This Cache is part of the Helena, Montana GeoExpedition. GeoExpeditionMT spans the scenic Helena area from the heights of MacDonald Pass, through historic downtown gulch then south to Boulder and the Elkhorn Ghost Town. View GeoExpedition rules and DOWNLOAD a PASSPORT here.
Located in the historic Steadman Foundry building, the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Montana WILD Outdoor Education Center is part of the FWP Montana Wildlife Center at Spring Meadow Lake State Park near Helena, Montana. The facility focuses on outdoor education for school age youth. The John Stedman Foundry and Machine Company was constructed in 1892, once manufacturing and repairing machinery including mining and milling equipment. As part of an industrial complex that included the Kessler Brewery and Kessler Brickworks, the J.R. Stedman Foundry brought cast iron production and the vagaries of commerce and progress to a developing region. The John Stedman Foundry and Machine Company operated from 1892-1901. (The Stedman iron stamp nameplate is imprinted on various buildings in Helena, Butte, Lewistown, and across Montana.) Throughout the 20th-century, the location accommodated a wire fencing manufacturer, a metal assaying and refining operation, and Helena Sand and Gravel throughout the 1930s.
At the time before the refurbishment for the Montana WILD Center, the building was just a shell. The foundry had been abandoned and idling for decades. There were pigeons inside, no plumbing, and it had been neglected. The property has changed from an industrial site and gravel pit and a foundry, where there was a lot of activity, to a place that was abandoned, to a wonderful place that has been repurposed as an education site. The stone edifice is one of Montana’s best surviving examples of late-19th-century mill-type construction. Much of the building’s charm remains intact: timbers and rafters and the original beams now supported by concrete walls.
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