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Group to preserve Somers history

by Jasmine Linabary
| November 17, 2010 1:00 AM

 

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.