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Sperry Chalet lost to Sprague Fire in GNP

grizavsfan

Well-known member
Not football related, but sad regional news tonight...

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/updated---glacier-park-s-historic-sperry-chalet-burns/article_79c91852-3ba9-53c8-9bc8-ad6b96168641.html
 
Lots of sad news around tonight and this is no exception. I was introduced to psilocybin, among other psychedelics there in the 60s...It was the go to place to hike in and discover whatever it was...I forgot.
 
Very sad indeed. Prefire pictures (8-27-17) seem to show the NPS didn't take even the minimal fuel clearing fire precautions the USFS and MDSL preach to the public. Maybe they did some clearing last minute, but the article only references that NPS said hoses and sprinklers were not enough. Maybe a shortage of commons sense helped too....
 
A stone building (fire proof) with a big flammable roof ( not fire proof). Not very good planning, roof should be slate, never needs replaced and fire proof.
 
Very disheartened to hear news about Sperry

With large funding/spending deficits unlikely that FS could or would rebuild. Perhaps private money? Long shot!

Was built during my grandfathers time working for the great northern rr. Am thinking they constructed it in 1913.
 
first11 said:
Very disheartened to hear news about Sperry

With large funding/spending deficits unlikely that FS could or would rebuild. Perhaps private money? Long shot!

Was built during my grandfathers time working for the great northern rr. Am thinking they constructed it in 1913.

As far as I know it was privately owned and operated.
 
Htowngriz said:
first11 said:
Very disheartened to hear news about Sperry

With large funding/spending deficits unlikely that FS could or would rebuild. Perhaps private money? Long shot!

Was built during my grandfathers time working for the great northern rr. Am thinking they constructed it in 1913.

As far as I know it was privately owned and operated.

Might've been on contract. I'm certain the NPS owns it.
 
DuCharme said:
Htowngriz said:
first11 said:
Very disheartened to hear news about Sperry

With large funding/spending deficits unlikely that FS could or would rebuild. Perhaps private money? Long shot!

Was built during my grandfathers time working for the great northern rr. Am thinking they constructed it in 1913.

As far as I know it was privately owned and operated.

Might've been on contract. I'm certain the NPS owns it.

You might be right. I did see this on the Wikipedia page, which is great.

However, the chalet will be rebuilt in the future according to the park service.
 
James J. Hill's son was the driving force for building these lodges.

Hopefully, Zinke to the rescue, along with Congress and the MT delegation.
 
--Sperry and Granite Park chalets are owned by the USNPS (not the Forest Service) and leased to private concessionaires on long term contracts.

--Only one of the four buildings in the complex was destroyed.

--Zinke and our Congressional delegates will have an uphill battle getting special appropriations from Congress since Trump has already cut the Interior Department's (of which the NPS is just one of the land managing agencies) budget by 18%.

--Sperry and Granite have wooden shingles because they are on the list of historic sites and cannot use metal, slate, etc. because it would violate the law and the historical look and integrity of the structures.

--Fire managers seemed to have stepped on their dicks when they did not "jiffy pop" wrap the ENTIRE buildings, even though they are made of stone. The roofs and wooden balconys were left exposed and there were only FIVE firefighters stationed at the complex when the fire blew up. They had two weeks to prepare the buildings and make them defensible. This should not have happened.

Now back to football...
 
Heard that an ember or embers got inside the building and the fire started inside.

This is worse than Charlottesville.
 
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