Yesterdays: Truman visits Columbia Falls
President harry Truman, with mic, and Sen. Mike Mansfield at a stop in Columbia Falls in October, 1952. Truman was here to dedicate the Hungry Horse Dam.
Oct. 3, 1952
President Harry Truman visited Columbia Falls and the Flathead Valley to dedicate the Hungry Horse Dam. Editor Mel Ruder called the visit $1 million worth of publicity for the county of 30,000 people. Truman’s speech and ceremonial flipping of the switch to turn the dam’s generators on was actually in Kalispell.
60 years ago
Oct. 5, 1962
A raccoon showed up in a gopher trap. The animals were relatively scarce in the region at the time, but were being sighted more and more. Raccoons are fairly common in the valley now, and are very common in the eastern U.S.
50 years ago
Oct. 6, 1972
The Cedar Creek Dam and diversion channel was completed. The diversion channel, which still operates today, would ease any flooding from Cedar Creek into Columbia Falls. In addition, the reservoir would provide drinking water for the city. But the water didn’t taste that great and the city eventually ended up drilling wells instead.
40 years ago
Oct. 7, 1982
A group of residents were starting a ”Save Leo” campaign. The African lion, which had lived at the Trap Zoo was in danger of being killed after the zoo closed its doors. The lion’s owner was willing to hold onto the beast until the group could raise enough cash to buy him or find him a home at another zoo.
30 years ago
Oct. 8, 1992
John Petranyi, 40, of Madison, was killed by a grizzly sow and her cubs on the Loop Trail in Glacier National Park. The bears dragged his body about 150 yards from the mauling site and partially ate him, which was considered unusual since bears typically don’t eat people, even when they kill them, biologists at the time noted.
20 years ago
Oct. 3, 2002
The Going-to-the-Sun Road marked one of its shortest seasons at the time. The road opened June 28 and closed Sept. 27 due to snow in the high country. The road since has opened much later than that. This year the road didn’t fully open until July 13 and it closed, at least on the west side, Sept. 30 in the evening due to construction.
10 years ago
Oct. 3, 2012
Reconstruction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road was well underway. Favorable fall weather had allowed crews to repave a chunk of road from Haystack Creek to Big Bend. Also, crews had replaced seven-tenths of a mile of old green-timber guardrail with a more aesthetically pleasing timber guardrail.