Yesterdays: Christmas card views in '72
Late October snow, Martin City, 1972. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Oct. 31, 1952
The Bureau of Reclamation estimated that the 1 million acre feet of water stored behind the new Hungry Horse Dam was worth between $500,000 and $1 million. An additional $35,000 was set aside to put in parking in the new Apgar Campground at the foot of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.
60 years ago
Nov. 2, 1962
Robert Wittenberg of Circle was charged for shooting an elk in Glacier National Park. The cow elk was found in the park across the Middle Fork, dead. The park boundary is the high water mark of the river. The kokanee salmon run had yet to start in earnest. Montana fish and game said the fish were introduced into a small lake up the North Fork in the 1920s and had made their way into the river and then Flathead Lake. The runs of salmon used to be tremendous as the fish spawned in McDonald Creek and elsewhere. But the runs today are tiny at best, as the dynamics have changed with the introduction of mysis shrimp — another non-native — that ended up causing an explosion of lake trout, which, in turn, ate most of the salmon.
50 years ago
Nov. 3, 1972
Heavy snow came to the region, with “Christmas card views.” Glacier Park was going to study the impacts of snowmobiles in Glacier. The park would eventually ban them.
40 years ago
Nov. 4, 1982
Sewer rates in Columbia Falls were set to rise about 33% because the city had to float a bond to build a new treatment plant. Meanwhile, the construction of the plant itself was in jeopardy because the workers were picketing against the construction company.
30 years ago
Nov. 5, 1992
Columbia Falls voters OK’d a new city manager form of government. It continues to this day. The city held its first-ever Veterans Day parade.
20 years ago
Oct. 31, 2002
The Forest Service was pushing ahead with salvage logging on the Moose Fire burn up the North Fork. The Forest Service proposed salvaging about 2,200 acres and decommissioning 56 miles of roads. The fire burned more than 50,000 acres the summer before, but a lot of that was in Glacier Park.
10 years ago
Oct. 31, 2012
The area saw about six inches of snow. Front page picture featured Aidan Jarvis having a snowfight with friends. Jarvis would go on to be a very good cross country runner, but moved away in high school.