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70 years ago

Aug. 6, 1948

General-Shea-Morrison, the general contractor for the Hungry Horse Dam was testing gravel at the confluence of the South Fork and Flathead rivers to see if it was suitable for use in the Hungry Horse Dam. The project had reached 800 workers. Scotty Beaton, 74, had been a lookout at Numa Lookout in Glacier Park for 26 years straight. The Polebridge Bridge was closed because of a sag on the park side of the bridge.

60 years ago

Aug. 8, 1958

Columbia Falls was celebrating “Progress Days” which included a parade, variety show, street dance and a free barbecue. The Apgar School in Glacier Park was slated to become the first pharmacy inside the Park as part of William Krall’s Pennywise Drug Operation. The school is a clothing and gift shop today.

50 years ago

Aug. 9, 1968

Becky Shoemaker was crowned Miss Many Glacier. She was 20 and from Abilene, Texas. A year after the “Night of the Grizzlies” in Glacier Park, visitors were taking heed, picking up their trash in the backcountry. The park had an information campaign going and had ordered more than 100 “bear proof” garbage cans as well. The park also started posting warning signs if bears were frequenting trails, something they still do today.

40 years ago

Aug. 10, 1968

It took an extensive search that lasted three days to find the body of Tim Swarzenberg, 27, of Kalispell, who fell off his hang glider while flying off Desert Mountain. Swarzenberg apparently took off wrong and was never able to get a proper hold of the craft, hanging from the craft like a pull-up bar, rather than parallel. He eventually had to let go. The glider was found first and then his body about 100 yards below the glider.

30 years ago

Aug. 10, 1988

Ryan and Marl LaRoque of Columbia Falls got a scare when the Amtrak train they were riding in derailed near Saco and tipped over. The two young men escaped the wreck unscathed, though 13 others were treated for minor injuries.

20 years ago

Aug. 13, 1998

Glacier Park naturalist Kim Taylor spent the night on a ledge on Mount Gould after she took a fall. She fell between 100 and 150 feet, bouncing off three separate rock bands as she went. A helicopter from Malmstrom Air Force base eventually airlifted her to safety. She had numerous bumps and bruises and a broken wrist, but survived.

10 years ago

Aug. 7, 2008

Perry Padget had a house guest at his rural Columbia Falls home when a wild turkey flew through his window. Padget, who lived up the North Fork, said he “thought it was a bear,” when his window shattered and the turkey flew in. Padget chased the turkey, which was alive and well, back outside with a broom. The turkey flew out the way it came in.