Museum plans transition of Wahkpa Chu'gn

The H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum Board Monday scheduled the first meeting of its transition committee decide if the museum manager will also oversee the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump once its managers retire at the end of the year.

Anna Brumley and her husband, archeologist John Brumley, who have managed the bison kill site behind the Holiday Village Mall since the mid-1990s as independent contractors, will not be renewing their contract with the county when it expires in December.

At its monthly meeting Monday, the museum board scheduled the first meeting of their four-member transition committee for Monday Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Conference Room at Havre Inn and Suites.

The committee consists of Board Chair Judi Dritshulas, board members Lela Patera and Val Hickman and H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation President Elaine Morse.

Dritshulas said the museum will manage the Buffalo Jump when the Brumley’s contract ends, but the committee is looking at whether the museum manager will also oversee the Buffalo Jump, a change that could mean the museum would have to have a structured schedule for tours.

She said Wahkpa Chu’gn is open seasonally and it is possible the manager of the museum could oversee both the museum and the jump. However, such a change would likely have to be approved by the county commissioners, she said.

In her report to the board Monday, Brumley said the family of the late Havre historian Antoinette “Toni” Hagener contacted her to see if it was all right if they could donate a concrete bench to the jump in Hagener’s name.

Brumley said it was decided the bench will be placed a little north of the jump’s interpretive center and overlooking the site.

She said it will be placed close to where the old path made of ties used to lead down the hill into the site.

Brumley said the base for the bench is in place and should be completed soon.

The museum will host  former Havre High School history teacher Jim Magera as the final presenter of the museum’s summer speaker series Friday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Montana Room at Havre Inn and Suites. The presentation, which will be about how sites in Havre and the Bear Paw Mountains acquired their names, will coincide with the annual Havre Festival Days celebration.

Initially Magera’s presentation was scheduled for Aug. 11 at the mural in the parking lot of Havre Inn and Suites, but Dritshulas said the presentation was postponed because the hotel was hosting a three-day convention at that same time.

The museum will be closed Saturday, Sept. 2, to Wednesday, Sept. 6, when it will reopen and resume its nonsummer hours.

When it reopens Sept. 6, the museum will be open 1 to 5 p.m Tuesday through Friday.