MUSEUM OFFERS A WALK IN TIME

Travelers wishing to take a walk backward in time may want to stop at the Frontier Gateway Museum. It is located just north of Glendive on Belle Prairie Road and offers a wide variety of historical items.

Inside the museum are displays of local history with fossils dating back 200 million years, old-time stores and displays from World War 11.

Glendive was built around the Northern Pacific Railroad, and displays featuring artifacts from that time are on display in the museum. Also in the main lobby is a sketch of Camp Canby, which preceded Glendive. The camp was manned by the 22nd Infantry and was used to help protect railroad workers as they built the railroad into the new territory.

Behind the museum, many other buildings help recreate the history of Dawson County.

A real eye-catcher is an original log cabin moved log-by-log from Paxton, a community originally located outside Richey. Also an original rural schoolhouse complete with authentic furnishings, and many other reproductions of buildings, are located at the museum.

The recreated buildings include two country stores, a livery stable reproduction which houses original buggies, and a blacksmith shop.

A machinery storage building houses a variety of old farm equipment, and a restored windmill sits in the middle of the grounds.

Always of interest are fire engines, and the museum has those as well. Local fire department employees have constructed a replica fire hall, which houses a 1916 American LaFrance fire engine on loan from the fire department.

Inside the museum, visitors can walk down a replica of Glendive’s main street. The display, called Merrill West, is based on photographs taken of Glendive in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Buildings represented in the replica include Glendive’s first mercantile, the Douglas-Mead and Company, which opened in 1885; the first women’s wear shop, the Kepp-Boertsch Co.; the first newspaper building, the Glendive Times; and the first drug store, Hope S. Davis Drug Store.

Additional displays at the museum include fossils, Montana moss agates, buckskins, many mounted animals and animal skins, authentic reproductions of the medieval armor and a World War II display which features uniforms, newspaper clippings, Japanese and American Flags. The museum is open from 9 a.m. until noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, from June through August. On Sundays and holidays it is open from 1 to 5 p.m.

During the months of May and September, hours are 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Sunday. For an appointment or for further information, call the museum at 365-8168.