Yesterdays: Boulder the size of a Jeep falls on Sun Road
From left, Plum Creek President Fred Winegar greets Burlington Northern CEO Louis Menk and Stephen Ailes, president of the American Association of Railroads to Columbia Falls to tour the new MDF plant in July, 1974. They were at the old Columbia Falls depot. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
Sept. 24, 1954
The Chief Charlot, a tugboat that had previously been used by the Navy, was pressed into service on the Hungry Horse Reservoir. The boat was named after the famed leader of the Flathead Indians. It had a 100-horsepower engine and would be used to move booms and do other work at the Hungry Horse Dam.
60 years ago
Sept. 25, 1964
Local officials were still touting a fiber pulp mill plant southwest of Columbia Falls, assuring folks it would not pollute the air or water here. The plants were notorious for their foul smell. It was never built.
50 years ago
Sept. 27, 1974
The filming of “Winterhawk” continued in the Flathead; this time close to Columbia Falls in a pasture/woods owned by Don Doane off Highway 40.
40 years ago
Sept. 27, 1984
A two-page ad spread featured the opening of DePratu Ford in Whitefish. An oil change was $10.69. A front-end alignment was $18.95.
30 years ago
Sept. 29, 1994
A boulder the size of a Jeep fell onto the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park near Crystal Point. No one was injured and a photo of the rock showed a Jeep about the same size driving around it.
20 years ago
Sept. 23, 2004
Officials from the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Plant as well as local politicians were lobbying the Bonneville Power Administration for more power for the plant. Of course, the plant wanted the power at a cut rate and wanted enough to run just half of its capacity. The plant had about 150 employees at the time. A Calgary man was seriously injured after rocks fell off the Sun Road and struck his Porsche, went through the roof and hit him in the head.
10 years ago
Sept. 24, 2014
A man was killed after he fell about 100 feet off the Sun Road on the east side near where the Big Drift accumulates each year. It wasn’t clear why or how he fell off the road.