Yesterdays: Citizens debated library relocation
Ray Belston and son Brent with a wolverine in February, 1961. Belston was a logger and had been laid off since December. To support his family, he had a trapline up the South Fork. Belston tried to take the creature homealive, but it kept going after him so viciously that he had to shoot it, he said at the time. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Feb. 2, 1951
Snow depths were considered average for this time of year. At Desert Mountain there was 43.5 inches of snow with a snow water equivalent of 12.1 inches. The elk had been staying close to the mountains at St. Mary.
60 years ago
Feb. 3, 1961
Hungry Horse News editor Mel Ruder went out in the field with biologist Chuck Jonkel to check on a black bear den. Jonkel said the mild winter meant there wasn’t enough snow covering the den, which was under an uprooted tree. Jonkel was studying black bears up the North Fork and would go on to being one of the pre-eminent bear biologists in the state.
50 years ago
Feb. 5, 1971
Wayne Svodoba of Illinois came out to Glacier and did an eight-day backpack on snowshoes. He expected cold, but got rain instead. He was well prepared and had experience with similar adventures in Alaska. He camped within 20 feet of McDonald Creek, but it rained so hard that he got flooded out and had to move his tent one night. He made it as far as Flattop Mountain.
40 years ago
Feb. 5, 1981
A federal judge ruled against the Glacier Park Foundation, a nonprofit group that was trying to get Glacier Park’s concession contract. He ruled the Park Service had negotiated in good faith with Don Hummel and Glacier Park Inc., which was awarded the contract.
30 years ago
Feb. 7, 1991
Columbia Falls Forest Products closed its mill here. There was no advance notice, but workers said they had a feeling the mill was near its end, as it was going bankrupt. The unemployment rate in Flathead County was 8.3%.
20 years ago
Feb. 1, 2001
The Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. had shut down for the first time in its 45-year history, but local economic officials predicted the city was still poised to grow, and they were right. It has doubled in size in about 20 years.
10 years ago
Feb. 2, 2011
Different factions in the city were squabbling over whether to move the library from city hall to the Glacier Discovery Square (currently Hellroaring Fitness on Nucleus Avenue). After several months of deliberation, the library stayed put and remains in city hall today.