Yesterdays: 1953 Hollywood visits Glacier

by Hungry Horse News
| February 22, 2023 2:00 AM

70 years ago

Feb. 20, 1953

Hollywood was coming to Glacier as RKP Pictures had plans to shoot “The Glacier Park Story” in the park, chronicling the life of a ranger. They were going to put sirens on the lower South Fork to warn anglers of rising water below the Hungry Horse Dam when the gates were opened to release more water. They were also considering using vegetable dye that wouldn’t harm fish.

60 years ago

Feb. 22, 1963

Front page story centered on juvenile delinquent kids in town and asked the question: “Why is it so easy for teenagers to get liquor and what can be done about it?” The bottomline seemed to be it was a problem based on parents and parenting, or lack thereof.

50 years ago

Feb. 23, 1973

A class action lawsuit against the Anaconda Aluminum Co. was reduced from $21.5 million to $2.8 million by District Court Judge Robert Sykes. The lawsuit, filed by Dr. Loren Kreck and his wife in 1970 included about 6,000 residents in and around Columbia Falls. But of the 1,325 notices sent out to taxpayers asking whether they would like to join the suit, all of them declined. Still, the case would continue. Kreck was suing over pollution from the plant which was damaging trees in town. It would eventually lead to the plant taking steps to clean up its discharges significantly. But AAC being a major employer, the suit wasn’t popular.

40 years ago

Feb. 24, 1983

Evelyn Laber of Columbia Falls skied four miles in Glacier National Park on a broken leg after a mishap near the old Flathead Ranger Station. She hit a bump and fell and suffered a spiral fracture, but was able to ski out and drive herself to the doctor for treatment.

30 years ago

Feb. 25, 1993

Columbia Falls firefighters battled an explosion and blaze at Plum Creek’s Medium Density Fiberboard plant. It took all night to put the fire out. No one was injured, but it did about $1 million in damage. The plant was online about a week after the Feb. 17 fire.

20 years ago

Feb. 27, 2003

Glacier National Park was doing a Congressionally mandated study of privatizing about 100 jobs in the park, including entrance station employees, mechanics and maintenance and other jobs.

10 years ago

Feb. 27, 2013

Columbia Falls was considering re-zoning lands along Highway 2 from Grove Street to the east as commercial, after a landowner wanted to put a fly shop in a house. The council ultimately decided against the measure.