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The Coram Midgets Pee Wee baseball team from 1959. In the front row, from left, are David Schaeffer, Gary Schaeffer, Wayne DeReu, Dickie Hanson and Don McDonald. In the middle row are Timmy DeReu (bat boy), Terry Einarson, Jerry Reach, Jerald McDonald, Bobby Fisher and Dan McDonald. In the back row are Manager Pat Peach, Duane Larson, Tom ?, Darryl Parker, Joe Benson and Bob Hanson. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Aug. 5, 1949
The Monighan, a huge crane that was the size of a six-room house, was being used to scoop gravel from the confluence of the South Fork and the mainstem Flathead River. The sand and gravel — more than 3.5 million cubic yards — would be used in construction of the Hungry Horse Dam.
60 years ago
Aug. 7, 1959
Columbia Falls was going to celebrate “Progress Days” this weekend, with a parade, a pet parade and other activities. Boulder Pass, one of the snowiest passes in the Glacier, was now open to hikers. Cairns had been set out in the snow to mark the trail, said trails foreman W. J. Yenne. A 12-by-20 foot trailside shelter was nearly complete at Glacier Park’s Fifty Mountain campground.
50 years ago
Aug. 8, 1969
Employment looked pretty good in the Flathead Valley, with 12,000 people employed. Anaconda Aluminum Co. employed 979 people and nearly 2,000 people were working on the Libby Dam. Glacier Park visitation was expected to top the 700,000 mark for the year by the end of the month.
40 years ago
Aug. 9, 1979
A fire burned down a house, several buildings and scorched about 10 acres just north of Columbia Falls near the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks on land owned by Joe and Lewis Luce. Lewis has to be forcibly removed from his house as it burned to the ground. Broken electrical wires from a pump house ignited the blaze.
30 years ago
Aug. 9, 1989
A black bear attacked Randy Venteicher and his two dogs as he was out scouting hunting territory on Kelly Ridge. Venteicher received multiple bites and the bear tore off his boot as he tried to climb a tree to get away. Venteicher eventually hit the bear over the head with a tree branch several times. It turned out to be a sow protecting her lone cub.
20 years ago
Aug. 5, 1999
Polebridge Mercantile co-owner Dan Kaufman was found in the woods near Long Bow Lake after a search party went looking for him. He was planning on day hiking to the lake, which doesn’t have a trail to it, but ended up exhausted. He was prepared and had extra clothes and a blanket, but was in pretty rough shape. A helicopter airlifted him out of the area.
10 years ago
Aug. 6, 2009
The American pika, a small creature that lives in talus slopes and looks like a large mouse, but is related to the rabbit, was said to be doing well in Glacier. The pika is a bellwether for climate change, because it doesn’t hibernate. It’s both susceptible to too much heat and too much cold, depending on the season. Without enough winter snows to insulate its lair, it freezes to death in the winter. Too much heat also stresses the affable creatures.