Yesterdays: Slowing down at the Goat Lick

70 years ago

July 7, 1950

Crews had hauled in timbers to repair a bridge over the North Fork of the Flathead River just north of the border with Canada. There were two exploratory oil wells up there at the time. The Kootenay well at 3,600 feet and another well further up the road at about 1,800 feet. Without the bridge crews couldn’t get to the wells.

60 years ago

July 8, 1960

School District 6 was considering selling a brick dormitory that was used to house students from distant regions during the school year. The dorm was built in 1936 through the PWA program. Improved transportation to schools saw the dormitory go unused and fall into disrepair.

50 years ago

July 10, 1970

Highway officials were going to lower the speed limit on U.S. Highway 2 at the Goat Lick to 35 mph to reduce the number of mountain goat-vehicle collisions in Glacier National Park. The goats often crossed the roadway there to get to mineral licks. An underpass or overpass at the time was ruled out, but eventually one was constructed that allows the goats to safely go under the highway. The three remaining bodies of men who had been buried under an avalanche on Mount Cleveland the previous winter were recovered. They were Jerry Kanzler, Mark Levitan and Clare Pogreba. Ray Martin and James Anderson had been recovered a few days earlier. The men were last seen alive on Dec. 27 and had planned a winter ascent of Glacier National Park’s highest peak when they were killed in an avalanche. They were all in their late teens and early 20s.

40 years ago

July 10, 1980

A settlement was close between the Anaconda Aluminum Co. and the U.S. Department of Justice over fluoride pollution from the plant in Columbia falls. The company had since installed pollution control at the plant and it appeared there would be some sort of land swap on Teakettle Mountain as part of the settlement.

30 years ago

July 5, 1990

Columbia falls city leaders opposed Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s decision to close the train depot on town. The depot was closed, however. Fisherman Skip Goerner beat a lion away from him with his fishing rod. Goerner was hiking to Quartz Lake in Glacier when he ran into the cat. He used his Ugly Stick fishing pole to swat the cat away.

20 years ago

July 6, 2000

Glacier Park rangers shot a predatory black bear in Two Medicine. The bear had already mauled one man and then tried to get into the boat house cabin of Peg Rice. Rice contacted rangers who ended up shooting the bear with their shotguns.

10 years ago

July 8, 2010

A camera set up to watch a robin next at Glacier Park headquarters was a hit until some predator got into the nest and ate all the eggs but one. The remaining egg had a dead chick under it and so the robin then abandoned the nest. The events drew sadness from Internet followers who had been watching the robin.