Heritage Museum mural celebrates Shay Ole Four Spot

When Heritage Museum Board Member Sherry Turner approached Libby Charter School teacher Heather Robertson about doing a mural, the response was not surprising.

“Any time we get a request, we’re always excited to do it,” Robertson said.

It wasn’t just any request, either.

The mural is on the side of the original Shay maintenance shed on museum grounds that is home to J. Neils Lumber’s Shay Locomotive Ole Four Spot.

“We invite you to stop by the Heritage Museum or take the Pond Road to view progress of the large, two-story-high color mural of the J. Neils Lumber Company’s 1906 Shay Locomotive,” Heritage Museum Board of Directors President Ericka Hardgrove said.

Museum officials have been fundraising in an effort to get the old engine running again. Turner thought the mural would bring life to the ancient engine that served the Libby Logging Company and J. Neils.

It was one of just four locomotives built in 1906 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio and is the only one that hasn’t been scrapped. 

They were shipped to Minnesota. It hauled logs until 1909 when it was bought by Libby Logging. Following its rail shipment, Ole Four was first fueled by wood, then coal before its conversion to oil in 1927. 

In 1930, it hauled two box car loads of elk into the Kootenai National Forest. They were the first elk planted in the region by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Last week, sixteen-year old Central School student Peyton Zillman and Robertson worked on the mural on Thursday. 

“It’s easily the largest mural we’ve done,” Zillman said. “The one at Peace Officer Park in Libby is pretty big, but this one is bigger.”

Michelle Thiessen of The Standish Art Gallery on California Avenue and Robertson have been volunteering their time to supervise and assist students Peyton Zillman and Grace Webber. 

They have been working on the mural since June 8. Their goal is to get it done before the nice weather disappears.

With school beginning this week, the students will continue to paint weekdays after 3:15 p.m.

The mural is not an original work, but is based on a 1988 painting by local artist, Clayton Peterson. Clayton’s son, Ken, donated the work to the museum.

Peterson, who passed in 1995, still has his work displayed nearby in the Heritage Museum.

In the mid 1980s Ole Four Spot, in need of preservation, received a further cosmetic treatment by museum volunteers to keep her on display a few more years until restoration might return her to glory with the ultimate goal of returning her to active service as Engine No. 4 on the recently established J. Neils and Heritage Museum Logging Railway.

“The success of this mural project is thanks to donations and assistance from many people and businesses in Libby,” Hardgrove said.

They include First Class Painting-Matt Fairchild; Big Sky Lumber Supply-David Brooks; Lonny Fosgate-Aerial Man Lift; Rotary International-Libby, Covered Up Tattooing-Anthony Webber; and Museum member Sherry Turner.

Heritage Museum officials continue to apply for grants to help fund the final restoration of the Shay #4 to working order and a 1-mile track for it to operate on.