Yesterdays: Charlie Wise had a wife and child. They died in the flu pandemic of 1919

70 years ago

Oct. 20, 1950

Front page photo featured a giant 235,000 pound spiral casing for one of the turbines for the Hungry Horse Dam. It was built in the Allis Chalmers plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Chalmers had a $2.15 million contract to build four turbines for the dam.

60 years ago

Oct. 21, 1960

Mel Ruder visited Charlie Wise, an oldtime trapper from the North Fork. Wise said where he happened to be, he built a cabin. He had a wife and child, but they both died in the flu pandemic of 1919. One of Wise’s cabins still exists just north of Polebridge.

50 years ago

Oct. 23, 1970

The Anaconda Aluminum Co. said it would install a new ground scrubber system designed to reduce pollution at the plant by 50 percent. The new equipment would cut fluoride emissions to under 2,500 pounds per day.

40 years ago

Oct. 23, 1980

A board inquiry into the grizzly bear mauling death of Laurence Gordon near Elizabeth Lake suggested that a grizzly that was shot shortly thereafter likely did kill Gordon. The board noted that teeth marks in a book of Gordon’s closely resembled the teeth of the dead bear.

30 years ago

Oct. 25, 1990

County commissioner Alan Jacobson said Columbia Falls was an “endangered” community because of restrictions placed on federal land, most notably for timber harvest. Not everyone agreed. Realtor Pete Putzier said it was just bad for business to label the city as such.

20 years ago

Oct. 19, 2000

A bill by Congressman Rick Hill that appropriated $200 million for the reconstruction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road passed the House on a voice vote. It would go on to the Senate for consideration. Mark O’Keefe was running for governor as a Democrat. He would lose to Republican Judy Martz.

10 years ago Oct. 21, 2010

A group of sports enthusiasts wanted to build a sports complex on a county-owned park in Vetville. It never came to fruition. The land was, and still is, a swamp.