Yesterdays: GNP receives first bear spray

70 years ago

April 2, 1954

Carpenters working on the new Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant in Columbia Falls were on strike. They wanted a 15 cent per hour raise to $2.65 an hour. School District 6 was asking voters to approve a $160,000 bond to build a wing on the high school.

60 years ago

April 3, 1964

The first concrete was poured for two more potlines for the Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant. The two buildings would each be 1,000 feet long. Glacier National Park was expected to receive a product called “Halt” which used red pepper to stop bears. The product had been used by Postal workers on dogs. The tubes were small by today’s bear spray standards — the size of a cigarette lighter, the story said.

50 years ago

April 5, 1974

Editor Mel Ruder went on vacation in London, so the landmark Tower Bridge was featured in a photo on the front page. A subsequent story detailed the trip.

40 years ago

April 5, 1984

School District 6 floated two operational levies and a building levy. They were all defeated by voters by a wide margin. The District was asking about $755,000 for the high school operation and $801,000 for the elementary. The building reserve levy was $4.7 million in order to build two new schools, one in Hungry Horse.

30 years ago

March 31, 1994

Officials were investigating a freight train derailment just east of West Glacier. Twelve cars with wheat in them spilled. It wasn’t clear why the train had derailed.

20 years ago

April 1, 2004

Glacier National Park’s Deputy Superintendent Jerry O’Neal died at the age of 61. His cause of death wasn’t immediately determined, but it was later revealed he died of hantavirus.

10 years ago

April 2, 2014

Jordan Graham received 30 years in federal prison for pushing her newlywed husband Cody Johnson into a ravine near the Loop in Glacier National Park. Graham tried to hide the crime, claiming her husband was missing, but later confessed to pushing him to his death.