No headline
Packer Stu Sorensen at Swiftcurrent Lookout on July 26, 1976. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Jan. 9, 1948
The town square was declared a “special improvement district” and when the weather improved, the plan was to put sidewalks in on all four sides of the square. The grade school was showing off its new slide projector.
60 years ago
Jan. 10, 1958
E.J. Marantette sold the Park Mercantile to his son, Robert. E.J. came to Columbia Falls from Kalispell in 1918. He worked for the Kalispell Mercantile since 1909. Robert A. Hunt was fined $50 for hunting elk in Glacier Park near the Goat Lick. He hadn’t shot anything, but he was still caught in the act of hunting by rangers Don Dayton and Keith Miller. A 10 pound bag of potatoes was 39 cents.
50 years ago
Jan. 12, 1968
The Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce was lobbying to have Nucleus Avenue connected to the North Fork Road. The city-county planning board at the time said the two shouldn’t be connected because there was a lack of parking and it would create a “traffic bottleneck.” The planning board recommended that a bypass around the city should be built.
40 years ago
Jan. 12, 1977
Don Hummel announced he was selling Glacier Park Inc. to the wholly owned TWA subsidiary Canteen Corp. that ran concessions in Zion, Bryce and Crater Lakes national parks. Hummel had begun concessions contracts in Glacier in January of 1961. The Bank of Columbia Falls was building five new drive-ins, using Montana-sourced stone.
30 years ago
Jan. 13, 1988
Judge Susan “Tina” Gordon was the unanimous pick by the Columbia Falls City Council to be the new city judge. The Columbia Falls basketball team had a 2-5 record. They traveled to Bonners Ferry in Idaho and won in overtime, 56-55. John Schwarz had 18 rebounds and 15 points in the win.
20 years ago
Jan. 8, 1998
Mayor Gary Hall was sworn into office. He had beaten Lyle Chrisman, who had been mayor for eight years, in the November election. Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. workers accepted a $97 million profit sharing settlement with the company. About 450 current workers and 350 retired workers would split about $62 million of that. The rest — $32 million — went to salaried workers.
10 years ago
Jan. 10, 2008
Tricia Phillips of Columbia Falls had the baby New Year — but didn’t make it to the hospital. Dawsen Pyles arrived in the ambulance en route to hospital. The child was born right about at Super 1 Foods. It was her third child and he arrived sooner than expected.