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70 years ago

Feb. 20, 1948

The construction of the Hungry Horse Dam was expected to bring a $25 million payroll to the county. Bids on the dam were set to be opened April 1. The 520-foot high dam was, at the time, to be the fourth largest concrete structure. Fresh, ground hamburger was 39 cents per pound.

60 years ago

Feb. 21, 1958

Columbia Falls School District 6 was to ask voters for a 10 mill levy toward the new high school. The additional mills were needed to finish the Little Theater, add four classrooms and other amenities to the project, which was already under construction. A mill back then raised about $9,600 in revenue. The sale of the Apgar Village Inn to the Lundgren and Thompson families from the Mackin family was completed. Today the Inn is owned by the Park Service.

50 years ago

Feb. 23, 1968

Glacier Park rangers Willy Colony and Richard Gale found where 35 elk had gone through thin ice on St. Mary Lake and had drowned. The incident happened about four miles up the lake. The dead included six bulls and the rest were cows and calves. The ice had thinned due to a mid-winter thaw.

40 years ago

Feb. 23, 1978

Laurie Tallman, 9, of Lake Five was killed when a slab of icy snow fell off a woodpile and buried her. Her mother, Linda, dug her out and put the child in a car and drove to the neighbor’s house to get help, but the girl had no pulse. She was given CPR but could not be revived.

30 years ago

Feb. 24, 1988

Beth Knapton and Freda Ostby both had rare birthdays — they were born on Feb. 29. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks came to the conclusion that wolves and hunters could share the same landscape. That was the word from Mike Aderhold, public information officer of FWP. Aderhold made the announcement in front of about 200 people — many of them North Forkers. The first wolves to recolonize Northwest Montana came from Canada and established the first early packs in Glacier National Park and in British Columbia just north of the border.

20 years ago

Feb. 26, 1998

Back then, they called it crank. Today, it’s better known as meth. Whatever it’s called, it was becoming the drug of choice in the Flathead Valley. Robert Ballenger of Hungry Horse died after injecting it into his arm. Afterwards, doctors suspected that he may have had heart medication mixed in with the meth, his friends said, but that was almost impossible to know, said Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont.

10 years ago

Feb. 21, 2008

Tyson Armijo, 22, of Hungry Horse was killed after he accidentally shot himself. He was carrying a sawed-off .22 caliber rifle when he slipped and fell on the ice. The gun went off and he was shot just below the eye. The gun was owned by Billy Don Cummings, 48, of Hungry Horse, said Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan. Cummings faced charges of owning an illegal weapon — it was against the law to saw off a rifle.