The Iron Creek Museum in Lougheed is home to the former Sons of Norway Log Lodge, which was originally built in 1937 at 4-46-12-W4 and moved to the museum after it was donated.
The lodge members built the lodge from logs hauled out of the Pigeon Lake area.
Recently the museum hired Tall Timber, a log home restoration company, to start work on restoring the lodge, which was starting to deteriorate in places.
According to museum board member Janet Niehaus, the workers say the log construction is very unique, noting that it was built using techniques that were used in Norway.
One of the first things the restorer did was to strip the paint from the logs, noting that painting a log structure is one of the worst things you can do.
The restoration cost is estimated to be $120,000 which is funded by efforts like the pop-up greenhouse and other revenue sources, including CFEP grant funding of $58,000.
Once the structure is repaired the front will be restored, and the Iron Creek Museum will reopen the building with new displays, perhaps even this summer in time for this year’s Fair.
Leslie Cholowsky
Editor
