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Chuck Ray shoeing Linda Driscoll's horses, April 15, 1956. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
June 17, 1949
With the start of the summer season, Glacier National Park saw 1,547 visitors. The new Rocky Mountain Riders Saddle Club met on the town square in Columbia Falls and had a wiener roast, a brief try at square dancing, and an hour of singing before riding home in the moonlight.
60 years ago
June 19, 1959
Dick Dehlbom gave Hungry Horse News editor a tour on the Flathead River in his airboat, which was propelled by a 65-horsepower Continental motor. The boat skimmed over the surface of the water and had such a low draw it could run right next to shore. Dehlbom was an outfitter and guide in the area. Tourists were at Logan Pass and plows were too — blowing huge drifts of snow out of the parking lot as people watched.
50 years ago
June 20, 1969
Glacier National Park announced it would start charging for campgrounds in 1970. The Park, however, would not have the campgrounds run by concessionaires, as other parks had done. Glacier was projecting visitation to be about 1 million people. The 2-mile trail from Glacier Park headquarters to Apgar was in. It’s one of the few paved trails in the park.
40 years ago
June 21, 1979
Two women from North Dakota spent a cold night at Logan Pass after a sledding accident. Rhonda Klopetka and Eris Wurgler, both in their 20s, were injured when one of them was sledding in a garbage sack and the other was sitting on her lap. They went over a cliff, broke through a snowbridge, went through a waterfall and ended up in a crevasse, where they spent the night with multiple injuries, including broken arm, pelvises and ribs. A skier heard their calls for help the next morning and they were rescued.
30 years ago
June 21, 1989
Two small wolf pups were found dead in Glacier National Park. The find dashed hopes of a successful litter by the Camas Pack. At the time, it was the only third known litter of pups in the park and biologists said the failure was hampering the recovery of the species. Forest Service employee Gary Howard played dead when he ran into a sow grizzly with cubs up Essex Creek. The sow gave him a sniff and a nudge, but he survived unscathed after she charged him.
20 years ago
June 17, 1999
The old swimming pool at Pinewood Park would see its last summer. The pool had a deep end and other amenities, but leaked badly. The pool was replaced the following year. The community banded together to raise $12,000 for J.D. Luke, who was battling leukemia.
10 years ago
June 18, 2009
Glacier National Park superintendent Chas Cartwright was making the rounds, talking to community groups and organizations as he stumped to have about 975,000 acres of Glacier designated as wilderness. The idea never got anywhere, however and didn’t come to fruition. The state and county approved a gravel pit owned by Robert Spoklie that was close to Glacier Park, despite objections from the park and residents who lived near it.