Yesterdays: Great Northern Railway Planned to Sell Lodge Operations
Jake and Bob Braig, ages 13 and 9 respectively, at the family turkey farm four miles west of Columbia Falls in November, 1950. Their father, Tony Braig, raised almost 1,000 turkeys. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Nov. 24, 1950
M.E. Darkenwald of the Harvey Machine Co. said he expected the company to start clearing land near Rose Crossing for a new aluminum smelter soon. The plant, of course, wasn’t built there. Kids from Hungry Horse were building a new path along Highway 2 so they didn’t have to walk alongside the road in a dangerous section of highway.
60 years ago
Nov. 25, 1960
Hal Kanzler and his son, Jimmie were featured on the front page with a full curl bighorn ram Hal shot near Ural, Montana. The father and son team had hunted together since the season opened in September for a total of 14 days, passing up four legal rams before taking the trophy. The Great Northern Railway was planning on selling its business of owning and operating lodges in Glacier National Park.
50 years ago
Nov. 27, 1970
The family dog, Scrags, was credited for stopping a mountain lion from jumping on Joan Ladenburg at their North Fork home at Home Ranch Bottoms. The dog stopped the lion, who was in mid-air, after it came out from under the trailer home. The dog then chased the lion off into the woods.
40 years ago
Nov. 27, 1980
The KM Store, one of the oldest in Kalispell, went out of business. The film “Heaven’s Gate” premiered to audiences and was considered a $36 million flop. It was largely filmed in the North Fork and in Two Medicine of Glacier National Park. The three-plus hour western got mixed reviews by locals, however.
30 years ago
Nov. 29, 1990
Winter weather came to Glacier Park’s east side in a big way, with 45 inches of snow. Families were bidding farewell to National Guard Troops headed to Saudi Arabia to serve in operation Desert Shield, the first Iraq War.
20 years ago
Nov. 23, 2000
Montana would switch the girls basketball season to winter in 2002. It was determined that girls were missing out on college recruiting because they played in the fall. Hungry Horse News founder Mel Ruder died at the Montana Veterans’ Home. He founded the paper in 1946 and was editor and publisher for 32 years.
10 years ago
Nov. 24, 2010
Night of Lights was set to celebrate its 25th year. Tara Norick was named the new speech and debate coach for Columbia Falls. She would go on to be the winningest coach in school history in any program.