Yesterdays: County eyes removing red bridge
Anaconda Copper Mining brass scout out locations for a new aluminum plant on Jan. 31, 1952. Here they are on the old John Schandler orchard at the base of Teakettle Mountain. From left is Henry Larkin, one of the landowners, H.G. Satterthwaite, assistant general superintendent of ACM, Joe Opalka, V.E. Christensen of International Smelting Co., W.C. Rae of ACM and Dwight Lohn, Bank of Columbia Falls vice president. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Jan. 18, 1952
Glacier National Park was starting to do its trail planning for the summer months. Back then, the Park had 1,064 miles of trails. Since then, hundreds of miles have been closed or abandoned. The park officially has about 730 miles of trails today.
60 years ago
Jan. 19, 1962
The Flathead National Forest considered its timber harvest was on par with its sustained yield, which it said at the time was about 127 million board feet annually. The 1961 harvest was 132.4 million annually, a record at the time. Today, the forest harvests about 30 to 50-plus million board feet annually.
50 years ago
Jan. 14, 1972
Columbia Falls was considering a grant to fluoridate its water, which seemed a bit ironic, since the aluminum plant’s main pollution was fluoride. The story noted the fluoride from the plant wasn’t helping the water. Studies did, however, find kids had poorer teeth than other communities.
40 years ago
Jan. 21, 1982
Columbia Falls had a new police car — a shiny Chevy Citation. The car got 19 miles to the gallon, compared to the 5 miles a gallon of the previous car.
30 years ago
Jan. 16, 1992
Plum Creek gave a steak dinner to 60 plywood plant employees for a stellar safety record. Workers from 10 to 40 years at the plant without an industrial injury were honored with the meal.
20 years ago
Jan. 17, 2002
Chris Dalimata was raising fish at the family spread in Nyack. He had ponds where he raised native westslope cutthroat trout. The hope was to sell the fish to local restaurants.
10 years ago
Jan. 18, 2012
Flathead County was eyeing removing the red bridge in Columbia Falls. But it came with a steep pricetag of about $374,000. The county was worried about liability, but the bridge is still there today.