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70 years ago

Feb. 13, 1948

Philip Bertelsen, 19, of Kalispell had two mishaps while working on the diversion tunnel for the Hungry Horse Dam. In the first one, he got a mitt tangled in a drill and sprained ligaments in his hand. In the second one, he caught fire. He was directing truck traffic when a rock fell off a truck, hit a pan of burning fuel oil used to thaw pipes, and splashed burning oil on his pant legs. He tried to run, but other workers caught him and doused the flames. Bertelsen was taken to the hospital for treatment.

60 years ago

Feb. 14, 1958

The Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce was all for nukes in the North Fork. It endorsed a proposal to bring a $100 million missile base to the North Fork of the Flathead. Editor Mel Ruder thought the missile base was a good idea, too, though he doubted it would, pardon the pun, fly. The North Fork was considered because it was remote and had low winds. The story, ironically, touted the area as a good place for timber production and recreation as well as nukes.

50 years ago

Feb. 16, 1968

Glacier Park Ranger Buck Brant lassoed a deer with a rope that was out on thin ice at the foot of Lake McDonald and hauled it back into safety by canoe. The deer had apparently gone out on the thin ice to avoid a coyote, then fell down and couldn’t get back up on the slick surface. Brant broke through the ice as he went out there with the canoe. Once he had the rope around the muley, more rangers came and helped and towed the canoe and the deer back to shore.

40 years ago

Feb. 16, 1978

The bald eagle was declared endangered under the Endangered Species Act in Montana. Biologists Riley McClelland and Dave Shea were undergoing research on eagles and their migration south from Glacier. Don Hummel said the sale of Glacier Park Inc. to TWA subsidiary Canteen Corp. wouldn’t happen this year after all. Hummel said a deal couldn’t be worked out. Hummel, who was 70, was looking to sell the company.

30 years ago

Feb. 17, 1988

Sen. Max Baucus held a town meeting in Kalispell that eroded into a shouting match over wilderness proposals. In the end, the pro-wilderness shouters were a little louder than the anti-wilderness shouters. Baucus’ wilderness bill advocated more wilderness along the Swan Front. It never passed.

20 years ago Feb. 19, 1998

The former Paul Bunyan Bar was set to become a new youth center. The bar had been empty for sometime. The warm dry winter was having an impact on local businesses. The Montana Snowshoe Company, headquartered in Columbia Falls, was having a tough time selling snowshoes.

10 years ago

Feb. 14, 2008

Cost estimates for reconstruction the Going-to-the-Sun Road zoomed up to $240 million to $270 million, or about $1,000 a foot. The reconstruction actually ended up cost about $100 million less than that overall and will near its completion sometime in 2019, Park officials have said.