Group to preserve Somers history
A group of Somers residents has gotten
together under a new nonprofit, Somers Company Town Project, to
start preserving and restoring the community’s history.
“We’re hoping to do it for the town of
Somers,” said Dave Ruby, the group’s president. “We don’t have a
lot of things down here for history.”
The first project for the group is to
help preserve the steam engine, which is installed across from Dels
Bar, that represents the town’s beginnings.
Somers, born in 1901, was a product of
the Great Northern Railway as the location for a mill to produce
railroad ties and other timber products which then could be hauled
away on a connector line.
The group’s goal is to build a roof
over the steam engine, which sits at the start of Rails to Trails
of Northwest Montana, and transform it into a cultural center.
The building itself will be 30-by-50
feet with four columns for support, Ruby said. The columns will
become the hanging place for photographs and stories from Somers’
history.
Ruby’s grandfather, Claude Korb, was
the engineer on the historical engine for years. As a child, Ruby
himself rode on it quite a bit.
Today, Ruby is the third generation of
his family to work with the railroad — his son is the fourth.
Almost three years ago, Ruby and others
helped bring the engine and station it in Somers.
“Local people put a lot of time into
it,” he said. “The group wants to preserve it for future
generations.”
The total cost of the project is not
known yet, he said, especially since a lot of it depends on
volunteers and donated materials.
How soon work can begin on the project
depends on how quickly funds can be raised.
It’s hoped that this is just the first
of many projects for the group. Other phases may include restoring
the old ice house.
“We want to keep growing,” Ruby said.
“It’s a nice thing for Somers. We’re one of the older towns in the
Valley.”
To get things started, the group is
raffling off more than half a dozen bird houses at area
businesses.
Each one of the bird houses is uniquely
hand-crafted by Ruby.
Residents can stop in at each location,
view the houses and decide where to enter their raffle tickets.
Participating locations include Joe
Blogz, Dels Bar, Somers Bay Cafe, Tiebuckers, Vista Linda, Sliters’
Ace Hardware locations in Somers, Lakeside and Bigfork.
Raffle tickets are $2 apiece and can be
purchased through Dec. 20.
“More than anything, we’re trying to
get people in Somers and the lower Valley aware of what we’re
trying to do,” he said.
Donations are also accepted, including
of old photographs for the cultural center’s exhibits.
“It’s not so much about the big
businesses but the people who made the town what it is,” he
said.
For more information or to get
involved, call Ruby at 837-1153.