Crazy Mountain Museum

Crazy Mountain Museum
	Crazy Mountain Museum, P.O. Box 83, Big Timber, MT 59011. The Sweet Grass County Museum is located southeast of the west Interstate exit to Big Timber (406) 932-5126

The Crazy Mountain Museum is a historical museum featuring exhibits that reflect the history of Sweet Grass County and the surrounding area. The museum is maintained by the Sweet Grass Museum Society, a non-profit organization. The Sweet Grass Museum Society has its roots in the Pioneer Society founded in the early 1900's. A permanent home was built and completed 1992 and named Crazy Mountain Museum. It is located south of Big Timber on Cemetery Road southeast of the west Interstate exit to Big Timber. The museum has evolved from a display facility located in a building on McLeod Street. In addition to displays, it now includes a research area, including a large master index for individuals mentioned in a wide variety of documents and pictures. The Sweet Grass County Museum Society and Crazy Mountain Museum publish a quarterly newsletter "The New Breeze". It includes information about the museum, new acquisitions, historical photos and articles.

New Exhibits:

Historic Crossroads- 7 Paintings by Jack Hines that depicts Sweet Grass County over time.

Collection of Chaps- This year, a collection of old chaps, from the 1890s to the early 1900s, will be presented in an aspen tack room built by Jerry Latraverse. Every attempt to make this authentic has been made, however, many ranchers will envy the Museum its beautiful tack room.

Evelyn Cameron Pioneering Photos- Evelyn Cameron, early Montana homesteader, is the feature of another exhibit. During the summer of 2000, the museum will have a display by early Montana photographer Evelyn Cameron. Evelyn and her husband, Ewan, homesteaded in Montana is about 1889. Expecting great wealth, the couple instead found many hardships. The photographs are on loan from the Western Heritage Museum in Billings. Her photos show the true story of early life and items of clothing and homemaking from that period are on exhibit. Jack Hines' Historic Crossroads will dominate the Pioneer Memorial Gallery. A collection of names of veterans from the Spanish American War through the Gulf War has been assembled by Bill Esp. This list of 1750 names from Sweet Grass County will be on display with related items.

Walk Through Time- A geologic and archeological collection of Sweet Grass County arrowheads, minerals, and geology. A Walk in Time features the collection of Ed Adams' spheres and arrowheads from Sam Morris. There are also many ancient geological rocks on display in the main exhibition hall.

Other exhibits have been updated and continue to fascinate guests at the Museum.

Sheep and Wool Exhibits- shows the sheep-herding tradition of Sweet Grass County, once the worlds biggest source of wool. The 1994 season brought the first in a series of exhibits on the sheep and wool industry and how they shaped Sweet Grass County. Since then the exhibits have been expanded to feature the entire spectrum of the sheep industry from sheep herding, herders, and dogs to lambing, shearing, and marketing. Many individuals in the community have contributed to this display by relating oral histories of the sheep and wool industry and by donating artifacts.

Cobblestone City model of Big Timber- Permanent exhibit at the museum, a detailed model of Big Timber in 1907

School Exhibit Sourdough School- A one room school house, completely restored Sourdough Schoolhouse. The school is a symbol of the 69 rural schools that have served Sweet Grass County over the last 100 years. The schoolhouse itself was donated by Nettie Nevin and her family. Sourdough School was built in 1912 on Cottonwood Creek about l0 miles from Big Timber. It had', a wood-burning stove, water from a nearby spring, two outhouses and a barn for students' horses. Its playground was the grass and trees around the school and the neighbor's pasture across the creek. There was a swing in a big tree behind the building. Like other schools, it was the scene of many basket socials and dances as well as Christmas programs, spelling bees and picnics. It was also a bridge to the American culture and language for many Norwegian immigrants who homesteaded in Sweet Grass County. It served until 1963.

Cramer Rodeo- Leo Cramer traveled all over the world with his rodeo stock in the 40s and 50s and this display is a tribute

Veterans from Sweet Grass County- Bill Esp researched and found 17,000 veterans who lived in SGC

Rodeo From Big Broncs To Big Timber- which traces the history of rodeo in the area and spotlights rodeo contestants.

Wind and Flame- features a miniature re-creation of the town of Big Timber as it existed in 1907. Photographs and news articles accompanying the detailed miniature show the effects of a fire that destroyed one-third of the town in 1908.

Stabbur, a Norwegian storehouse- Built by the Fjell Heim 524 Lodge of the Sons of Norway as a tribute to all Norwegian pioneers who helped build the county. A exhibit of Norwegian artifacts is housed in the stabbur.

Cattle and horse brands-Ranchers are putting their brands on pine boards and the museum will record the history of the lives of the cattle men and women of the county.

Photos, Maps, and Memorbilia-Collections of photographs, papers, old things and oral histories that the museum maintains.

Crazy Mountain Museum is open by appointment during the winter. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day it is open five days a week, including Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4:30. For more information contact Bev Josephson or Carolyn Holmlund, P.O. Box 83, Big Timber, MT 59011.

A microfilm reader has been purchased by the Crazy Mountain Museum. The reader is a gift from the Donald family through memorials to Ann Donald. The reader enables those seeking family and other historical information to access far more data than previously possible. The museum has many rolls of old Big Timber newspapers on microfilm.

Jan Counter and Donna Harkness are available to do research at the museum. Copies are 25 cents per page. Mail services require a SASE. A donation to the museum for services rendered would be welcome.

The Museum Society welcomes new members. There are three levels of membership: General, $10; Donor, $25; and Founder, $100. Memberships include a subscription to "The New Breeze". Make checks payable to the Sweet Grass Museum Society and mail to: P.O. Box 83, Big Timber, MT 59011.

"The New Breeze" is the newsletter put out by the Museum Society. Become a member and receive this newsletter.