Yesterdays: Umbrella comes in handy during griz encounter
Ralph Thayer, left, and James Hellman examine a yard stick timber scale. Bothy men had just retired from the Forest Service and were neighbors on the same street in Kalispell, Thayer was an assistant ranger for the North Fork and Hellman was a construction and maintenance supervisor. Photo was taken July 2, 1951. The Whitefish range today has a memorial trail named after Thayer. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
July 6, 1951
J.D. Fenholt was offering a $10 reward for information on whoever killed his pet peacock. Fenholt had peacocks at his Riverhaven home near the silver bridge. He used to have a flock of the birds, but over the years people had killed them. The latest death was his last bird and had a fan 8 feet wide. It was worth $100.
60 years ago
July 7, 1961
Columbia Falls would celebrate “Progress Days,” in a week’s time. Opening the city celebration was a pet and doll parade, then a bike parade, then the main parade. The big event was a rodeo at the Rocky Mountain Riders Saddle Club. Up to an inch of rain from thunderstorms broke a drought.
50 years ago
July 9, 1971
Teenager Steve Thompson of Columbia Falls had his picture on the front page with a 3 1/2-pound cutthroat trout he caught out of the Flathead River. Today it’s catch and release only for cutts in the river.
40 years ago
July 9, 1981
Dave Reynolds used an umbrella he had while hiking the Loop Trail to ward off a grizzly bear. Reynolds popped open the umbrella at the approaching bear and then crouched behind it. The bear sniffed the umbrella and took off running.
30 years ago
July 11, 1991
A monument at Marias Pass dedicated to former President Theodore Roosevelt was rededicated after it was moved from the middle of Highway 2 in 1989 to the side of the road for safety reasons. It was also a recognition of the 100th anniversary of the crossing of the Continental Divide by the Great Northern Railroad.
20 years ago
July 5, 2001
Plum Creek was ready to fire up its new thinboard line (MDF) later this summer. The original MDF plant was built in 1974. Plum Creek at the time had about 1,700 workers in Montana and about 1,200 in the Flathead. The new line would handle about 100 million board feet annually.
10 years ago
July 6, 2011
Glacier Park Inc. bought the St. Mary Lodge for $16 million cash, the company announced. The lodge at the time was owned by John Blumfield and Johnny Noe, who had bought it from the Black family, which founded the lodge at the east entrance to Glacier.