Yesterdays: Dam the Middle Fork near Essex was the plan
Mike Hoffman and some giant sunflowers, Sept. 3, 1961. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Sept. 14, 1951
A plan to divert water from the Middle Fork of the Flathead to the Hungry Horse Dam was announced. It would require a series of dams on the Middle Fork and then a tunnel under the mountains about 7 to 9 miles long that would divert water to the Hungry Horse Reservoir.
60 years ago
Sept. 15, 1961
About 30 parents protested a School District 6 policy that would not bus students to schools if they lived within three miles of the buildings. The new policy said that if the buses were full, kids along routes to school would not be picked up. That’s still pretty much the policy in place today.
50 years ago
Sept. 17, 1971
Editor Mel Ruder went on an excursion with Glacier Park brass into the Ole Creek drainage. At the time there was a plan to make a trail from Firebrand Pass north to Dawson Pass.
40 years ago
Sept. 17, 1981
The Kokanee salmon run was in full swing and upwards of 400 fishermen were at the confluence of McDonald Creek and the Middle Fork of the Flathead trying to snag the fish.
30 years ago
Sept. 12, 1971
About 70 workers were evacuated after a transformer at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. plant exploded and caught fire. The transformer had 10,700 gallons of oil in it as well as PCBs — a known carcinogen. The EPA was overseeing cleanup after the fire.
20 years ago
Sept. 13, 2001
Columbia Falls did not go untouched by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Teacher Phil Lewis lost his best friend on the attacks on the World Trade Center towers.
10 years ago
Sept. 14, 2011
Columbia Falls police officer Steve Hughes’s gun accidentally went off in the Back Room of the Nite Owl when police tried to apprehend a man with a machete. No one was injured by the gunshot or the knife.