CHARLO — Montana's history is rich in each of its 56 counties.
The Foundation for Montana History (FMH) has helped bring preservation efforts to all of them.
"History is for everyone, it's everywhere, and it belongs to future generations," FMH Project Director Zach Coe said.
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"It's so important to small communities because it really is a backbone of what makes Montana Montana," said Brooke Linton, FMH director of communication and development.
This year, $10,000 in grant funding is heading to Lake County.
"We had a grant from the Steele Reese Foundation and that really helped us build the capacity for this project," Coe said.
At Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana, stories are being preserved for generations to come through the 'Voices That Shaped The Ninepipes Museum' project by Aspen and Cameron Decker.
"You can see some of the heartache and some of the hard work and some of the whole life in the pictures," Ninepipes Museum Founder Bud Cheff said.
Walking through a museum, silence allows the galleries to speak.
"Learning about any kind of story behind an object I think is fascinating in whatever stories they may unfold," Cameron Decker said.
Grant funding will ensure belongings and photographs covering walls of the gallery will now have louder voices.
"We call them our belongings because it is a part of our culture, it's a part of our storytelling and our traditions. We don't just see them as these kind of inanimate objects. They're living beings as well," Aspen Decker said.
'Voices That Shaped The Ninepipes Museum' is a three-phase, three-year project involving collecting audio interviews with elders and other community leaders.
"It's a powerful thing to ask questions and and to hear stories of of people's memories," Cameron Decker said.
"We were able to record my great aunt and uncle Clark and Willie Matt, and they got to see a cradle-board that they were babies that rested in it," Aspen detailed.
One of the other interviewees was Cheff who is especially well-versed in the area of history beneath the Mission Mountains.
"I used to ride behind my dad on the saddle horse and when he went around to visit the elders and when they come to our place, well, I was always sitting there listening," Cheff said.
Cheff's passion for collecting moments led to founding the museum years ago and now wanting to involve the next generation in their history.
"Show them things and you can see their minds they're working and then you can see when they understand. The light bulb goes off and it's really special to see that," Cheff said.
In keeping with the Indigenous way of oral tradition, the podcasts, when they come out, will bridge the gap between the past and the future.
"As a way to share our history, our language, our culture, and so using these podcasts is an accessible way of having that cultural adaptation. I feel like it really connects us to who we are as Salish people," Aspen Decker said.
