Yesterdays: Jets roar over Glacier, with little effect on avalanches

70 years ago

Feb. 3, 1960

Otto Schultz, the former president of the local Sawmill and Lumber Workers Union was now making a living tying flies professionally. He was spending the winter tying more than 1,000 dozen flies for sale to local and visiting anglers in the summer months. The year before he sold out of flies, a front page story said. Blackfeet had killed about 200 elk near St. Mary. People were starving because of the difficult winter and the elk provided meat for dozens of families.

60 years ago

Feb. 5, 1960

Using Air Force jets, “operation safe slide” went off in Glacier National Park in an attempt to cause avalanches above the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The jets’ sonic booms were supposed to cause slides, making it easier and safer to plow the road in the spring. They saw some snow come off of Mount Cannon, but no one else saw a single slide from the effort.

50 years ago

Feb. 6, 1970

Glacier National Park announced it would resume the search for five young men killed in an avalanche on Mount Cleveland. The men were last seen on Dec. 27. A few items had been recovered, including a camera, but the film did not provide any clues.

40 years ago

Feb. 7, 1980

A column by editor emeritus Mel Ruder featured Dum-Dum, one of the few tame bison at the National Bison Range. Dum-Dum had been bottle fed as a calf. The photo featured range foreman Babe May petting Dum -Dum on the back.

30 years ago

Feb. 8, 1990

Filmmaker Eric Woster from Columbia Falls was shooting a movie about a possessed house in Columbia Falls. The film was shot at the Blue Moon and other locations.

20 years ago

Feb. 3, 2000

A team of CFAC workers plowed roads and hiked through snow up to their waist to save a man who crashed his plane on Teakettle Mountain. The pilot, Leonard Miller, likely would have died if the crew hadn’t reached his aircraft.

10 years ago

Feb. 4, 2010

The Canyon community pleaded with School District 6 officials to keep Canyon Elementary School open. The Columbia Falls speech and debate team won its fifth straight state A title. F.H. Stoltze was recognized by the Montana Department of Safety for its safety record.