Yesterdays: Fire destroys Mobil Station in Hungry Horse

70 years ago

Jan. 13, 1953

They broke ground on the home for E.J. Lundstrom of the Anaconda Aluminum Co. The company had bought five new homes for plant workers. It was estimated that it would take about 1,000 workers to build the aluminum plant in Columbia Falls.

60 years ago

Jan. 11, 1963

The Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce and the city were exploring the idea of building a campground, probably on private land, somewhere in the city. The idea of an island campground in the Flathead River came up, but sewage and water were a concern. No campground exists today.

50 years ago

Jan. 12, 1973

A fire destroyed the Mobil gas station on Highway 2 in Hungry Horse as well as Cliff Nelson’s apartment home. The Nelsons had four young boys at the time.

40 years ago

Jan. 13, 1983

The timber market was leading the local economy out of the recession. Mills were calling folks back to work after being laid off for awhile. F.H. Stoltze said it would be back up to 140 employees soon.

30 years ago

Jan. 14, 1993

A power shortage in the Pacific Northwest forced the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. to cut production by 30%. Front page photo featured “snow ghosts” on Christmas tree farms south of town. Today, nearly all the farms are gone.

20 years ago

Jan. 18, 2003

A plan to change the zoning along River Road from 10-acre lots to 5-acre lots was opposed by neighbors.

There was also talk of putting a bike path along the road as well. The bike path was never built, but the zoning was passed by the planning board on a split vote.

10 years ago

Jan. 9, 2013

The contract to run the lodges and the red buses in Glacier National Park was up for bid. The park estimated at the time the contract buy-in was about $32.7 million, which included buying out Glacier Park Inc.’s possessory interest in park properties.