Yesterdays: Seven boys steal 96 hood ornaments
Improvement in Columbia Falls in 1963 was the entrance arch at Nucleus Avenue and Highway 40. The sign featured mileages and other information about the city. Floodlights would be added in the spring. Photo was taken Dec. 7, 1963. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Dec. 11, 1953
All of the steel girders for the new Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant were now up. A.E. McKane was named the new agent for the Great Northern Railway depot at the end of Nucleus Avenue. Hunter Benny Benner, 20, came out of the North Fork barely alive after he shot an elk and got soaked and tired trying to track it near Cedar Lake. He built a small fire but was running out of wood so he started walking back and his clothing froze.
60 years ago
Dec. 13, 1963
The visitor center at Logan Pass was expected to be completed in the summer of 1964. It cost about $135,000 at the time. Glacier Park also upgraded campgrounds at Fish Creek, Bowman Lake and Rising Sun.
50 years ago
Dec. 14, 1973
Plum Creekâs new fiber mill was expected to employ about 120 people. Meanwhile there was concern about the diesel fuel supply getting tighter as there were reports that Flathead loggers would have to transfer up to 50% of their fuel to the military. The Vietnam War was on at the time.
40 years ago
Dec. 15, 1983
Glacier National Park biologists were keeping an eye on the bighorn sheep herd in Many Glacier that had a fatal respiratory disease. The disease was believed to have spread from herds in Waterton and had killed about 70% of the herd in that park.
30 years ago
Dec. 16, 1983
Seven Columbia Falls boys, ages 13 and 14, were arrested for stealing hood ornaments from cars. All told, they stole about 96 hood ornaments.
20 years ago
Dec. 11, 2003
The Flathead National Forest released a plan that would allow snowmobiling almost until June in the Lost Johnny area off the Hungry Horse Reservoir and the Challenge Creek area off Skyland Road.
10 years ago
Dec. 11, 2013
Illegal kills were the No. 1 cause of grizzly bear deaths in the region, with nine killed that year. All told the tally was about 25 bears killed by humans in one form or another.