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Back in January of 1950, the Bureau of Reclamation employees on their own time cleared a hill above Hungry Horse and put in a tow rope for a skiing hill. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Jan. 6, 1950
Front page picture featured a huge Ponderosa pine “that generations of schoolchildren passed” en route to Bad Rock School. The tree was about 6 feet in diameter and was located on the George Mattheisen place.
60 years ago
Jan. 8, 1960
Columbia Falls was “declaring war” on stray dogs. The city hired Alfred Bonnett, who would be paid $1 for every stray dog he caught. The Lions Club was working on a tow rope for the West Glacier ski hill. It was expected to be up and running by mid-January.
50 years ago
Jan. 9, 1970
A search was underway on Mount Cleveland in Glacier National Park who were attempting a winter summit of the Park’s highest mountain. Missing were James Anderson, Jerry Kanzler, Mark Levitan, Clare Pogreba and Ray Martin. The five would later be recovered in the summer, as they were all swept away in avalanche in one of the park’s most tragic events.
40 years ago
Jan. 10, 1980
The Flathead Valley’s farms were in jeopardy. Land prices were too high for a person to buy land and start farming. A good-sized block of land at the time cost about $2,000 an acre for agricultural land.
30 years ago
Jan. 11, 1990
Flathead County Attorney Ted Lympus wanted Sheriff Chuck Rhodes to resign, claiming the sheriff was “incompetent” Rhodes said he had no intentions of resigning, however. The controversy stemmed from undersheriff Delbert Biddle who was appointed after undersheriff Gary Franklin resigned after allegations that Franklin paid himself overtime. Since then Biddle had censored the call logs and restricted access to Rhodes. Lympus and members of the press said it amounted to a gag order.
20 years ago
Jan. 6, 2000
Glacier National Park saw its lowest visitation in a decade, with 1.683 million visiting the park in 1999. A late opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road to cars was blamed, as was the Canadian exchange rate, which was about 40 percent. Canadians were simply staying home. Jordyn Leslie King of Coram was the first baby of the year in Flathead County.
10 years ago
Jan. 7, 2010
The Great Recession was in full swing. There were 31 homes listed as being foreclosed on in Columbia Falls alone. Countywide, there were 215 bank-owned properties according to the website RealtyTrac.