Yesterdays: Glacier Park Co. wants out of Park
Park Drug's Old-Time Ford in the 1958 parade. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Feb. 24, 1950
The upcoming week would mark a restart of construction work at the Hungry Horse Dam, despite there being 2 feet of snow on the ground. Meanwhile hunters had shot 15 coyotes in the vicinity of the dam that were suspected of killing deer. Crews had put out feed stations of hay for the deer with 60 whitetails, 25 mule deer and two elk at the stations.
60 years ago
March 4, 1960
The Glacier Park Co., a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railroad, told the Park Service it wanted to cease operation of the hotels and motels inside Glacier. The Columbia Falls High School was having an open house to celebrate its new school.
50 years ago
Feb. 27, 1970
Construction of a new library at the corner of Fifth Street and Second Avenue West was slated to begin in June. Flathead County budgeted $10,000 to get the new construction underway. The elk in the South Fork were enjoying a mild winter and same in the Middle Fork, where about 30 elk were counted on ridges near and at Chair Mountain.
40 years ago
Feb. 28, 1980
The Columbia Falls boys basketball team nabbed another divisional crown, beating Ronan 34-22 in the championship. Junior High industrial arts teacher Mick Washburn was named industrial arts teacher of the year for Montana. Washburn had been teaching for nine years.
30 years ago
March 1, 1990
The Red Bridge was damaged by a fire. The bridge had been closed to vehicle traffic in May, 1989. Pilot Ron Woltermann was lucky to be alive after he crashed his single engine plane on Kah Mountain near the Hungry Horse Reservoir. The engine in the plane failed. North Valley Search and Rescue found him about nine hours after the crash, as Woltermann triggered his emergency locator transmitter. He was not seriously injured in the crash and was able to build a fire to keep warm until help arrived.
20 years ago
March 2, 2000
A homeless shelter in Hungry Horse was set to close, just about 10 months after it opened. The shelter needed about $1,700 a month to operate, but it had already run out of money. Connie Rock, a Hungry Horse woman who had been missing since Jan. 31 was found alive and well. Turns out she skipped town on her own volition.
10 years ago
Feb. 25, 2010
Montana and the province of British Columbia signed a memorandum of understanding that effectively ended the threat of mining in the North Fork of the Flathead. The MOU was signed by then Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Premier Gordon Campbell.