Sun River Valley Historical Society Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery

Commanding Officer’s Quarters

The Commanding Officer’s Quarters was the residence of the Regimental Commander, one of whom was General John Gibbon. It was constructed in 1867 or thereabouts. It was built with adobe and was sheathed with wood to preserve it during Montana’s weather.

For many years after the fort shut down, it was used as a rental property for school teachers and employees. In 2019, the Sun River Valley Historical Society obtained the structure and decided to restore it as nearly as possible to how it would have appeared when the Army was here. It also serves as a museum in which we display many of our artifacts.

Commander’s Office

Commander’s office

Commander’s Living Room

4-Family Dining Room

Commander’s Dining Room

Commander’s Bedroom

Commander’s Bedroom

Duplex

The Duplex was also constructed from adobe and sheathed with wood to preserve the adobe from the Montana elements. One Duplex remains out of six that were originally at the fort. Their purpose was to provide housing for married officers, with one apartment on each side. After the army departed, the duplexes provided housing for faculty at the Indian Industrial School, and they were also rented out to faculty and employees when the public school began operation. The Duplex provided housing for a pair of married officers. Each apartment contained one bedroom, whether it was the officer and his wife or it was the officer, his wife, and six kids…

The is of an adobe wall that had fallen out of place. We reconstructed it using original bricks from the wall and other sources on the site. “Mortar” was composed of broken adobe bricks that were crushed and rehydrated with water. We used this to re-lay the bricks in. That meant the wall was replaced with the same materials and using the same methods it would have been constructed with in the 1860s.

This is a model cookstove that measures about a foot in width. It is constructed of cast iron, and dates from the 1860 period. It was on its way to the trash heap when we “rescued” it.

Duplex kitchen. The wash station held a wash pan and a barrel of water. You ladled what you needed into the pan and did your thing. When you were done, the drain was right outside the back door.

This is the primary bed. There is room for several more beds of various sizes.

Military Cemetery

The Montana Military District was established to provide a boundary for the Army’s jurisdiction. It encompassed part of Idaho, all of Montana, and part of the Dakotas.

Fort Shaw was the headquarters for the Montana Military district. it was at one time considered one of the most important Army installations west of the Mississippi. It was primarily an infantry fort, not cavalry. There were up to 400 infantrymen here at any given time.

The Seventh Infantry was one of the units that marched in support of Custer’s campaign against the Sioux. Custer of course acted on his own; the Seventh Infantry was the first army unit to discover the scene of the massacre.