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70 years ago

Sept. 16, 1949

Front pages photos featured the first buckets of concrete being unloaded for the Hungry Horse Dam. The buckets carried about 8 yards of concrete. They were emptied and then vibrator crews went to work making sure the concrete was packed.

60 years ago

Sept. 18, 1959

A spectacular blaze all but destroyed the Conrad National Bank in Kalispell. The blaze was so big that flames were visible on the skyline as far away as Columbia Falls. It appeared the fire started near a loading chute at the rear of the building.

50 years ago

Sept. 19, 1969

Hungry Horse News editor Mel Ruder was the first newsman to walk on the steel of the Rexford Bridge that would span Lake Koocanusa. Rangers Al Hoover and Jack Fewlass saw a cool sight while going to a Kintla Lake — a female lion and her three kittens were stalking a grouse. The grouse flew away before the lion pounced.

40 years ago

Sept. 20, 1979

Columbia Falls natives Jim Kanzler and Terry Kennedy made Glacier Park climbing history when they climbed the north face of Mount Siyeh. The north face boasts a 3,500-foot vertical sheer rock face and had never been climbed before. Siyeh is the Blackfeet name for “rabid wolf.” The pair had been trying to climb it since 1977, but had failed three times.

30 years ago

Sept. 21, 1989

About 400 people turned out, mostly in support of Tom Ladenburg’s plan to drill for oil on his ranch up the North Fork. Cenex was drilling the well, which was in the Wild and Scenic River corridor. In the end, the state board of oil and gas allowed the drilling to continue, with environmental safeguards. The well, however, apparently didn’t pan out. A wolf that had been moved from Marion to the Middle Fork of Glacier National Park had abandoned her pups that were transported with her and then traveled south. In a few days she traveled 40 miles, swam across the Hungry Horse Reservoir and was now near Swan Lake.

20 years ago

Sept. 16, 1999

Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Tribe both called for removal of the Sherburne Dam in Many Glacier, saying it was harming bull trout in the St. Mary River drainage. The dam, which holds back water for irrigation and water supplies downstream, was never removed.

10 years ago

Sept. 17, 2009

The Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. said it would continue to run into October as it was still trying to work out a long-term deal with the Bonneville Power Administration. About 90 people worked at the plant at the time. A deal was never struck and the plant shut down for good that same year.