Yesterdays: Canyon Elementary facing closure
Concluding variety show to raise funds for a band trip to Europe were Rev. Father Leonard Spraycar, Doug Follett and Rev. Ray Davis in April, 1974. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
April 16, 1954
Carpenters at the Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant construction settled with the company for $2.65 an hour, if they were needed. The subcontractor would pay them the prevailing wage, but also didn’t expect that they would be needed anymore. The carpenters had been on strike for a few weeks.
60 years ago
April 17, 1964
Ten cows and three Hereford calves from the Flathead Valley were going to be on display at the World’s Fair in New York City. The animals were part of the Edmiston family’s herd, which had a spread between Columbia Falls and Kalispell.
50 years ago
April 19, 1974
A contract to clear trails in Glacier National Park was awarded to three men who were also teachers in Columbia Falls schools. Garry O’Briner, Dave Managhan and Daniel Yuhas bid $5,555 to clear trails in the North Fork and Two Medicine.
40 years ago
April 19, 1984
Front page story featured Columbia Falls native Paul Grilley, who was marrying Patti Davis, the daughter of Nancy and Ronald Reagan, the former president. Paul grew up in Martin City and ended up a yoga instructor in Beverly Hills, California, which is how he met Patti. The two divorced in 1990.
30 years ago
April 14, 1994
Conrad Peterson, a developer with a checkered past, was trying to get a subdivision approved along the Flathead River. But he had already run afoul of landowners in Sanders County after he never finished a subdivision there, which was supposed to have a private water supply and other amenities and ended up filing for bankruptcy. Folks were worried the same thing could happen here.
20 years ago
April 15, 2004
School District 6 superintendent Michael Nicosia warned that if the elementary levy failed, the district would close Canyon Elementary School. The district was facing a $300,000 deficit and had already cut seven teachers and a host of custodians the year before.
10 years ago
April 16, 2014
The North Fork Watershed Protection Act, which would permanently withdraw about 362,000 acres from federal oil, gas and mining leases in the North and Middle Forks hit a snag in Congress. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma claimed if Montana wanted the leases withdrawn so bad, the feds should give the state the land and the state could do what it wanted with it.