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Nanny Goat, Gunsight Pass, Aug. 12, 1952
70 years ago
May 14, 1948
General-Shea-Morrison began construction of the Hungry Horse Dam. It was the world’s fourth largest dam at the time. A bridge over the Middle Fork of the Flathead that crossed the river into privately owned land collapsed, sending a truck driven by Fred Seville of Coram into the icy water. The truck rolled in the river several times after one lane of the bridge gave way. Seville was able to escape the truck and swam to shore unharmed. An airplane landed in Big Prairie in what is now the Bob Marshall Wilderness on a mission to open the remote station. When it landed, 250 elk scattered. The station is still there today, but the landing strip no longer exists.
60 years ago
May 16, 1958
Arlene Conant of Upper Bear Dance was crowned Cherry Blossom Queen. Charlie Green of West Glacier said he was blowing up stumps with dynamite when he left the box out over night. Elk came in, tipped over the box and ate about a dozen sticks of the explosive. No word if the elk themselves went off.
50 years ago
May 17, 1968
Walt Whirry of Havre was building a golf course in West Glacier. The new course, which still exists today near the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, was expected to be completed by the fall. Whirry was a cattle rancher in the Bear Paw Mountains. Glacier Park had completed its report of the “Night of Grizzlies.” The 26-page report was being sold for $6.50 a copy without pictures and $7.50 a copy with pictures.
40 years ago
May 18, 1978
A love triangle started a bar shooting sequence at the Blue Moon. In the trial of Benjamin R. Bowerman, a quarrel between two women over the same man led to the shooting death of Boyd Ingram, 39, of Portland, Ore. Apparently after a fight over the women, Bowerman was outside the bar in a truck with a pistol. Ingram, who was from out of town and didn’t really know anyone involved, was helping another man, Don Smith, keep Bowerman in a rig until police arrived, but Bowerman shot Ingram when Smith tried to get the gun from Bowerman. The long and convoluted story took up most of the front page.
30 years ago
May 18, 1988
Park plows were clearing the parking lot at Logan Pass. Local loggers and logging truck owners were part of a convoy that went from the Flathead to Darby to protest a wilderness bill and timber sale appeals they said would shut them out of the woods. The convoy went on without incident. All told, 303 truckers went on the trip. Country singer Hoyt Axton even showed up and sang to the crowd. The Darby mill would not survive. It closed in 1994.
20 years ago
May 14, 1998
School District 6 had its fair share of expulsions for the year — eight. “it’s one of the hardest things a school board member does,” said board member Darrel Osbourne. The Columbia Falls Police department said that one out of every five drivers it stopped had no car insurance.
10 years ago
May 15, 2008
Former President Bill Clinton came to Flathead Valley Community College to stump for his wife, Hillary Clinton, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. On the front page was a photo of U.S. Geological Survey scientist and bear researcher Kate Kendall asking Clinton a question. Clinton’s visit went well into a cold, rainy night as the event was held out in the lawn at the college.