Yesterdays: Sewage spilled into Lake McDonald
Sue Latterell was taking "extra good care" of her 5-week-old calf, June 3, 1950. The Deer Park girl was the winner of the "sustaining calf contest" held by the Bad Rock Grange. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
June 2, 1950
A black wolf was chasing a calf at the Quarter Circle MC Ranch in Big Prairie in Glacier National Park. Cowpuncher Ben Herlem tried to chase it away with a Jeep, but the wolf kept after the calf. Ranger Stimson had to shoot the wolf. Its head was going to be mounted for the Park’s museum.
60 years ago
June 3, 1960
“Dandelion control” in Glacier National Park was done by bears. Leona Harrington, teacher at West Glacier School watched a black bear spend an entire afternoon eating dandelions at Moose Cabins.
50 years ago
June 6, 1970
The newspaper continued to run big spreads of photos from Europe, this time from Switzerland, when the Columbia Falls High School band was there in April. Bill Gress and Trio were playing at Rex’s Nite Club. There was a building boom in Columbia Falls, with 10 new houses and two new four-plexes planned.
40 years ago
June 5, 1980
After a disastrous tourist season the summer before due to a nationwide gas shortage, there was cautious optimism this summer. For a long time Glacier National Park was the big attraction, now businesses had to re-think that and work on different ways to attract people, expert Rich Hadley of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce said.
30 years ago
June 7, 1990
The death of a second sow grizzly on the train tracks near Essex meant that the grizzly hunting season would be canceled for the second year in a row. The bears were attracted to the tracks by spilled corn, which the railroad and the Forest Service had tried to clean up for the past two years. The spilled corn was from train derailments.
20 years ago
June 8, 2000
Human error was the suspected cause of a 180,000 gallon sewage spill into Lake McDonald. Crews noticed the spill after they could smell the sewage in the pristine Glacier National Park lake. A drain valve near the lake was apparently left open about 50 feet from the lake. The sewage was from the Lake McDonald Lodge complex.
10 years ago
June 3, 2010
A 100-mile run along the Swan Crest was being challenged by the Swan View Coalition because of potential conflicts with grizzly bears, particularly at night.