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Lee Murphy with a 25 pound mushroom, July 1966. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
June 25, 1948
Mountain climbers Don and Barbara Loeffler returned to Glacier Park for their honeymoon to hike and climb in the Park. The two first met in Glacier in 1947, working at the Many Glacier Hotel. He was an electrician, she worked in the laundry. Front page photo featured them sitting on the slopes with Mount Wilbur behind them. Back then, the park had 1,100 miles of trail. Today it has a little more than 730.
60 years ago
June 27, 1958
High country trails in Glacier were opening up earlier than usual, with trails to Granite Park and Sperry Chalets opening up as well as Iceberg Lake and Ptarmigan tunnel. A warmer than usual May and June helped, but back then, Glacier also used dynamite to blow the snow and ice from trails. Some dynamite is still used today, but not to that extent. Progress days in early August would feature a beef barbecue. Old-timer Mike Berne was directing the cooking of the beef.
50 years ago
June 28, 1968
The F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. bought 2,400 acres of land in the Swan Valley from the estate of the late Con Kelley for investment and land development. Lots were going to be sold the following year. The company at the time was known for its Minnesota dried “whole” milk business, in addition to its mill in Columbia Falls.
40 years ago
June 29, 1978
Searchers were still looking for the body of Richard Arnold, 31, of Spokane after the meat truck he was driving went off U.S. Highway 2 and into the Middle Fork of the Flathead River near Essex, landing on a gravel bar. All told, the truck plummeted more than 280 feet down to the river. The thought was that Arnold was thrown from the truck when it hit a tree and he was catapulted into the river.
30 years ago
June 29, 1988
Helicopter pilot Jim Kruger filed a claim against the Park Service, saying an employee who tied a load on a sling did so improperly, despite his instructions. The load came untied in flight and the sling swung around and hit the tail rotor of his copter. He was able to land safely, but the rotor saw more than $21,000 in damage.
20 years ago
June 25, 1998
Residents in the Marias Pass area were upset about a study to trap and collar grizzly bears in the Marias Pass area. The idea of the study was to determine where the bears crossed Highway 2, in the event it might need crossing structures at some point. Nine bears had been captured. The study was done by biologist John Waller. Waller is the carnivore biologist for Glacier Park today and the study did find out where bears most likely crossed the highway.
10 years ago
June 26, 2008
A crew from Montana Raft Co. — Keith Meehan, Ben Wolfe, Dave Stephens, Mike Block, Kim Lindstrom and Jeff Soyland rafted 98 miles in one day from Bear Creek down the Middle Fork and the mainstem Flathead River to Bigfork. They started just before 5 a.m. and finished at just before 9 p.m. High water helped, they said.