Yesterdays: Big fire in Martin City
From left, Wallace Floren, Edward Willits and Jerry Mackin contemplate the snows at Apgar School in january, 1950. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Jan. 27, 1950
In Glacier Park deer traveling through deep snow on Howe Ridge had made paths that were sometimes three, four, feet deep. In some places the trenches had actually blown over with snow, making tunnels. Speaking of snow, deep snows on the east side of the Park were worrisome because biologists thought it would kill off the bighorn sheep herd. There was 92 inches of snow at Two Medicine.
60 years ago
Jan. 29, 1960
Glacier National Park saw a big boost in funding as the park was seeing its golden anniversary. Most the of $2.5 million budget would go toward roads and trail improvements in the park. The Air Force was going to fly Convair F-106 jets over the Garden Wall in Glacier. The idea was the sonic boom from the aircraft would dislodge snow, making it safer to plow the Going-to-the-Sun Road in the spring.
50 years ago
Jan. 30, 1970
Rocky Mountain Lumber Co. announced it would reduce pollution by installing a gas boiler. The announcement came on the heels of an eye toward more pollution control in Flathead, including bans on open burning during certain months of the year. Big photo featured kids sledding down the hill at Schoenberg Park, which, at the time, also had a ton rope.
40 years ago
Jan. 24, 1980
A fire destroyed the Club Bar, the Spotted Bear Minimart and gas station and the Chicken Inn in Martin City. The fire started in the early morning hours at the Chicken Inn and spread to the other buildings. Some folks got out with just the clothes on their backs.
30 years ago
Jan. 25, 1990
Six orphaned black bear cubs were transported to the South Fork of the Flathead. They were placed in artificial dens on north facing slopes. The hope was that in the spring when the cubs woke up they would go back to their wild ways. The cubs were orphaned after their mothers were killed by a variety of means.
20 years ago
Jan. 27, 2000
Local folks were gathering shovels for the “Shovels for Solidarity” movement, which was protesting a road closure by the Forest Service in Elko, Nevada. The road closure galvanized local loggers and others who saw roads also being closed in the Flathead and were concerned about public access to public lands. We asked people how they would spruce up downtown. To a person they said get rid of all the old buildings, or at least spruce them up — that’s exactly what’s happening, 20 years later.
10 years ago
Jan. 28, 2010
Jim, Wanda and Jamie Barry were killed when their North Fork home was heavily damaged by fire. The house did not have any working smoke detectors and the family died from smoke inhalation. United Nations scientists were calling for a ban on mining in the North Fork of the Flathead to protect Glacier National Park. At the time, British Columbia companies were proposing several mines in the Canadian Flathead just north of the border.