Matt King On the Move

The Matt King House was moved last week to the property where it will be reassembled on the east end of Lincoln's Main Street.

Work on a foundation for the building is expected to begin soon, and efforts are underway to find logs large enough to replace those that rotted over the last century.

The Montana History Foundation awarded the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society a grant of $10,000 earlier this year to effort to re-build the historic ranchouse.

Funding for the foundation work came from a

The first step in reconstructing the building is to evaluate the original Ponderosa Pine logs, several of which measure more than three feet wide. A few were identified as rotten and in need of replacement during the building's disassembly, and there is concern that more have deteriorated in the last five years.

The building was disassembled in 2015 and removed from its original site. The Lincoln Heritage Alliance was created that year with the goal of saving historic building in the valley. The LHA raised the money to purchase the build gin from Heritage Timber, and the disassembled structure was stacked behind the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch office while the LHA looked for a new location for building. Those efforts took nearly four years.

The LHA merged with the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society in April 2019 to streamline fundraising efforts and to reduce confusion about relationship between the two organizations, which had been working together on the Matt King Project.

The building, built by rancher Matt King at the end of the 19th century, is believed to be the oldest ranch house in the Lincoln Valley.

Anyone with an interest in preserving Lincoln's unique history is invited to get involved with the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society. Visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LincolnMTHistory/, email [email protected] or call 362 4949 for more information. You can also stop by the BVD & Rusty Relics in downtown Lincoln or call 362-4131.