Yesterdays: 45 tons of ice harvested from Lion Lake
Howard Buck's young son fell asleep during a gathering of the Bad Rock Grange on March 9, 1950. The son was not identified in the picture. The grange had come in fourth in the national community service contest. The man to the left was cropped out of the original photograph. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
March 3, 1950
Crews at the Hungry Horse Dam were getting ready to pour concrete after having the winter off. The goal was to pour 1 million cubic feet of concrete this year. The total concrete needed was about 2.9 million cubic feet. West Glacier Lions voted to buy 10 acres of land two miles from town for a community dump. The story doesn’t say where the dump was specifically located.
60 years ago
March 4, 1960
Bud France was lucky to be alive after his house on Second Avenue East caught on fire. He was asleep along with roommate C.L. Buckner when they were awoken by smoke. They escaped through a window. The fire was thought to be caused by a wood stove.
50 years ago
March 4, 1970
Sixty-one residents moved into the new main at the Montana Veterans Home. The $500,000 structure at the time had 31 rooms, a kitchen, dining room, lounge and library.
40 years ago
March 6, 1960
Flathead National Forest crews had harvested about 45 tons of ice from Lion Lake and hauled it to Coram to cool a homemade ice house to keep seedling trees cool. The forest was expecting 700,000 seedlings which needed to be kept cool before they were planted. The ice kept the house at 33 degrees and 98 percent humidity. Glacier Park was considering cutting campsites at Avalanche and other campgrounds because they operated at a loss at the time.
30 years ago
March 8, 1990
The first grizzly of the year was sighted in Glacier National Park, prowling around the shores of Lake McDonald after a long winter nap. Crews had nearly completed the new North Fork entrance station of Glacier National Park. Lane Johnson of Whitefish and Dave Pollari of Missoula skied to the head of Avalanche Lake and climbed the ice falls to the basin above.
20 years ago
March 2, 2000
The first architectural drawings for the new $11.9 million junior high were shown to the public. The school pretty much has the same design as those early drawings. The idea of the school was to make it expandable to hold more students without adding a wing by making the classrooms “flexible teaching spaces.” It was expected that enrollment would reach 800. Today it’s right around 500.
10 years ago
March 4, 2010
A massive blaze destroyed the Stimson plywood plant in Libby. The plant was idle and crews were demolishing most of it when it caught on fire.