Roof repaired on historic Plains jail

The Plains Lions Club is helping to save an important part of the town's history.

The Horse Plains Jail has a leaking roof and needed repairs. Last week, four members of the club – President Duane Highcrane, Jered Littlefield, Marv Tanner, and the club's newest member, Dan Rowan, the town mayor – rectified the problem.

"It's an important part of Plains and it's part of the community's history that should be preserved," Highcrane said.

The volunteer workers carefully removed the original perforated metal roof and set it aside, so it could be used again.

"We labeled each piece of metal as it come off so we'd know which piece goes back up first," said Tanner, the project supervisor who brought his own scaffolding for the project. Though the old roof is rusted, worn, cracked, and has a few small holes, the plan is to put it back in place so it would look like it did at the turn of the century. Once the metal sheets were set aside, the old rotted wooden planks were removed, replaced with sheets of pressed wood and covered with water barrier material.

The jail, located on town property on the corner of McGowan and Blake streets, was built in 1904. J.A. McGowan donated the property to Missoula County, which had legal jurisdiction over Plains at the time. Plains Chief of Police Shawn Emmett said work on the jail began in June of 1901.

"It was used for short-term confinement of prisoners who abnormal antics came to the attention of local law officers," according to a brochure put out by the former Plains-Paradise Chamber of Commerce. The pamphlet also noted that one prisoner managed to escape from the jailhouse by cutting through cell bars, although he was caught two days later in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Emmett wasn't sure when the jail stopped being used, but he believes it was when the jail in Thompson Falls was constructed, which was around 1907. Emmett said the town has had plans to refurbish the old jail for several years.

Rowan said it's one of the oldest buildings in Plains. The mayor said he'd like to see it fixed up and open during Plains Day, fair time, and possibly during the summer months. It's kept locked for a lack of volunteers to man it and because it's presently a safety hazard. He wished the building was at a more visible location, but moving the jail to another site would be impractical and too costly.

The jail is a 12X17-foot stone building with two steel barred windows, a heavy steel door, and 20-inch thick walls. Inside is a 4-1/2X6-1/2-foot steel barred cell built in 1900 by the Van Dorn Iron Works Company of Cleveland, Ohio, at a cost of $143.35. The cell has a steel floor to prevent prisoners from digging their way out, according to a placard inside the jail, where there is also a woodstove and two cots. Emmett has several donated items from the early 1900s that they plan to place inside when the jail is opened.

The town paid for the cost of the materials, which was about $500, according to Rowan. Studs Building & Home paid for half of the materials and some of the boards came from the old Owl Motel in Plains, which has been closed for numerous years.

"We want to retain the original historical appearance," said Littlefield, the Lions Club historian. "We just want it to look like it was back then," he added. Tanner said the goal of the refurbish project was to make it so people would see only the original pieces. They used some of the old boards to make a six-inch eve off the back of the building to prevent rainwater from seeping into the structure. The crew spent about 20 hours on the building last week and started work again Wednesday, depending on weather. They hoped to be done with the roof this week.

Highcrane said a lot of people stopped by to look into the jail building while the club was working on it.

"Going by the number of people that stopped by and asked about it, I think the community will be excited about this project," Rowan said.

The Plains Lions Club also volunteered to work on the inside of Horse Plains Jail, according to Highcrane. The inside needs extensive cleaning and part of the steel ceiling has come down. Rowan said he'd like to see some period items placed in the jail and possibly mannequins dressed in period clothes. "We're hoping to get more visitors to stop by and see what a working jail of that era looked like," said Rowan. The mayor said he'd like to follow the success the Plains Woman's Club has had with the one room log schoolhouse, which was recently renovated.

"I'm really pleased with the work by the Lions," said Rowan, who said they plan to some masonry work on the outside walls. He'd also like to put a concrete pad at the front door and a drain there to direct rainfall away from the building. "It's going to look really nice," said Rowan. "I think it'll be here another hundred years."