Yesterdays: A mile long landslide on Chief Mountain left a 500-acre trail of destruction.
Filming a ferry crossing of the North Fork of the Flathead River in July, 1952 for the film, “Powder River.” (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
July 11, 1952
West Glacier reported its hottest weather of the year, a walloping 87 degrees during the day and getting down to 50 in the evenings. Columbia Falls residents reported tasting chlorine in their tap water. A new chlorinating unit had been installed days before at the Cedar-Crystal Creek springs and needed some adjusting.
60 years ago
July 13, 1962
Columbia Falls High School District voters approved to raise $22,350 to purchase equipment for the industrial arts department. The purchase included a precision lathe for $984.14, a metal shaper for $722.56, and a uni-saw with a 10-inch blade for $394.47. A careless angler caused a wildfire on lower Quartz Lake after catching and cleaning a fish, he lit a fire and left it burning, which spread to two snags.
50 years ago
July 14, 1972
In Glacier National Park, a grizzly sow and her two cubs were airlifted by helicopter to remote Debris Creek below Firebrand Pass. Park officials had become apprehensive after the aggressive bear family had been seen frequenting the Fish Creek and Apgar areas. Heavy rains resulted in a mudslide that temporarily closed Going-to-the-Sun-Road near Siyeh Bend. A forester from Pakistan, Magbool-Ur-Rahman, visited the Hungry Horse District of the Flathead National Forest.
40 years ago
July 15, 1982
A young Pennsylvania bicyclist was killed when his bike veered into the path of a semi-truck on Highway 2 about two miles west of West Glacier. George R Muller, 21, was dead by the time emergency services arrived. He had sustained internal injuries and a broken leg, but officials could not give an explanation for why his bike swerved. George Ostrom, publisher of three Montana weekly newspapers, sold his business to John Kavanagh.
30 years ago
July 16, 1992
The Glacier National Park shuttle bus system began this day, with an adult round-trip ticket costing $23. A mile long landslide on Chief Mountain left a 500-acre trail of destruction.
20 years ago
July 11, 2002
Glacier National Park officials had to put down a food conditioned female black bear in the Lake McDonald Area. The bear had become accustomed to eating grease and trash left behind from barbecues and was caught breaking into a residential home and eating from a refrigerator. Four Canadians plead guilty to transporting 95 pounds of marijuana over the North Fork border on snowmobiles. The charges carried a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine each.
10 years ago
July 11, 2012
A Park female trail crew leader was injured after sliding several hundred feet down a snowfield on the Highline Trail, a quarter mile from Logan Pass. Morgan Bell, 31 at the time, was flown to Kalispell Regional Hospital where she was treated for a head injury. After falling, Bell had dropped her tools and was unable to self arrest.