The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1962-02-15

Working in snowy weather
throughout, firemen disconnected
the oil tank under the steps at
the east entrance, dragged it
away by truck, chopped a hole
through the outside wall on the
northeast part of the huge wood
en- structure at the second story
level to discover that the fire had
climbed from the basement up
the wall to the upstairs lavatory
and three offices.
Several times the flames Jump
ed through the roof at different
sections only to be doused by
hoses hooked up to the city and
agency fire hydrants and fire
trucks. Witnessing large crowds
that gathered through the eve
ming seemed to sense the fire
men knew what they were doing,
and the excellent work of the
firemen no doubt accounts for
the fact that although the build
ing was Quilted a vast amount of
current and important records
were retrieved.
When the blaze became con-
trolled, Bill McFadyean, chief of
the Browning volunteer freight
ers, admitted into the building
certain personnel to gather rec
ords to take to the vacant tribal
store building in downtown
Browning The vacant building
will be partitioned off into indi-
vidual offices and will henceforth
serve as the administration cen
ter for tribal affairs.
An immediate concern of tribal
officials now is what to do with
the retrieved records that look
and smell the effects of fire,
smoke, heat and water,
Fire Chief McFadyean express
ed qualification at the coopera-
ton of the Blackfeet Agency fire
department and lauded the ex-
cellent work of all firemen who
had a hand in containing the
conflagration. On behalf of the
firemen, he asked that a public
thanks be given to Bert and
Sophia Fitzgerald, who were
thoughtful enough to bring pot
after pot of hot coffee to the cold
and drenched firemen.
The destroyed building served
as the administration center for
the tribe since 1910. Its interior
underwent several remodeling
changes, at the within of sue
ceeding administrations. At the
end, it housed three offices, plus
a lavatory, upstairs, the portion
that caught the brunt of the fire;
four offices, plus lavatories and
walk-in vault on the main floor,
in addition to stockroom, fur
mace room, and a council room
in the basement.
Local historical significance
of the structure is: 1t formerly
was situated adjacently north
east of the cattleguard entering
the government square from the
south, from town. 1t served as a
dispensory for tribal members
who were unable to get to the
then existing hospital at the Cut
Bank Dormitory on Cut Bank
Creek.
In addition, il served as a
morgue, from whence departed
tribal members left in boarded
boxes, until the services of an
undertaken were available in
Browning, some time about the
mid-1930s.
Construction of a new Indian
Service hospital at Browning,
about 1888, since remodeled
10 become perhaps the best hos
pital in the state and the admin
istrative duties transferred to the
U. S. Public Health Service, end
ed the usefulness of the build
ing as dispensary-morgue, after
which il was moved to its pres
ent location to serve as the tribes
administration center for the sue
ceeding 81 years that ended Sat
urday night.
A subsequent inventory of the
retrieved records by tribal off
Gals and employees indicate that
old records of bygone years,
which were stored in the base
ment, were heavily damaged, but
not necessarily beyond utility,
and that some older records of
minutes of meetings are missing
but they are replaceable with
copies from other sources.