Yesterdays: Porcupines dining on Glacier Park concrete
Taking photos at Logan Pass, July 1972. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Local taxes dropped by 17.6% due to a federal grant of $124,420 to local schools. The foreman of the shelter cabin project at the foot of Gunsight Lake in Glacier National Park reported porcupines eating sacks of concrete mixture.
60 years ago
Glacier National Park contracted several new development projects, including an eight-unit apartment complex building at the Headquarters, eight new comfort stations and a one bedroom duplex with a ranger station at Fish Creek campground. Foresters predicted lightning storms to spark wildfires in the Flathead.
50 years ago
Glacier Park continued to report the accumulation of fluoride from the Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant, but it was down from 1970 from 7,500 pounds to 2,500 pounds per day. Columbia Falls High School anticipated an enrollment of 787 students, up from 780 the previous year.
40 years ago
Columbia Falls City Council approved the installment of a cable TV franchise, Group W Cable, with the city receiving 3% of the company’s profits from the company for a 15 year contract. An oil well was planned for drilling on North Fork Road near Trail Creek by Nyvatex Oil out of Billings.
30 years ago
A mountain lion attacked a 12-year-old Arizona boy 25 feet from Going-To-The-Sun Road until his father kicked the cat off of him 3.3 miles east of Apgar. Park rangers later tracked and killed the animal. Members of the Blackfeet Reservation complained that they should receive priority on hiring with the Park Service on the East Side of Glacier National Park.
20 years ago
Park officials tried a new method of warding off bears by firing fizzing shells, known as cracker shells, in their vicinity, as bears were reported getting more aggressive with hikers on the Highline Trail.
10 years ago
An elderly woman from Hamilton was saved after choking on a piece of meat while camping at Two Medicine when Dale Marceau, who was picnicking with his family nearby, performed the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life. Repairs to leaks in the city’s water system saved about 5 million gallons of water per month.