Sun River Valley Historical Society – Adobe Wall Repair

The Sun River Valley Historical Society requested MHF funds to conduct emergency repairs on Fort Shaw, one of the only remaining original adobe forts in Montana. Fort Shaw was regimental headquarters for the United States Army from its founding in 1867 until 1891 when it closed. The fort was built to protect travelers on the newly constructed Mullan Road and to quell the resistant Indians in the area.

An original adobe wall in the historic Commissioned Officers’ Quarters at Fort Shaw was weakened during the 1940s when a utility company dug under the wall to install a gas line. The weakened wall sagged a foot lower than the floor, which made several rooms unsafe and closed to the public. This project included restoring the adobe wall, rebuilding the foundation for the chimney, restoring and reattaching the wooden lap-siding and building a missing historic door so that the historic officers’ quarters can open to the public for tours.