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The team rides on top of a firetruck through town in December.
70 years ago
March 7, 1947
Mike Berne tells of coming to the Flathead with his brother Bill in 1890, clearing the big yellow pines for the town of what would become Columbia Falls. In the spring of 1891 he started a brickyard and the bricks were used to make St. Richard’s Church, which stands today. The winter of 1946-47 was considered “the worst ever” and folks were really hoping it would warm up and stop snowing.
60 years ago
March 8, 1957
Wages for general laborers and construction workers was $2.22 an hour, for the 1957 wage scale. That was up 15 cents an hour from the previous year. Mona McShane brought suit against Jack Brown and Melvin Lane, doing business as B&B Food Mart. In her $25,000-plus suit she claimed the men accused her of misappropriating funds. The gossip around town had sullied her name and so she was seeking damages, the suit alleged.
50 years ago
March 10, 1967
The Columbia Falls boys basketball team was headed back to the state A tournament for the third time in four years. Coached by Ralph Johnson, they lost to Missoula Sentinel 71-60 in the divisional tournament — back then the large schools were also Class A. Led by Jerry Hill, the Wildcats had an 11-7 conference record. They opened state against Laurel. Kelly’s Main Street Furniture had rocking chairs on sale for $35.
40 years ago
March 10, 1977
Congressman Max Baucus, D-Mont., had introduced a bill that would examine the feasibility of expanding the Hungry Horse Dam’s power plant and creating a re-regulation reservoir about 2.5 miles downstream from the dam. Biologist Joe Huston was studying North Fork of the Flathead River trout. The project was designed to determine the use of major tributaries to the river by trout. A total of 135 fish had been tagged for the study. Back then, there was a movement to open Big, Coal, Whale and Trail Creeks to fishing from May 15 to July 4. The streams are closed today to protect spawning bull trout.
30 years ago
March 11, 1987
Two women, Terri Shanks, 22, of Columbia Falls and Sheila Galbraith, 22 of Martin City were killed when they lost control of their car on the ice in the Bad Rock Canyon, hit the guardrail and flipped into the Flathead River. The car landed 30 feet from the bank in more than 12 feet of water.
Melanie Moody won the Columbia Falls Junior High spelling bee for the second straight year.
20 years ago
March 6, 1997
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality was asking the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. to quantify the amount of contaminants that were reaching the Flathead River downstream from the plant. State officials were worried about cyanide and fluoride leaking into groundwater and into the river. The DEQ wanted to know how many pounds per day of both chemicals were reaching the river. CFAC’s property bordered the river. Cyanide is still cause for concern today now that the plant is defunct and a Superfund site.
10 years ago
March 8, 2007
Damage to the Going-to-the-Sun Road from floods the previous fall were estimated at $7 million. The flood also caused between $500,000 and $1 million in damage to Glacier Park’s trails. Fundraising was underway to raise money for the trailwork. Police Chief Dave Perry said the speed limit near North Hilltop road should be lowered to 35 mph after two people were hit by cars in the area. Barber Barbara Jenkins was busy organizing the Arbor Day celebration for the city.