Yesterdays: Man catches huge sturgeon in Flathead Lake
A horse party descends down to Lake Ellen Wilson on a Superintendent's trip in August, 1963. (Mel Ruder photo)
70 years ago
June 3, 1955
Leslie Griffith of Dayton caught a 7½-foot, 181-pound sturgeon in Flathead Lake. It was believed to be the biggest fish ever caught in Montana at the time. He caught the fish south of Cromwell Island on imported eel bait.
60 years ago
June 4, 1965
The new Bank of Columbia Falls was having an open house later in the month. The distinctive architecture of the bank was a mainstay on Nucleus Avenue up until a few years ago, when it was torn down.
50 years ago
June 6, 1975
Glacier National Park was beginning to collect fees for the season. A Golden Eagle pass that allowed entrance to all national parks was $10 and a day pass to Glacier was $2, provided they stayed in the park; if they left it was another $2.
40 years ago
June 6, 1985
Two men were involved in a shootout in Columbia Heights over a woman. Charles Kennedy, 31 and Dennis Haack, 38, went after it with handguns. Kennedy was apparently an ex-boyfriend of the woman and the two had a dispute while visiting her. Shots were fired and both men were injured. One had his hand shot. They both were hospitalized, but no charges, at least initially, were filed.
30 years ago
June 8, 1995
Glacier National Park was auctioning off buildings owned by Joe Opalka inside the park. The buildings were near Dutch Creek. Opalka was a former packer in Glacier in the ‘20s and ‘30s and he owned the private land in Glacier, which he later sold or donated to the park. You used to be able to see where the cabins once were, but fires have changed the landscape and the woods have grown back in.
20 years ago
June 9, 2005
Truckers were refusing to deliver logs to Plum Creek mills unless the company increased its rates. Truckers were paid about $68 an hour, which was less than a dump truck, which averaged $70 to $75 an hour at the time.
10 years ago
June 3, 2015
Police were seeking Christine Nelson, a former German foreign exchange student in Columbia Falls. She was wanted for allegedly making a false rape claim in Columbia Falls in 2009.