Yesterdays: Man plummets 600 feet into North Fork, bruises hip
Driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road, June 11, 1950. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
June 10, 1950
Glacier National Park had put up signs along the Going-to-the-Sun Road that said “Feeding bears along the way makes problem bears another day.” Another sign that said, “Play safe, don’t feed bears,” had been ripped up — apparently by a bear.
60 years ago
June 13, 1960
Columbia Falls population had nearly doubled in 10 years from 1,232 in 1950 to 2,121. Factors in the growth included expansion of the timber industry, the construction and operation of the Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant and the building of the Hungry Horse Dam. The city saw the largest population growth of any city in western Montana.
50 years ago
June 8, 1970
Pete Tatsey, tribal lawman at Heart Butte had his picture featured on the front page. Tatsey was a paratrooper in World War II and his father, John, wrote a column for the Hungry Horse News.
40 years ago
June 12, 1980
Mike Shupert of Whitefish went 600 feet down into the North Fork of the Flathead River in his car after his parked car apparently went out of park and rolled off the road at Fool Hen Hill. Shupert was not seriously injured — he had a bruise on his hip, even though the car rolled multiple times before landing in the river.
30 years ago
June 10, 1990
County commissioner Howard Gipe told county road supervisor Charlie Phillips to “shape up” or he’d be out of a job. Gipe complained that the department was being run by the “buddy system” and it wasn’t productive and was costing the county money. The department allegedly had employees with DUI convictions and was allowing “comp” time to build up over several years. Phillips was put on 6 months probation.
20 years ago
June 8, 2000
City council told city manager John Dove that he had to live in the city limits. Dove had asked council if he could live in Riverwood Estates, a subdivision that was just outside the city limits at the time. Council, in a split vote, denied the request.
10 years ago
June 10, 2010
A man who was mauled by a grizzly bear in a drive-through bear park in Coram was determined to be an employee and thus was eligible for workmen’s compensation the state workmen’s compensation court found. Brock Hopkins was mauled by one of the bears at the park in 2007 when he was feeding it. Owner Russ Kilpatrick claimed Hopkins was a volunteer. Hopkins escaped with his life after he crawled under an electric fence designed to keep the bears enclosed.