Yesterdays: Ranger loses glasses after griz encounter
The arch over Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls, July, 1964. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
July 2, 1954
The search was on for a missing Cut Bank youth. Sixteen-year-old Pat Keyes had ridden out to Cracker Flats in Glacier National Park to look for some horses and didn’t return. Wranglers found his horse, but didn’t find him. Anaconda Aluminum Co. officials claimed pollution control measures for the new aluminum plant under construction in Columbia Falls were in place as part of the plant’s design.
60 years ago
July 3, 1964
Glacier National Park was back on a summer schedule after a delay from the June 8-9 flood. Passenger rail service was restored as were all the repairs to the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The Sun Road had three short stretches with one-way traffic.
50 years ago
July 5, 1954
Cynthia Merriam, 11, miraculously survived a half-mile tumble down Ole Creek in Glacier Park. The creek was swollen with runoff. The girl managed to grab a branch and pull herself out of the creek. She was walking back down to where she first fell in while trying to cross the stream when family members found her.
40 years ago
July 5, 1984
Every stump and shadow looked like a grizzly to Glacier Park ranger Neal Wedum. Wedum had been treed by a griz and lost his glasses and couldn’t see very well after a close encounter with a sow grizzly that hissed at him like a snake before he was able to get into the tree. Wedum had a shotgun as he was on patrol to clear and close the trail due to the griz, but didn’t use it.
30 years ago
July 7, 1984
Dave Mihalic, Glacier Park’s new superintendent, had moved into the park’s housing complex in one of the ranch homes in West Glacier. Mihalic had three children at the time.
20 years ago
July 1, 2004
Businesses weren’t happy about a Park Service plan that would add more lodging inside of Glacier Park’s boundaries. They thought at the time it was anti-competitive and would draw from their business. Glacier was increasing the number of rooms by 28 and capping the total number of rooms available to 540.
10 years ago
July 9, 2014
According to corporate filings, the Viad Corp. paid $17 million to buy the holdings of the Lundgren family in West Glacier, which included most of the stores and shops in town.