Fort Peck to lure visitors with history

FORT PECK — As population declines along rural northeastern Montana communities, Fort Peck hopes to revive its economy by luring 400,000 more travelers to visit the region’s new $6.7 million interpretive center and museum.

By JENNIFER PEREZ
Tribune Hi-Line Bureau

Sletten Construction of Great Falls will finish work at the 18,000-square-foot Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum Inc. in Fort Peck this spring and the doors are set to open in May 2004.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ interpretive center may attract as many as 400,000 visitors from around the world and provide them a glimpse into the birth of the Fort Peck Dam and the area’s rich history.

The museum will feature fossils, dam construction, eastern Montana’s history, Native American culture, homesteaders and the nearby Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.

Fort Peck, home to about 300 residents today, was once a booming government "shantytown" and home to about 35,000 during the 1930s era of the Great Depression.

"That was very hard times," Ray Snyder, Fort Peck Lake manager for the corps, said last fall.

He said one of the major reasons the federal government built the dam was to provide work for Americans in the era of the Great Depression.

Aiming for 2005

Vicky Silcox, former interpretive specialist for the corps, said last fall that area residents and the corps have spent nearly six years promoting the project and raising money, hoping it will be ready for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemorative events in Montana in 2005.

"During (the bicentennial celebration), we’re going to see an inflated number, which is set to kick off in eastern Montana in 2005," said Silcox, whose corps position remains unfilled since she left.

The area was one of the first Montana stops for the expedition. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark pushed through in early May 1805 after spending the winter at Fort Mandan, N.D.

The history of the great dam at Fort Peck will occupy another portion of the interpretive center.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized work on the dam in the fall of 1933 to provide jobs and for flood protection.

"It’s going to be pretty impressive," said Gary Johnson, a Fort Peck-area cabin owner who gave tour guides for the corps at the power plant in the late ’60s.

Mecca for jobless

The federal government put on the payroll a total of 30,000 Depression-bled workers, who in turn helped sustain thousands of families, merchants and landowners.

At peak construction, 10,546 people had jobs — making Fort Peck a mecca for the jobless — according to a corps publication commemorating the 50th anniversary of the dam.

Museum organizers and backers hope the family members of ancestors whose labor made the dam a reality, and those interested in dinosaurs and northeastern Montana history, will flock to the attraction, Johnson said.

The center could showcase at least $1.5 million worth of audio and video exhibits designed by Split Rock Studio in the 8,600 square-feet exhibit area.

The facility also includes a main lobby, gift shop, conference rooms, multipurpose room and auditorium, Silcox said.

Fabulous view

Visitors entering the lobby will be met by a downstream view of the Missouri River and by "Peck’s Rex," a 15-x-45 Tyrannosaurus skeleton that is being prepared by members of Fort Peck paleontology team.

The team is working in tandem with the museum, preparing fossils for display. However, the paleontology group recently changed its name to avoid being confused with the group running the interpretive center and museum.

Now known as Fort Peck Paleontology Inc., the group had been called the Fort Peck Interpretive Center, Inc.

Paleontologists’ role

The paleontology group’s primary job is to dig fossils in the field and clean them at the paleontology field station in an old government building between Fort Peck and the tiny community of Park Grove. The fossils eventually will be displayed at the interpretive center and museum, but the paleontologists do not run the center.

Team members have prepared the "Peck’s Rex" skull and are busy casting and molding the T-rex for display.

Fort Peck’s supporters stress that the area has a lot of other attractions that will complement the interpretive center and museum.

Visitors can enjoy a cylindrical pool and aquarium stocked with fish that live in the lake.

Tourists can appreciate the 1.8 million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that surrounds the nearby lake.

"We’ll tell the story — the history and the type of animals that are here," Snyder, the lake manager, said, listing off elk, mountain sheep, prong-horned antelope, mule deer and white-tailed deer.

Seeking support, ideas

The corps will consult with local, tribal and regional groups such as the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls on upcoming projects for the center.

Fort Peck’s paleontology team and interpretive center board are working with museums and communities in search of photos and information of the region’s past.

The corps plans to offer visitors "spot" interpretation and presentations, and to keep offering evening campfire and junior ranger outreach programs aimed at children.

In the beginning, the interpretive center and museum will be a seasonal operation, from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekend, Silcox said. It may eventually stay open year-round.

For more information

For more information about the Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum, contact U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials at the Fort Peck Lake office at (406) 526-3411, ext. 4264.

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