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Heritage Tourism Council recognizes 'Montana Memory, Re-imagining Delaney Sawmill Teepee Burner" with historic preservation award

The Lewis and Clark County Heritage Tourism Council honored Kevin O'Dwyer and Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild this week with a 2019 Historic Preservation Award for O'Dwyer's "Montana Memory: Re-Imagining the Delaney Sawmill TeePee Burner."

The TeePee Burner is the last major remnant of the Delaney Sawmill and served as the inspiration for the development of Sculpture in the Wild just east of Lincoln.

"One of our members nominated it for the award. A bunch of us had been up there on occasion, individually, and a couple of us (have gone) together, so everyone's had their eye on it." said Helena/Lewis and Clark County Heritage Preservation Officer Pam Attardo, who presented the award in Helena Tuesday, June 11. "They wanted to acknowledge the fact that Kevin O'Dwyer and Blackfoot Pathways took this and re-purposed it for artistic purposes, and it has historic elements inside of it. So, it's pretty cool."

The TeePee Burner originally stood as the solitary reminder of the Delaney Sawmill, the largest sawmill in the region in the late 1960's. The mill, along Landers Fork, north of Highway 200, closed in 1971, but the TeePee Burner remained.

O'Dwyer, who has a fascination for the relics of historic rural industries stemming from the remnants of the peet industry he grew up around in Ireland, believed the iconic structure and its history could serve as the centerpiece or a sculpture park focused on large-scale, site-specific artwork created by international artists .

In 2014, O'Dwyer and a crew of volunteers dismantled it and transported it to the site of Sculpture in the Wild just east of Lincoln. The base of the structure was reassembled that fall and over the course of two visits in 2015 O'Dwyer oversaw the final reconstruction of the TeePee Burner. That included installation of large scale photographs printed on steel plate that convey the region's logging heritage, and a solar panel that powers LED lights that mimic the glow the TeePee Burner created when it was in use. The project isn't necessarily "finished," however. O'Dwyer has continued to add new historic images to the interior of the structure.

The Delaney Sawmill TeePee Burner has since become the symbol of the park and, due to its acoustic characteristics, serves as a space for presentations and musical performances.,

"It's an honor to receive this prestigious award from the Lewis and Clark County Heritage Tourism Council," O'Dwyer told the BVD in an e-mail. "It's been a wonderful experience to preserve and create this iconic Montana Memory that is so much a part of the history of the Lincoln community. Big thank you to all the Lincoln (and beyond) community members who worked on taking this vision and making it a reality."

 

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