Yesterdays: Ski hill at Hungry Horse
Youngsters with Santa at the Bank of Columbia Falls on Dec. 11, 1959 (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Dec. 5, 1952
A Lions Club was forming in Columbia Falls. The civic organization was headed up by Al Carter. Hungry Horse had a ski hill and a tow rope at the time. Volunteers were working to get it ready.
60 years ago
Dec. 7, 1962
Rex Brown of Coram was building a lumber mill in Browning next to the railroad tracks. Plans were to log lodgepole near the Hudson Bay Divide outside of Glacier National Park. A proposed change to the basketball and football conferences was opposed by School District 6. The realignment would have meant Columbia Falls would have had to travel to Dillon the play football. Back then the trip cost more than $500 in expenses.
50 years ago
Dec. 8, 1972
It was a cold start to winter. The North and Middle Forks of the Flathead were almost completely frozen over at Blankenship. A blizzard hit Dec.1 after a warm November, with wind gusts up to 62 mph and plenty of snow and cold. December 1971 was cold, too, with an average temperature of 6.6 degrees.
40 years ago
Dec. 9, 1982
The phone company was telling folks it was time to buy their own phones. Previously, telephones were owned by the company, but new Federal Communications Commission rules would soon have the phone companies just providing the lines and service, but not the phone.
30 years ago
Dec. 10, 1992
Plum Creek and the city of Columbia Falls announced a plan to fill 7 acres of city property with wood waste from its mills. The “pit to park” project would then result in a city park in about 10 years. The park never happened, but Plum Creek used it for a dump that is nothing but weeds today. Glacier Park’s backcountry chalets would close for at least the next two years as they needed about $2.5 million in safety, water and other upgrades.
20 years ago
Dec. 5, 2002
The Blackfeet Tribe decided not to appeal a federal case of two men who shot bighorn sheep in Glacier National Park. The case could have been a test of an 1895 treaty that some interpreted as allowing the Blackfeet to hunt in Glacier, but it turned out the two poachers were trophy hunting, not subsistence hunting.
10 years ago
Dec. 5, 2012
Sandy Welch of Martin City was asking for a recount in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Welch was down by about 2,200 votes out of more than 468,000 cast. She ended up losing to Denise Juneau, a Democrat.