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Ranger Dave Owen and another rider head into the Bob Marshall Wilderness in September, 1959. In the background is Apex Mountain.
70 years ago
Feb. 25, 1949
Whitefish beat Columbia Falls 34-32 in the district basketball tournament. Ressler (no first name given in the story) led the Wildcats with 13 points. Crews at the Hungry Horse Dam construction had brought a couple of rifles along to shoot the coyotes that were chasing deer. The deer would run out onto the frozen South Fork after coyotes chased them, making the deer vulnerable to attack. Crews had already plugged a couple of coyotes.
60 years ago
Feb, 27, 1959
The snow depth at the Walton Ranger Station was 64 inches deep on the level. Essex had 235 inches total. Columbia Falls lost to Polson in the opening round of the Northwestern Class B tournament, 54-36. Roger Miller led the Wildcats with 16 points in the loss. The team would get a new gym in the fall after the new high school was finished.
50 years ago
Feb. 28, 1969
The state planned on planting coho salmon in Flathead Lake in a one-year experiment. The Belston family was raising two wolverine cubs. The cubs were taken by two lion hunters who found them in a den near Lincoln. The Belstons planned to rise the animals and then sell them to a zoo.
40 years ago
March 1, 1979
Dave Perry started his own one-man security business in Columbia Falls. Perry said he would guarantee that businesses and others who signed up would have their doors checked three times every night for a fee of $20 per month. Perry would go on to be a the chief of police for Columbia Falls.
30 years ago
March 1, 1989
John Head, Lane Johnson and Marty Loeflad made the first known winter ascent of Mount Stimson in Glacier National Park on Feb. 13. It took two days to ski the 12 miles in to a base camp at the saddle between Stimson and Mount Pinchot. They then used crampons and ice axes to make their way up Stimson’s east face. They said the snow was like styrofoam and perfect for climbing. They made the summit in five hours. The next day they saw 9 inches of snow at their base camp and said they were fortunate to have a window of good weather to make the ascent.
20 years ago
Feb. 25, 1999
Jack Cameron won the junior high spelling bee as a sixth grader. The Columbia Falls Fire Department bought a new $125,000 tender truck. The home of Vern and Nettie Green, some of the first people to settle in Martin City, was burned to the ground on purpose by the Martin City Fire Department. It had been vacant and run down for years. The home burned down quickly.
10 years ago
Feb. 26, 2009
The F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. asked the Columbia Falls City Council to support its plans for a co-generation plant that would burn the mills waste wood and add electricity back onto the grid. Columbia Falls was considering changing its laws to allow black powder shoots inside the city limits. The second phase of a massive land deal that saw 117,000-plus acres of Plum Creek timberlands in the Swan Valley sold for $250 million was completed. The funds came from a farm bill passed by Sen. Max Baucus. Most of the lands eventually went primarily to the Forest Service and the state and were part of a larger deal to conserve a total of 310,000 acres in the Swan.