chomper," said museum manager Jim Spangelo, who recalled that the museum held a contest asking young people to come up with a name for the new display.

The beaver display also attracted Dani's attention.

The older members of the crowd were more interested in a quilt that was unveiled Saturday.

The blanket was quilted by Hannah Elizabeth Blanchard McCulloh, the daughter of the chaplain at Fort Assinniboine in 1892, the year before Havre was incorporated.

"It has the most exquisite stitching I have ever seen," said Teri Rathbone, who explained the details of the quilt to visitors.

Part of the history of Fort Assinniboine was on display in the quilts. People could see religious thoughts, scenery and an Army insignia in the quilt's many patches. The insignia may have come from Lt. John "Black Jack" Pershing, who was stationed at Fort Assinniboine, years before he became a World War I hero.

Rathbone said it can't be proven that the insignia was based on Pershing's, but it is known that Hannah's parents, Robert and Elizabeth McCulloh were friends with Pershing.

While the travels of the quilt from Fort Assinniboine to the museum is not clear, Carroll Gardner of Reno, Nevada, last owned it. She had it appraised, and the appraiser traced it back to Fort Assinniboine. She sent the quilt to the museum.

The quilt will remain on display.

Fort Assinniboine

Omar Murray is a regular participant in the annual Living History celebration at Fort Assinniboine.

Dressed in an 1880s uniform of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he was back in town Saturday, explaining to visitors the life of the Mounties in the 1880s.

In real life, Murray is a re-enactor at Fort Walsh, a Canadian installation that, like Fort Assinniboine, flourished in the 1880s.

The fort was created in the wake of the Cypress Hills Massacre, an incident in which the horses of fur traders were stolen. Fur traders believed that Natives had stolen the horses, and in the confusion, fueled by alcohol on both sides, a battle ensued. Twenty-three Natives and a fur trader were killed.

By the time the fur traders returned to Fort Benton in the Montana Territory, they boasted of having killed 300 Natives. Tensions grew, and the fort was assigned with the task of keeping peace.

Fort Walsh became the Mounties' headquarters in the 1880s after Sitting Bull fled the United States to Canada and there were fears of a Native uprising.

Today, buildings have been constructed, looking just as they were in the 1880s - on the same locations as they were in the 1880s.

History buffs flock to the fort to see people in era attire live life as it was in those times, he said.

He loves coming to Havre to tell the story of his fort, and would love to see Fort Assinniboine restored as Fort Walsh has been. Fort Assinniboine has one thing Fort Walsh doesn't have. Several original buildings remain standing.

"We're federally funded," he said. "That makes a big difference."

While some people were talking to Murray, hearing stories of life at his fort, others were on the "Black Jack," which provided tours to people around the fort.

Fort Assinniboine Preservation Association President Gary Wilson provided details to visitors on the life of soldiers and civilians at the fort, pointing to the buildings where various activities were held.

"There was the first shopping mall in north-central Montana," he said, pointing to a shell of a building.

Everything from clothing to foods to haircuts and beer were sold at the cluster of buildings, he said.

"And there is the jail, or the stockade, as they called it," he said, pointing to a building in good shape.

Many misbehaving soldiers were sentenced to 30 days at hard labor and were assigned to unpleasant tasks such as cleaning out chamber pots.

There were more than 100 building at the 700,000-acre fort that housed just 800 soldiers, he said.

But families came with soldiers and efforts were made to make life as normal as possible, he said.

There was a two-story school that educated children - though children of officers attended class in the morning and enlisted men in the afternoon.

"No fraternization was allowed, even for children," he said.