Plans for A-OK campground moving forward
By Luke Ulatowski
Deer Lodge City Council decided to move forward in discussions for a 15-acre expansion of Deer Lodge A-OK Campground and RV Site with the ground’s operator Mike Clasby at the council meeting on Jan. 17.
On Jan. 9, Clasby submitted a request to Chief Administrative Officer Jordan Green to lease the city-owned acres immediately north of the campground located at 329 and 330 Park St. His intentions are to add up to 20 additional tent sites, a teepee and stalls for horse camping.
According to Clasby, the city-owned land was overgrown in 2022, posing a potential fire hazard. He saw the unused land as an opportunity to meet demand from campers who also need accommodation for their horses.
“I got talking to a couple of people that came for Territorial Days and a few horsemen that came after that who have their big, long horse trailers,” Clasby said. “One guy brought me back there and was looking at all that land, and he asked me what the property was. And I told him the city’s got that land. So he was the one [who] spurred the idea.”
Clasby stated several other people brought up the same need for horse camping in the area, including an employee of Rock Creek Cattle Co. who provided horseback riding tours.
The expansion would require the extension of the water line from the existing RV site up through the north along the Clark Fork River, which Clasby seeks permission from Deer Lodge Public Works and the Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC) to implement.
Green stated the proposal, while providing the council with a good understanding of Clasby’s plans, “is not enough to make a contract.”
“I think we’re still at the point where there’s a lot of legal stuff that would have to be figured out,” Green said. “What is the legal description of the site? Who’s going to be involved in talking to the Department of Environmental
See page A-OK page 10
Deer Lodge City Council decided to move forward in discussions for a 15-acre expansion of Deer Lodge A-OK Campground and RV Site with the ground’s operator Mike Clasby at the council meeting on Jan. 17.
On Jan. 9, Clasby submitted a request to Chief Administrative Officer Jordan Green to lease the city-owned acres immediately north of the campground located at 329 and 330 Park St. His intentions are to add up to 20 additional tent sites, a teepee and stalls for horse camping.
According to Clasby, the city-owned land was overgrown in 2022, posing a potential fire hazard. He saw the unused land as an opportunity to meet demand from campers who also need accommodation for their horses.
“I got talking to a couple of people that came for Territorial Days and a few horsemen that came after that who have their big, long horse trailers,” Clasby said. “One guy brought me back there and was looking at all that land, and he asked me what the property was. And I told him the city’s got that land. So he was the one [who] spurred the idea.”
Clasby stated several other people brought up the same need for horse camping in the area, including an employee of Rock Creek Cattle Co. who provided horseback riding tours.
The expansion would require the extension of the water line from the existing RV site up through the north along the Clark Fork River, which Clasby seeks permission from Deer Lodge Public Works and the Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC) to implement.
Green stated the proposal, while providing the council with a good understanding of Clasby’s plans, “is not enough to make a contract.”
“I think we’re still at the point where there’s a lot of legal stuff that would have to be figured out,” Green said. “What is the legal description of the site? Who’s going to be involved in talking to the Department of Environmental
See page A-OK page 10
Roundhouse repurposing getting federal fundsBy Luke Ulatowski
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has offered the City of Deer Lodge up to $60,000 in grant funds to plan future uses for the currently-unusable Milwaukee Roundhouse and its passenger refueling area, as announced at the Deer Lodge City Council and Powell County Commissioners’ joint meeting on Jan. 18. Sitting on the city’s western edge, the Milwaukee Roundhouse served as the primary site of locomotive maintenance and fueling on the city’s railroads from 1908 until 1980. The roundhouse and its refueling area are separately registered in EPA’s Brownfields Program, which offers communities assistance in the cleanup of contaminated properties. In 2011, the program discovered that a 500,000-gallon fuel tank in the refueling area leaked a significant amount of oil toward Tin Cup Joe Creek, a branch of Clark Fork River. EPA assessed the leak had See Funds page 2 |
Powell County Sheriff’s Officer Dan Williamson handcuffs Powell County High School student McKenzie Kratz, who is playing the role of a mass shooter at a Powell County EMS mass casualty training scenario on Jan. 8. Photo by Luke Ulatowski
Cemetery nominated for national registerBy Luke Ulatowski
The Montana Preservation Review Board approved the nomination of Hillcrest Cemetery for a spot on the National Register of Historic Places on Jan. 19. According to Deer Lodge Historic Preservation Commission Officer Jacqueline Lavelle, retired Montana Historical Society Interpretive Historian Ellen Baumler discovered that Hillcrest Cemetery met all criteria for the National Register and finished the research required for its nomination in December. Commission President Kathy Bair stated that although the idea did not originate within the commission, it supported the nomination. The Montana State Historic Preservation Office filled a 78-page “Historic Places” registration form to be approved or rejected by the state review board on Jan. 19 at one of its three yearly scheduled meetings for National Register nominations. Now that is has been approved, the form will be submitted to the National Park Service (NPS). “The state can always decide we can put [the cemetery] on a list in terms of state significance,” Lavelle said. “The state is always free to do that. But the National Park Service has the ultimate decision in making the determination for whether it belongs on the National Register.” NPS does not have a set schedule for addressing nominations, as it receives them from state historic preservation offices all across the country on a constant basis, Lavelle said. However, she also noted the local commission could at any time reach out to NPS and inquire as to when the nomination will be considered. Hillcrest Cemetery sits on West Milwaukee Avenue. It was officially established under its name in 1883 but was used as a nameless cemetery in the decade prior. It was created as the city’s expansion threatened to limit the city’s urban burial grounds, See Register page 10 |
Deer Lodge Elks Lodge 1737 celebrating 75 years
By Kirk Boxleitner
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 1737 in Deer Lodge marks its 75th anniversary this year, even as its members prefer to focus on their more current work.
Deer Lodge Elks Lodge 1737 was chartered on July 8, 1948, with more than 70 members, including its exalted ruler, secretary and five other trustees.
The Elks remain headquartered at their original address on 230 Main St. But the building itself has changed, since the Elks began conducting their lodge meetings and events at what had been the Beck Equipment Company facility, constructed in 1908 on that same site.
The 21st century saw the Deer Lodge Elks forced to relocate for almost five years, when an inspection of the original building’s roof in December of 2003 deemed the structure unfit for public use, leading to the building’s demolition in the spring of 2004.
Gerald Bender, a former exalted leader and current trustee of Deer Lodge 1737, estimated he’s been a member for roughly 30 years, and he recalled the roof “starting to fall in,” so the safety concerns were more than hypothetical.
While the Elks raised funds for a new headquarters, they rented space at the Pen Convention Center in Deer Lodge, but the Elks’ fundraising campaign to establish a new home for themselves took a back seat to the needs of the broader community, when the Rialto Theater in town, which was built in 1921, caught fire in November of 2006.
Construction on the current 5,680-square-foot building at 230 Main St. commenced at the start of May in 2009, and its completion in December of that same year yielded a facility with a commercial kitchen, dance floor, bar and seating for 240 people, as well as women’s restrooms partially inherited
See Elks page 10
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 1737 in Deer Lodge marks its 75th anniversary this year, even as its members prefer to focus on their more current work.
Deer Lodge Elks Lodge 1737 was chartered on July 8, 1948, with more than 70 members, including its exalted ruler, secretary and five other trustees.
The Elks remain headquartered at their original address on 230 Main St. But the building itself has changed, since the Elks began conducting their lodge meetings and events at what had been the Beck Equipment Company facility, constructed in 1908 on that same site.
The 21st century saw the Deer Lodge Elks forced to relocate for almost five years, when an inspection of the original building’s roof in December of 2003 deemed the structure unfit for public use, leading to the building’s demolition in the spring of 2004.
Gerald Bender, a former exalted leader and current trustee of Deer Lodge 1737, estimated he’s been a member for roughly 30 years, and he recalled the roof “starting to fall in,” so the safety concerns were more than hypothetical.
While the Elks raised funds for a new headquarters, they rented space at the Pen Convention Center in Deer Lodge, but the Elks’ fundraising campaign to establish a new home for themselves took a back seat to the needs of the broader community, when the Rialto Theater in town, which was built in 1921, caught fire in November of 2006.
Construction on the current 5,680-square-foot building at 230 Main St. commenced at the start of May in 2009, and its completion in December of that same year yielded a facility with a commercial kitchen, dance floor, bar and seating for 240 people, as well as women’s restrooms partially inherited
See Elks page 10
