Yesterdays

60 Years Ago

Aug. 3, 1951

According to the Flathead County assessor's office, property values in the county had increased by 7 percent and broken the $50 million mark. Property values in Columbia Falls were assessed at $375,659.

Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. management announced they had applied for a federal license to operate a short-wave radio for its logging operations. One goal was to prevent logging trucks meeting on narrow roads with no place to turn around.

50 Years Ago

Aug. 4, 1961

Ten scuba divers from the Flathead Lifesaving and Rescue Association headed up to Schafer Meadows in the Bob Marshall Wilderness as part of Operation Middle Fork. Their goal was to swim down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River all the way to U.S. 2. With the slogan "fly in, swim out," low-water conditions was expected to force some divers to walk instead of swim in places.

School District 6 board members set up an industrial arts council in order to establish vocational training at the local high school. Members of the council included R. Glenn Kennedy, Leo Renfrow, Richard Clark, Kent Newman, George McClain, Robert Gesek and Al Reid.

40 Years Ago

Aug. 6, 1971

A 22-year-old Michigan woman drowned in Glacier National Park's Upper McDonald Creek after she and a 23-year-old man launched an inflatable-type canoe above Avalanche Creek. The two were not wearing life jackets when their craft capsized. A helicopter spotted debris from the craft near a deep pool, and divers from Glacier Park and the North Valley Rescue Association responded to the scene. The woman was found under 25 feet of water about 100 feet downstream from where the craft capsized.

Wilbur Aikin, a state regional health officer, sharply criticized the Columbia Falls sewer treatment plant. He said a faulty basin was leaking up to 10,000 gallons of wastewater per day, causing the slopes of the basin to slump.

30 Years Ago

Aug. 6, 1981

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed to expedite a legal case brought by the Glacier Park Foundation against the National Park Service and Glacier Park Inc. The Glacier Park Foundation, made up of Park visitors and former Park employees, sought to acquire the lodges inside the Park and operate them on a nonprofit basis. Their suit was filed after Don Hummell sold Glacier Park Inc. to Greyhound Food Management, of Phoenix, Ariz.

Flathead National Forest wildlife biologist Carl Hruka's opinion that a seismic study in the North Fork would not adversely impact grizzly bears was a determining factor in the Flathead Forest's decision to grant a permit for the work. The seismic study involved placing 30 pounds of explosive in 840 holes in a 35-mile line across the North Fork. Hruka said the disturbance would last only two months per year for two years.

20 Years Ago

Aug. 1, 1991

Six seat-belted visitors from Lethbridge, Alberta, and Milan, Italy, survived a 600-foot plunge off Glacier Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road. Their Chevrolet van was demolished after it crashed through three sections of guardrail near the Weeping Wall and rolled down a steep hill.

Former Hungry Horse News publisher and editor Mel Ruder was awarded a special honorary alpine award from the Glacier Mountaineering Society during their annual luncheon in St. Mary.

10 Years Ago

Aug. 2, 2001

Glacier Park officials said they expected to spend $8 million over the next year fixing up the Many Glacier Hotel, which was built in 1915. Some of the money would go into straightening out the 5-inch lean in a part of the lodge called "Stagger Alley."

Columbia Falls police arrested eight troublemakers during the Heritage Days celebration on Nucleus Avenue. Most of the detainees were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct.