Talk looks at historic places in Montana

Montana has more than 1,100 places and buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In a presentation Monday, Feb. 19, local author Michael Ober will give an intimate look at those he picked as the top 50. While there are the usual mansions, the selection also includes log cabins, barns, mines, jails, forest fire lookouts, bridges and geological features.

Ober visited and photographed the sites for his book, Montana Historic Places. Each has a story, providing a unique look at the back roads and hidden history of Montana.

There is Lookout Cave in Phillips County, with its ancient drawings, and Citadel Rock, a prominent landmark on the Missouri River. Lewistown has a former B-17 airfield, with its concrete structure for locking up the top secret Norden bombsights between training flights.

The Washington Monument could sit inside the Anaconda Smokestack and it is said a small car could drive around the 585-foot top.

Dave's Texaco is a preserved gas station in downtown Chinook, with the original glass-topped pumps. The DeSmet tour boat has carried tourists on Lake McDonald for more than 90 years and is stored over the winter in a boat house with its own historic designation.

A third-generation Montanan, Ober is the former director of the Flathead Valley Community College library. He also worked for more than 40 years as a seasonal ranger in Glacier National Park.

The talk is the monthly presentation of the Northwest Montana Westerners, a local history group. It starts at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Northwest Montana History Museum, at 124 Second Ave. East in Kalispell. The cost is $5 for the general public, with members and youths under 16 admitted free.