Yesterdays: Glacier National Park bulldozer operator Charles Siderius survived rolling his dozer 350 feet off the Going-to-the-Sun Road near Logan Pass
Chuck Siderius survived rolling this bulldozer some 350 feet off the Going-to-the-Sun Road in June, 1964. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
June 4, 1954
Flathead County Commissioners were lobbying Montana’s congressional delegation to finish attaching three bridges to cross the North Fork of the Flathead River at Polebridge. The county had already bought three bridges from the Bureau of Reclamation that had crossed Wheeler, Sullivan and Graves Creek along the new Hungry Horse Reservoir, but they needed about $85,000 to complete the job up the North Fork.
60 years ago
June 5, 1964
Glacier National Park bulldozer operator Charles Siderius survived rolling his dozer 350 feet off the Going-to-the-Sun Road near Logan Pass while clearing the highway. Siderius’s dozer went off the road when a slab of snow about 3 feet thick and an acre in size broke off the road. “All I could think of was hold tight and don’t get crushed.” Siderius told the newspaper.
50 years ago
June 7, 1954
Cheryl Rude won the state A title in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2-3/4 inches for the Columbia Falls Wildkittens track team.
40 years ago
June 7, 1984
The CBS News with Dan Rather would air a segment on plowing Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road. A film crew from the network spent three days in the park.
30 years ago
June 9, 1994
A wolf that had been killing calves and was caught and relocated to Glacier National Park in April had been shot in Alberta, Canada by a rancher. In Canada, it was legal to shoot the wolf under that country’s laws at the time. Back then, though, biologists were trying to re-establish packs in the U.S. and they were protected under the Endangered Species Act.
20 years ago
June 3, 2004
Three park rangers rescued a 3-year-old boy from the Middle Fork of the Flathead River near Essex. The canoe the youngster was riding in with his parents flipped over. A ranger paddled down the river in his kayak and found the boy along the bank blue and unconscious about a mile from where the canoe went into the water. He had a lifejacket on and was face up in the water. Ranger Kevin Hammonds gave the boy CPR for 15 minutes before the ALERT helicopter arrived. The boy was eventually revived and treated at Sacred Heart Hospital in Washington.
10 years ago
June 4, 2014
A Glacier National Park survey of folks found that more people wanted more shuttle service, but they also complained about crowded trails and too many people in the park.