Yesterdays: Starving Blackfeet saved by elk migration out of Glacier Park
Square dancing at the Bad Rock Grange, March 9, 1950. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
March 10, 1950
With high winds and heavy snows, the Blackfeet were starving and the area had become a national disaster area. But then a “modern” miracle occurred, the story said. About 600 elk left Glacier National Park for the windswept grasses of the reservation and hunters took about 250 of them to feed their families.
60 years ago
March 11, 1960
John Tatsey, Blackfeet writer for the Glacier Reporter and Hungry Horse News told of the story of a woman walking down the street in Browning with something in her hand. She wanted to soak it for a few days. It was her glass eye.
50 years ago
March 13, 1970
A management plan for the Jewel Basin in the Swan Range was in the works by the Flathead National Forest. The preliminary plan called for the area to be managed for recreation and not for timber harvest. The basin has 28 lakes. It’s managed that same way today.
40 years ago
March 13, 1980
Columbia Falls lost to Fort Benton twice in the state boys basketball tourney. The first score was 61-56 in the opener and then again 52-49 in the consolation bracket. Browning won the tourney, 68-63 over Lewistown. Biologists counted 195 mule deer in the Belton Hills of Glacier National Park — the most ever.
30 years ago
March 15, 1990
Glacier National Park crews were getting ready to plow the Going-to-the-Sun Road with an opening date to Logan Pass expected by June 13 for the summer season. The Flathead County Sheriff’s Department was considering having a deputy station in West Glacier by May. It was also going to have a deputy in Olney and Bigfork.
20 years ago
March 9, 2000
There was a big battle over a plant that processed bark off Railroad Street. Neighbors said the plant choked them with dust and stink, while bark owners claimed they were just trying to be good neighbors. The operation finally went defunct.
10 years ago
March 11, 2010
Late breaking news was that Pfc. Nick Cook of Hungry Horse had died in Afghanistan, but at the time, details were not available. A two-page bill sponsored by Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus would permanently withdraw federal lands in the North Fork from oil and gas leases.