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Numa Lookout Scotty Beaton in 1948.
70 years ago
April 16, 1948
Crews had to plow through a snowslide on the North Fork Road where the Glacier View Dam was proposed. At last report, there was 23 inches of snow at Big Creek. The Glacier Natural History Association published 10,000 copies of “The Motorists Guide” to the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
60 years ago
April 18, 1958
Volunteers came out to repair Columbia Falls streets. About 100 people helped out, with workers from all walks of life pitching in. The maximum 10 mill levy at the time raised $8,500 which wasn’t enough money to buy a grader, oil and gravel or to pay for labor, so everyone pitched in to patch the potholes. Anaconda Aluminum donated the use of a compressor, truck and grader, while Plum Creek donated use of the loader and B&F donated a truck and loader.
50 years ago
April 19, 1968
Columbia Falls got a new ambulance — a 1963 red and white Cadillac that looked a lot like a station wagon. It cost $3,000. Glacier Park was expecting more people in the summer. It had 1,500 inquiries to date, up from about 1,000 the year before and the Empire Builder train would stop at both East Glacier Park and Belton (West Glacier). Glacier saw about 880,000 people the year before.
40 years ago
April 20, 1978
A grizzly sow that had traveled from the Yaak to a Nirada Ranch owned by Sen. George McCollum was killed when it bit a M44 coyote getter, a device that is designed to shoot cyanide into a coyote’s mouth and kill it when the animal bites it. But this time around, the bear bit the device and was found dead about 150 yards away.
30 years ago
April 20, 1988
The city of Columbia Falls was considering buying a street sweeper after the Environmental Protection Agency told city leaders that it was one of 70 U.S. towns with the worst air quality in the country. City leaders, however, noted the testing device was on top of the junior high, which received a lot of school traffic. Still, the city was looking into a sweeper, nonetheless.
20 years ago
April 23, 1998
A group was starting a second go-round of raising funds the Sperry and Granite Park chalets. The chalets had been closed in 1992 due to garbage and sewage concerns. An initial fundraising effort was halted at $350,000 after the company that was organizing the fundraising was also found to be charging $10,000 a month for its services.
10 years ago
April 17, 2008
The First Best Place Task Force, a group of Columbia Falls citizens, outlined plans for a series of trails in and around the city. One trail would run from the Old Red Bridge to Nucleus Avenue. Part of the trail on former resident Loren Kreck’s property was built, but the city years later would abandon the easement after the new landowner complained about vandals. The other trail plans were never realized. They also hoped to restore the Red Bridge, but that didn’t happen, either.