Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 39 POLSON MIRACLE OF AMERICA MUSEUM We have saved the best—and weirdest—for last. Montana's largest museum sprawls across 4.5 acres at the base of Polson Hill overlooking Flathead Lake. If a member of your party can't find something interesting in here, you'd better check their pulse. The MOA is one of the biggest, most diverse collections in the West, and to think you could see it all in a day would be folly. Inside, you'll find well-crafted and complete displays of artifacts from the last several hundred years. Looking for firearms? There are hundreds, including a #40 flint- lock rifle with a one-inch bore. I'm sure it kicks like a mule team. Roughly a quarter of the museum is dedicat- ed to all things military: uniforms, weapons, vehicles, air- craft and more. Check out the WWII-era patriotic poster featuring a soldier with a cloth wrapped around his head, a dead ringer for Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter. ("Buy war bonds because we need more cowbell.") Interested in music? Here's a 1914 Mill's Violano, a Rube Goldberg contraption that plays a violin. Anoth- er glass case holds a smattering of political buttons and propaganda, including a blister card with a clear plastic bubble bearing a smidgen of shredded documents spir- ited from the White House during the Iran-Contra scan- dal. Next to that is a tiny (1 President = 1"), meticulously painted "Hall of Presidents" model featuring every U.S. President up to Richard Nixon. Maybe the builder lost interest after Watergate. Outside you'll find several helicopters, jeeps, farm machinery galore, a massive logging tow boat named Paul Bunyan, two motel rooms complete with vintage tin overhead sign, a schoolhouse, a drug store, historic log cabins… it's just too overwhelming to list here. Oh, don't miss the Area 51 corner, complete with flying saucers and aliens standing ready to be taken to your leader. The Miracle of America Museum is at 36094 Memory Lane on the south end of Polson. They're open daily, 9-5. Admission is $10, $5 for kids. For more info visit miracleofamericamuseum.org. This sheep-powered treadmill at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson is a real head-scratcher. Was the pioneer rancher who devised it twisted enough to have this power some kind of wool shearing tool? Who cares? It's a sheep-powered treadmill! Visiting aliens would be hard-pressed to find a better place to study hu- mans than the Miracle of America Museum. There are hundreds of vehicles at Polson's Miracle of America Museum, but it's hard to miss this Bell UH-1 Ir- oquois "Huey," which was ubiquitous in the Vietnam War. Look closely and you can see a museum enthusiast in the rear seat, probably saying, "Charlie don't surf!"

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