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70 years ago

Dec. 17, 1948

The Hungry Horse News had to re-run some of its favorite photos on the front page after the issue’s photo engravings were held up by a train derailment near Libby. The engravings for the photos were done in Spokane. Three men were fined $100 for illegally shooting elk in Glacier National Park. Clyde R. Thomas, Roy Nault and M.O. Christensen. The story didn’t say where the elk were shot, but it did note that heavier than normal snows had elk moving out the park. Also, the Montana Fish and Game commission had started a salting program just outside the Park’s boundary to lure elk out. The Park at the time had an overpopulation of elk.

60 years ago

Dec. 19, 1958

About 150 Boy Scouts were set to camp at the foot of Lake McDonald Dec. 28-30 in Glacier National Park at the Apgar campground. Deer were making a habit of eating wreaths off the front doors of homes in West Glacier. Big Mountain featured its new Pomalift, which was a bar that hung down from a cable that skiers grabbed for a ride 1,000 feet up the mountain.

50 years ago

Dec. 20, 1968

Because of a lack of funds, Glacier National Park did not plow the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Lake McDonald Lodge. It did, however, allow snowmobiling to the Packer’s Roost. Snowmobiling was also allowed to Two Medicine Lake, up the Camas Road and from Polebridge to Bowman Lake. The Sun Road on the east side was open to snowmobiles to Jackson Glacier Overlook and into Many Glacier. Snowmobilers just had to get a free permit.

40 years ago

Dec. 21, 1978

The Hungry Horse IGA had its grand opening. Cutting the ribbon on the new grocery store was Jim Edmiston of the Bank of Columbia Falls and store owner Don Yeats.

30 years

Dec. 21, 1988

A measles outbreak in schools saw Flathead County ban extracurricular activities between schools, like sporting events, in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease. So far, 60 cases of measles had been reported. The newspaper had a glowing story about pawn shops and how they were no longer the shady institutions of stolen goods and slick customers.

20 years ago

Dec. 17, 1998

Blacktail Mountain Ski resort quietly had its grand opening as the Flathead’s newest ski hill. The resort offered day lift passes for $24 for adults and featured 24 runs. The project cost about $2 million according to owner Steve Spencer. Ted and Jesse Ernst admitted to killing Columbia Heights businessman Larry Streeter. Streeter was shot when he interrupted the two while they burglarized his neighbor’s home. Ted Ernst was in a wheelchair and was considered the mastermind of the crime.

10 years ago

Dec. 18, 2008

Rusty Larsen of Hungry Horse fixed up and gave away about 80 bicycles to kids at Christmas. The state Department of Natural Resources turned down a request by two companies to offer heli-skiing in the Whitefish Range on state lands. The skiers would have been dropped off via helicopter via Triple-X helicopters and then guided by Valhalla Adventures.