Yesterdays: ACM would build aluminum plant here
Sheila Lynch, age seven months, center, had a bad case of polio starting at six weeks of age in 1952. The photo, as far as we were able to determine, was never published. (Mel Ruder photo)
Jan. 25, 1952
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company formally announced its plans to build a $46 million, four potline aluminum plant in the Flathead Valley. It was expected to start construction in the spring and be in production by 1953, the story at the time said.
60 years ago
Jan. 26, 1962
Palmer Construction was the apparent low bidder for new Glacier National Park offices at park headquarters. The Great Falls firm bid about $282,000 for the building, which is still in use today.
50 years ago
Jan. 28, 1972
The Flathead Preservation Committee formally proposed the Great Bear Wilderness up the Middle Fork the Flathead. The proposal was for about 282,000 acres of wilderness flanking the river and tying into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Bob Muth and Chris Roholt were spearheading the local effort. Dr. Loren Kreck was also supporting the effort.
40 years ago
Jan. 21, 1982
A sudden blizzard downed power lines and caused several chimney fires as the high winds caused a “blowtorch” effect in area woodstoves. The storm also closed Marias Pass. Winds in the valley reached as high as 66 mph.
30 years ago
Jan. 23, 1992
As wolf recovery was underway, some folks said they wouldn’t last long if biologists and the federal government didn’t play their cards right. “Wolves will be resented at best and eliminated illegally at worst if they become too populous on the periphery,” warned Jim Peek, a University of Idaho professor speaking at the Montana Wolf Working Group.
20 years ago
Jan. 24, 2002
The Flathead National Forest didn’t want to pay the county about $291,000 in costs to fight the Moose Fire up the North Fork, because local firefighters primarily protected private lands and homes and they weren’t under the unified command of the federal government when the fire happened.
10 years ago
Jan. 25, 2012
University of Montana professor and climatologist Steve Running said models predicted that temperatures in the coming decades would rise 2 to 5 degrees Celsius by 2080 and we would have hotter, drier, summers on average and wetter, but warmer winters, which is pretty much what has been happening.