Yesterdays: Men plan to take outboard boat to Hawaii
Ace Powell, left and Dick Mekkelsen carving wood figures, March 31, 1952. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
March 21, 1952
Glacier National Park had plans to do extensive work on the Inside North Fork Road and there were eventually plans to cross the North Fork again and run the road over Akimina Pass, back to Waterton. That plan never came to fruition. Seattle mountaineers were planning on climbing in Glacier Park this summer, with base camps at Gunsight Lake, Sperry and Granite Park.
60 years ago
March 23, 1962
Telephone rates were expected to rise substantially, from $3.25 a month to $4.75 a month. Pacific Power and Light claimed that its costs were increasing. A telephone pole cost went from $5.50 to $11.70 and wages for workers had also gone up.
50 years ago
March 24, 1972
Longtime Forest Service ranger Charlie Shaw said there was little the agency could do to manage elk in the Bob Marshall Wilderness because they couldn’t cut down trees. He did, however, note that large forest fire burns elsewhere, like the Half Moon Fire of 1929 had created winter range, just not in the wilderness. Today, forest fires are frequent in the Bob.
40 years ago
March 25, 1982
Locals Allen Fergus and Jim Haverlandt were planning to boat from California to Hawaii in an outboard motorboat. The boat was fitted with a 235 horsepower motor. They said if they made it to Hawaii, then they would try to go to Australia. They were hoping that when the jet stream changed, they’d get flat water for 14 days.
30 years ago
March 26, 1992
Mild weather saw Glacier National Park open the Going-to-the-Sun Road from Rising Sun to Jackson Glacier Overlook. The feds were busting up an alleged Columbia Falls cocaine ring. Leon Hoerner, 41, of Whitefish was allegedly connected to the ring, which allegedly dealt drugs out of a baseball card shop in Whitefish. The feds claimed Hoerner was linked to the murder of a man in Indiana. The victim was killed “because he talked too much.”
20 years ago
March 28, 2002
The Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. was considering starting a second potline up because wholesale power prices had plummeted and they were already getting paid $20 a megawatt hour to not use Bonneville Power Administration power. Skiers Paul Moffatt and Sean Kelly almost died in an avalanche on the Seven Sisters Chute off Big Mountain. Kelly dug out Moffatt, who was buried alive, after finding him with his transceiver, saving his life. Moffatt was face down and Kelly gave him some mouth-to-mouth breaths, which brought him back to life.
10 years ago
March 21, 2012
Flathead County Commissioner and longtime Sheriff Jim Dupont died. He apparently had a heart attack after exercising at his home in West Glacier.