100 years ago
<p>Passengers look for their luggage following the derailment of an Amtrak Empire Builder train near East Glacier on March 14, 1980. Fifty of the 180 passengers on board were injured.</p>
From the May 22, 1913 issue of The Columbian
• T.O. Elsethagen ordered the latest model five-passenger Overland automobile through the McIntosh agency and was expecting it direct from the factory in a few days.
• Flathead’s yellow peril, the dandelion, made its appearance across the valley.
• Under the supervision of U.S. Forest Service ranger McCormick, a crew of men were working on the North Fork wagon road.
• Billy Lewtz and Edgar Arnett made a trip to Nine Mile Lake on horseback and brought back a fine catch of trout.
• The railway crossing at the Columbia Falls depot, as agreed upon between local shippers and superintendent Smith, was completed the first of the week.
• August Wegner made the following public announcement: “I hereby give notice that after this date I shall not be responsible for any debts contracted by me wife, Ida Wegner, and anyone extending her credit does so at their own risk.”
• North Fork homesteader Anton Schoenberger was in town on his way home from a visit with relatives at Big Arm. A war veteran with a record of eight years active service, Schoenberger used his soldier’s homestead right and now has a patent to a fine piece of land.
• The Columbia Falls Drug Co. announced that “all through the soda season on Saturdays and Sundays, we will have special dishes of cream, ices, sherbets, etc.”
• From the proceeds of the Fat and Slim Game on Sunday, enough money was realized to take up the last note on the ball park, and the association was finally clear from debt.
• John Schander was remodeling the lower floor in his hotel, The Columbian, to establish a first-class bar in what was formerly a pool room and waiting lobby. New bar fixtures would be installed, a new floor laid and a steel ceiling put in. John Swanston was doing the work.
• A petition to the board of Flathead County Commissioners was circulated asking the county to build a bridge over the railroad tracks near the Soldiers Home. The cut at that point was over 15 feet deep, and a train coming in either direction could not be seen by approaching vehicles.