Yesterdays: Truman to make decision on aluminum plant
Santa Claus at the B&B Store, December, 1971. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
December 7, 1951
A front page story said that President Harry Truman would likely get involved in whether an aluminum plant would be built in the Flathead Valley. There was concern about the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. entering the aluminum production market at the time.
60 years ago
Dec. 8, 1961
The School District 6 board shelved a plan to remodel the Talbott annex, built about 1923, into six classrooms. The district also considered another small grade school addition for $70,000 or a new wing for $300,000. Overall the Talbott building, constructed in 1908, was still in good shape, but the basement rooms were poor. The board wanted there to be a real squeeze before asking voters for a levy for a new school.
50 years ago
Dec. 10, 1971
A government report from the Forest Service indicated that thousands of tons of fluorides emitted into the air from the Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant were having an impact on vegetation, both inside and outside of Glacier National Park. The tree seeing the most effect was white pine, where many trees were sick or dying, the study found.
40 years ago
Dec. 10, 1981
Sec. of Interior James Watt supported snowmobiling in national parks, but Glacier Park officials said that they would not reopen the park to the machines. Glacier closed the park, with public support, in 1976 to snowmobiles.
30 years ago
Dec. 5, 1991
The new Polebridge to the Polebridge entrance station of Glacier Park was open to traffic. There hadn’t been a permanent structure over the North Fork of the Flathead since 1988, when the Red Bench Fire damaged the old bridge.
20 years ago
Dec. 6, 2001
First Citizens Bank was the top float at the Night of Lights parade. Front page feature spoke to a longstanding problem in the Flathead Valley — affordable housing. They were building 1,300-square foot homes in the $100,000 price range at the time in Columbia Falls, but they were few and far between.
10 years ago
Dec. 7, 2011
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway was on a hiring spree. It had added about 415 jobs across Montana and about 40 in the Flathead. Part of it was due to attrition, the other part to increased demand.