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First ever Hungry Horse News photo was this picture of D.P. Evans building the TR Guest Ranch between Coram and Belton in August, 1946. Mel Ruder photo.
70 years ago
May 23, 1947
A.F. Winkler, chairman of the Flathead Citizens Committee, returned from Washington, D.C. to report the Senate subcommittee was changing its tune on funding for the Hungry Horse Dam. But the recommendation was just $1.55 million for the dam, while the project would need an estimated $4.5 million to let the prime contract. Five pilots landed at the McFarland ranch in Glacier National Park and had breakfast. It was the only airport in the Park boundaries. Today, it is abandoned and part of Big Prairie.
60 years ago
May 24, 1957
They were drilling for oil and natural gas on the slopes of Chief Mountain just outside of Glacier National Park. The 13,000-foot well was the Gulf Pan-American No. 1. It was nearing the “pay zone,” the company said, if there was one. Drilling was going around the clock and the well was estimated to cost $3 million.
A two-bedroom house was up for rent for $45 a month.
50 years ago
May 26, 1967
Glacier Park trail crews were busy clearing trails. The emphasis on the west side was clearing trails to popular fishing lakes. On the east side, ice off Two Medicine lake had taken out two of the three sections of the bridge over Pray Lake. The Park had 53 men on trail crew. The south wing of the Bad Rock Fire Hall was destroyed after a car hit it. John R. Miller told the highway patrol he stopped to check a radiator problem with his car and the car rolled down the hill and hit the hall. It caused about $1,500 in damage.
40 years ago
May 26, 1977
Longtime Flathead Valley weatherman Ray Hall was retiring after more than 20 years with the National Weather Service. He started in March 1945, working in the old post office in downtown Kalispell, and later moved to the Glacier Park International Airport. He was also licensed pilot and managed the airport for the county airport authority — a job was he was going to keep part-time. Back then, the average summer had 18 readings of 90 or above and the average winter had 17 readings of zero or below. There is no longer a weatherman at the airport today.
30 years ago
May 27, 1987
It appeared that Glacier Park wolves may have been raising two separate sets of pups — a significant development in the recovery of the species in the Park. Researchers had trapped and radio-collared three wolves in the past few days to keep track of, and study the creatures. Today, there’s an estimated eight or nine packs of wolves in Glacier alone. Columbia Falls resident mason Riley had made 67 bluebird boxes. He put some of the houses up on Veterans Drive and Talbot Road.
20 years ago
May 22, 1997
Rivers topped out after going over flood stage, but the Hungry Horse Reservoir held back much of the floodwater after a record snowfall the previous winter. The mainstem Flathead River reached 15.36 feet, but was dropping. Glacier Park’s three-mile campground would be no more. It was destroyed by a flood in 1995. Rather than rebuild the backcountry camp in the Belly River, the Park proposed putting three new campsites at Gable Creek, which is how it is today.
10 years ago
May 24, 2007
Columbia Falls schools would add full-day kindergarten after an elementary school levy passed and the state Legislature boosted funding for the program. The First Best Place Task Force, a group hoping to elevate Columbia Falls, got off the ground. Leaders were Barry Conger and Dave Renfrow. They hoped to create a visitor and education center and showcase history with a museum.