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70 years ago

March 21, 1947

Four men were expected to come out of the South Fork of the Flathead on snowshoes after being dropped off at Basin Creek by airplane on March 3. The men, two game wardens and two forest rangers, were on snowshoes and had been in what was to become the Bob Marshall Wilderness for nearly a month. They reported seeing 239 elk between Spotted Bear and Big Prairie. Mrs. Emma Ladenburg had been chosen among 15 other housewives in Montana as a candidate for Montana Mother of 1947. The winner would be announced March 30. Glacier Park officislas said they had enough campgrounds and lodges to accommodate 5,000 people a day.

60 years ago

March 22, 1957

There was a four-way race for mayor of Columbia Falls and two candidates — Al Shay and Dr. W.F. Bennett — both advocated for a city manager form of government. Incumbent mayor Herman Benzien kept his campaign short and sweet, however. “My record stands for itself and if re-elected I will do my very best. I appreciate your vote.” It was lambing time at the time Tim Sullivan farm southeast of Columbia Falls. Seventy ewe sheep were having lambs and they expected to have about 120 lambs by the end of the month. The portable typewriter was advertised as “an ideal graduation gift.”

50 years ago

March 24, 1967

Melby’s Home Furnishings was holding its grand opening for a new store on Nucleus Avenue. The Flathead Tunnel through Elk Mountain at Trego was at 8,000 feet. The tunnel re-routed the Great Northern mainline away from the Libby Dam’s Reservoir. When completed, the tunnel would be seven-miles long. The Wildcat basketball team tied for fifth in Montana’s Big 32 tourney. When the season started, the team wasn’t expected to do that well, but coach Ralph Johnson had the boys playing well, as they tied Laurel. The championship between Billings Senior and Billings West drew a record 10,400 fans in Bozeman.

40 years ago

March 24, 1977

Elizabeth Greene, wife of the late Ferd Greene, recalled the early days of the Flathead. Her husband was a telegrapher for the Great Northern Railway and died in 1947. Ferd also painstakingly took and cataloged thousands of photographs of the Flathead Valley. Ferd worked seven days a week and in order to be out taking pictures, he worked nights for railroad. Biologist Craig Kuchel had studied harlequin duck nesting success rates in Glacier National Park along McDonald Creek. He found that in high water years, when flooding occurred, the success rate went down. During dry years, when runoff was earlier, the success rate went up.

30 years ago

March 24, 1987

The newspaper introduced that it would start carrying “The Far Side” cartoon, which still has a huge following today, even though the cartoonist Gary Larson would cease drawing the single panel cartoon in 1995. The Magic Pack was still roaming the North Fork of the Flathead, primarily in Glacier National Park. Led by biologist Diane Boyd, researchers had been trailing the pack for the past two years. The pack was the first to reestablish a wolf population in Montana.

20 years ago

March 27, 1987

Glacier Park announced a new reservation system for backcountry camping permits. Glacier Park crews were expecting very deep snow as they began the annual spring plowing of the road. The snowpack in some areas was 200 percent of average. Eric Alexander of Martin City was dealing with snowmelt water that had surrounded his house. He had upwards of nine feet of water in his backyard where a stream backed up as it went through a culvert.

10 years ago

March 22, 2007

Glacier Park was eyeing a $3.2 million upgrade to the visitor center at St. Mary for an east side transit center. Environmentalists and snowmobilers were squaring off over Amendment 24 to the Forest plan, which closed some areas to snowmobiling but left others open until well into the spring. The Swan View Coalition opposed the late snowmobiling, saying it would harm grizzly bears coming out of their dens. Swan View was threatening to bring legal action against the Forest Service.