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     The Sweet Grass County Museum Society has a home in the Crazy Mountain Museum. The new facility is located southeast of the west Interstate exit to Big Timber and opened in 1992. The Crazy Mountain Museum is a historical museum featuring exhibits that reflect the history of Sweet Grass County and the surrounding area. Featured exhibits include "Rodeo From Big Broncs To Big Timber", which traces the history of rodeo in the area and spotlights rodeo contestants. "Wind and Flame" features a miniature re-creation of the town of Big Timber as it existed in 1907. Photographs and news articles accompanying the detailed miniature show the effects of a fire that destroyed one-third of the town in 1908.  The 1994 season brought the first in a series of exhibits on the sheep and wool industry and how they shaped Sweet Grass County. Since then the exhibits have been expanded to feature the entire spectrum of the sheep industry from sheep herding, herders, and dogs to lambing, shearing, and marketing. Many individuals in the community have contributed to this display by relating oral histories of the sheep and wool industry and by donating artifacts. A special feature of the museum is a stabbur, a Norwegian storehouse, which was built by the Fjell Heim 524 Lodge of the Sons of Norway as a tribute to all Norwegian pioneers who helped build the county. A exhibit of Norwegian artifacts is housed in the stabbur. In the process of restoration on the Sourdough school house, a one room country school house. Exhibits include a display of Sweet Grass County's cattle and horse brands. Ranchers are putting their brands on pine boards and the museum will record the history of the lives of the cattle men and women of the county. New this year on the museum grounds is the completely restored Sourdough Schoolhouse. The school is a symbol of the 69 rural schools that have served Sweet Grass County over the last 100 years. The schoolhouse itself was donated by Nettie Nevin and her family.  Sourdough School was built in 1912 on Cottonwood Creek about l0 miles from Big Timber. It had "a  good-burning stove, water from a nearby spring, two outhouses and a barn for students horses". Its play,,roLt@ @as. the. grass and trees around the school and the neighbor's pasture across the creek. There was a swing in a big tree behind the building. Like their co,14 ools, it was the scene of of basket socials and dances as well as Christmas programs, spelling bees and picnics. It was also a bridge to the American culture and language for many Norwegian immigrants who homesteaded in Sweet Grass County. It served until 1963. The Crazy Mountain Museum, which houses a unique book store, and gift shop, will be open from May 31 through Labor Day from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The museum is closed on Monday with the exception of Memorial Day and Labor Day. Other projects behind the scenes include collections of photographs, papers, old things and oral histories that the museum maintains. The museum is maintained by the Sweet Grass Museum Society. This is a non-profit organization and donations for the completion and improvement of the museum are gratefully accepted. For more information please call 932-5126.