Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana – Jocko Valley Cabin Project

The Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana used MHF funds to preserve a historic 1860 log cabin. The cabin was originally built in the Jocko Valley in western Montana and was relocated to the museum grounds in 1997. Log cabins in western Montana are associated with the early fur trade, Montana’s ranching and farming history, the lives of early Montana settlers, and Native Americans’ subjection to reservation life.

Log cabins have been romanticized, so the museum’s humble 17’x17′ one-room structure called home by some early Montanans will make the hardships they endured more realistic. The cabin provides the Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana with an opportunity to develop exhibits for significant events and people of the lower Flathead Valley and their relevance to the history of the Flathead Reservation, first named the Jocko Reservation. This grant project sealed holes in the cabin wall and repaired the cracks in the chinking. These repairs insured that visitors continue to “step into the past,” making it possible to share the history of Native Americans from Jocko Valley with members of the public.