Yesterdays: Dynamite shoot sets Teakettle Mountain on fire

70 years ago

Sept. 29, 1950

Glacier National park’s glaciers were having a bit of a revival. They had the least amount of recession since 1932. Still, they were getting smaller. Since 1932 the front of Sperry Glacier had receded 700 feet.

60 years ago

Sept. 20, 1960

Front page story featured Glacier Park’s Ptarmigan tunnel, a tunnel that bores through the Ptarmigan Wall in the Park. Trails foreman Bill Yenne recalled helping build the tunnel 30 years prior. He was a packer at the time, hauling supplies up to the crews. The 181foot tunnel connects the Belly River country to Many Glacier.

50 years ago

Oct. 2, 1970

They were drilling for oil near Chief Mountain just outside Glacier National Park. The Humble Oil and Refining Co. had drilled some 5,000 feet so far looking for black gold, but hadn’t struck it, yet.

40 years ago Oct. 2, 1980

Michael Cimino’s film “Heaven’s Gate,” the epic western that was filmed locally and was one of the largest flops in Hollywood history, was set to have its world premier in November. Don Hummel announced he planned to sell his concessions business in Glacier Park to the Del. E. Webb Corp. of Phoenix, Arizona.

30 years ago

Sept. 27, 1990

A dynamite shoot, which was a fundraiser for the Blankenship Volunteer Fire Department, went sideways after one of the sticks of dynamite blew up and caught Teakettle Mountain on fire. The 20-acre blaze took awhile to contain.

20 years ago

Sept. 28, 2000

Flathead County commissioner candidate Alex Hilton, a Democrat, refuted he was an anti-hunter. Hilton was running against Bob Watne, a Republican, who was part of the “Shovels for Solidarity” movement that opposed Forest Service road closures.

10 years ago

Sept. 30, 2010

Tragedy in Glacier Park as Michael Sloan, a sous chef at the Belton Chalet, drowned while fishing in Lake McDonald. Sloan apparently went into the water at the head of the lake where McDonald Creek enters and there’s a drop-off and sometimes dangerous