1. The Extreme History Project
Unearthing the Past at the Crossroads of Cultures
Marsha Fulton ▪ www.extremehistory.wordpress.com ▪ Crystal Alegria
Press Release Release Date: 9.27.2011
120 W. Callender St. Livingston, MT 59047 ▪ 406-222-2991
extremehistoryproject@yahoo.com
Students from MSU Get to See Fort Parker in 3D
Livingston, September 21, 2011 The Extreme History Project, in Livingston Montana will be hosting a group of
students from MSU Bozeman and Billings at the historic site of Fort Parker, the first Crow Indian agency. Students
will get a tour of the site and a historical overview of Fort Parker and the early reservation period in Montana.
Later, they will observe and assist Professor Tim Urbaniak, of MSU Billings, who will be creating a 3D scan of the
site.
“We’re excited to make this opportunity available to Tim and his students and to see what this technology has to
teach us about Fort Parker.” offers Marsha Fulton, of The Extreme History Project. “We’ve been working closely
with the Fort Parker landowners in order to make the site available for educational opportunities.” Fulton and
Crystal Alegria, Co-Directors of The Extreme History Project, have been researching the history of the site and
offering educational visits and tours to local students. “This is exactly the kind of opportunity that we’ve wanted to
organize,” adds Fulton.
Urbaniak teaches Drafting and Design in the College of Technology at MSU Billings. He has been offering his
scanning services to a number of archaeological sites in the area. Earlier this summer, he scanned the site of the
second Crow Agency near Absaroka and a historic cabin at Nevada City, near Virginia City, Montana for a Project
Archaeology Educator Workshop which was organized by Alegria and Fulton. Urbaniak explains what he and his
students will be doing at Fort Parker. “The capstone class students will be using a Leica 3D scanner to document
the current condition of the site’s civil landscape. Students will then import the scan into the AutoDesk Civil 3D
software for further processing, including the possibility of placing an architectural model of the fort on the
terrain.” Such technology has the potential to create a 3-dimensional image of what the site would have looked
like in the 1870s when the structures of Fort Parker were present and it has the potential to offer a great deal of
insight into the history of the place.
Landowners Zena Dell Lowe of Bozeman, Darcy Le Beau of Billings and Rob Stephens of Texas have generously
allowed the team access to the site as well as opening up the beautiful Mission Creek Lodge to the students for a
lunchtime break. “We are so grateful to the landowners for continuing to support the work that we’re doing at the
site and the educational opportunities that such a significant historical site brings.” adds Alegria. “They are great
site stewards and are as anxious as we are to learn all the stories that the site has to tell.”
Marsha Fulton
Crystal Alegria
The Extreme History Project
120 W. Callender St. Livingston, MT 59047
406-222-2991
extremehistoryproject@yahoo.com