Yesterdays: Aluminum Co. drills a new well
The first known television in Columbia Falls came on at 4:30 p.m. March 7, 1953. Here, Lowell Shirts, radioman from Martin City, tunes KXLY-TV for Mr and Mrs. Howard Piper and their daughter Patricia. “Reception was fair and got better at night,” the original photo caption read. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
March 20, 1953
A water well at the Anaconda Aluminum Co. site hit water in gravel between 94 and 108 feet under the surface. It was a good well, too, with a flow of about 200 gallons per minute, or 12,000 gallons per hour.
60 years ago
March 22, 1963
Flathead County was pushing for improvements to the North Fork Road. The state said work on the road would be delayed until 1968 as it was running out of money. Meanwhile, Glacier was building what is now the Camas Road in the park. The Columbia Falls boys basketball team came in second in the class B state tourney. They lost to Big Sandy, 59-53.
50 years ago
March 23, 1973
Bob Moody celebrated his 20th year in business in Columbia Falls on Nucleus Avenue. The store sold clothing. The school district said it wasn’t feasible to reopen the Talbott School, which was constructed in 1908. The cost of repair work was approaching the cost of new construction. The annex of the school was built in 1934. It was also showing its age.
40 years ago
March 24, 1983
The City of Columbia Falls was putting up a host of items for auction, including a piano that sat in city council chambers and no one played. A white train with military clearance traveled through town. It originally started in Amarillo, Texas and ended up at a nuclear sub base in Washington. The train was replete with gun turrets and suspected of carrying nuclear warheads.
30 years ago
March 25, 1993
Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. President Richard Humphrey abruptly resigned. A company spokesman said it wasn’t due to a lawsuit filed by employees against owners Brack Duker and Jerome Broussard over profit sharing, however. The plant had also just fired 88 employees due to a power shortage and was running at 75% capacity.
20 years ago
March 20, 2003
CFAC workers weren’t optimistic about the future of the plant, after the company announced it would close two of three potlines and eliminate 175 jobs. They were right. It proved to be the beginning of the end of the plant. An avalanche went over Highway 2 near the Silver Stair Falls in Glacier. The snow pile resulted in the road being closed for two days.
10 years ago
March 20, 2013
Online petition was asking the Park Service to exclude Xanterra Parks and Resorts from consideration for the concession contract to run the red buses and lodges in the park. The petition wanted the company excluded because owner Philip Anschutz was also drilling for oil on the Blackfeet Reservation just outside the park. Xanterra did end up with the contract, however.