Yesterdays: Glacier Park ranger bitten by griz
Jerry DeSanto skis the North Fork in this photo from 1999. (Chris Peterson photo)
70 years ago
June 12, 1953
Construction of the $50 million Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant was officially underway. The area was once a forested deer haven, the newspaper reported. It’s turning back to that same state today.
60 years ago
June 14, 1963
The Flathead National Forest said it had plans to build a modern campground in Hungry Horse near the South Fork of the Flathead River bridge. The campground never came to fruition.
50 years ago
June 15, 1972
Ian B. Tippet would return for his 21st summer as the manager of the Many Glacier Hotel and personnel director for Glacier Park Inc. Tippet was renown for bringing musicals and music acts to the Many Glacier Hotel over his tenure.
40 years ago
June 16, 1982
North Fork subdistrict ranger Jerry DeSanto was bitten and clawed by a grizzly bear after he encountered her and her cubs on the trail to Upper Kintla Lake. DeSanto tried to climb a tree, but could only get about 6 to 8 feet off the ground. The sow pulled him down, scratched and bit him, then left. DeSanto remarked a grizzly mauling would likely happen to him sooner or later, knowing the amount of miles he hiked in a year. Bear spray wasn’t an option back then.
30 years ago
June 17, 1993
A snowstorm dumped 14 inches of fresh snow in Glacier National Park, prompting the closure of the alpine section of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The road reopened a few days later when the weather improved.
20 years ago
June 19, 2003
When Glacier Park Inc. gave away the red buses to the National Park Service, it looked to be a sweetheart deal. The company took a tax write-off on the buses; then they were rehabbed by the Ford Motor Co. at a cost of roughly $6.5 million; then GPI was allowed to operate, and profit from them with no cost to the company, outside of maintenance and some upgrades to the garage that housed them.
10 years ago
June 19, 2013
Jeff Mow was named superintendent of Glacier National Park. He first came to Glacier 25 years prior as a firefighter. The story predicted he would be overseeing fires as the superintendent of the park. That proved all too true, as a host of homes burned along Lake McDonald in the Howe Ridge Fire and the Sperry Chalet was gutted in the Sprague Creek Fire.