No headline

70 years ago

Aug. 27, 1948

Doug Swingley was offering old-time stage coach rides into the Many Glacier Valley via the Many Glacier Road. The road back then was a two-track gravel road. Front page photos show the stagecoach going past a red bus into the valley. About 1,400 men were working on the Hungry Horse Dam project.

60 years ago

Aug. 29, 1958

A Shell Oil crew was doing exploratory seismic work in the Emery Creek drainage up the South Fork of the Flathead. They had also done work near Essex. Rains helped squash the fire season, the biggest blaze was near Razor Edge Mountain in Glacier, which was 55 acres. “Welcome rain saves Flathead Forests” the headline read.

50 years ago

Aug. 30, 1968

Dick Lawrence, a 17-year-old staying at the Martha Sloan residence in West Glacier, shot a grizzly bear that was prowling around the house with an old 7.7 Japanese war rifle. The bear was in poor condition with worn teeth. School District 6 was expecting record enrollment of 2,300 students. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was playing at the Park Theater in Columbia Falls.

40 years ago

Aug. 31, 1978

The DeSmet tour boat on Lake McDonald was celebrating its 50th anniversary. The boat had picked up Park Service alumni at Sprague Creek campground and was giving them tours on the lake as part of the celebration. The boat is still operating today and is part of the National Registry of Historic structures.

30 years ago

Aug. 31, 1988

Glacier Park ranger Neal Wedum had a close call with a sow grizzly and her cub after the charged him, coming within 20 feet or so. Wedum was responding to a report of a bear at the Snyder Lake campground that had been sniffing backpacks when he had a run-in with the bruin. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt. The park closed the trail and the campground. “There’s one thing about being charged by a bear,” Wedum surmised. “It happens so fast there’s nothing you can do but hope it ends well.”

20 years ago

Aug. 27, 1998

President Clinton’s sex scandal was having an impact on local kids, community leaders were saying. Teacher Marka Marquesen said Clinton had proven to be a poor role model. Pastor Jerry Buchanan agreed. “There’s a certain standard expected of a leader,” he said.

10 years ago

Aug. 28, 2008

Local emergency responders and Hungry Horse Dam officials were going to go through table top exercises to prepare for the disaster if the Hungry Horse Dam were to break. The mostly likely way the dam would be compromised would be an earthquake. If the dam were to fail, Hungry Horse would be destroyed, as would the lower half of Columbia Falls. Having said that, the dam had performed well when it came to seismic tests.