Yesterdays
60 Years Ago
June 8, 1951
The Hungry Horse News became the first newspaper in Montana - weekly or daily - to win a first-place award from the National Editorial Association. Mel Ruder received the award in Seattle, one of 18 handed out by the 66-year-old association that represented 5,000 weeklies and 575 dailies across the U.S. The award, for best use of photographs, referenced the Sept. 1, 1950, issue, which included photos of a farmer harvesting his crops, Hungry Horse Dam construction, the O-Mok-See rodeo and a tie mill at the Hungry Horse Reservoir site.
Flathead Electric Cooperative was surveying for a power line to run from West Glacier to Essex. The engineering was completed, and the materials were on order.
50 Years Ago
June 9, 1961
Citing too much work and not enough manpower, the Columbia Falls City Council decided to hire a third policeman. The city advertised for interested candidates, but the salary was to be determined.
A wind storm on May 26 downed about 1.5 million board-feet of timber in the Hungry Horse Ranger District. Ranger Bob Robertson flew over the Doris and Beta creeks area in consideration of a possible salvage-logging sale.
40 Years Ago
June 11, 1971
The city established a new dump on 10 acres off the North Fork Road leased for $25 per year from the Anaconda Aluminum Co. The site would be trenched and operated as a sanitary landfill. The city estimated residents disposed of about 50-60 tons of refuse per week. "Hope is that the new disposal site won't look like a dump," the Hungry Horse News reported.
Glacier National Park officials considering bids for guardrail work on the Going-to-the-Sun Road near the Weeping Wall estimated six stonemasons working seven days could complete 100 feet of conventional rock wall, not including foundations. By contrast, two men could erect 125 feet of timber guard railing in three hours - and the timber rails could be removed before winter to protect them from avalanches.
30 Years Ago
June 11, 1981
Controversy continued over plans to build a four-lane highway between Hungry Horse and West Glacier, where 160 accidents and 16 fatalities were recorded from 1975 through 1980, of which 25 percent involved alcohol. "I'd much rather lay out the money (for a four-lane road) than lay out my life," said Harold Ridenour, who lived at Lake Five for 65 years.
In an editorial, Hungry Horse News publisher Brian Kennedy repeated the newspaper's position for the fourth time in support of a four-lane highway in the Canyon. Referring to "a hotshot Colorado engineer" hired by the Coalition For Canyon Preservation, Kennedy said, "I highly resent some ‘expert' coming in here and telling us what we need for a highway."
20 Years Ago
June 6, 1991
The Yankees chose Columbia Falls baseball star Bill Sapa in the second round of the amateur baseball draft. The former Glacier Twins all-star left-handed pitcher said he would sign a contract if the price was right. Sapa started playing baseball at six years old with the Pee Wee program and had a .445 batting average with the Twins, but he said he never wanted to be a pitcher.
A judge's order closing 660,000 acres of West Coast timber land to protect spotted owls could help local lumber mills. The F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber mill at Half Moon was operating at 70 percent capacity because access to raw lumber was restricted.
10 Years Ago
June 14, 2001
Glacier National Park officials were looking at major upgrade projects for several of the Park's lodges, but there were complicated questions about funding sources and who owned what. Glacier Park Inc. claimed possessory interest in the lodges.
Columbia Falls city manager John Dove described efforts to establish a tax-increment financing (TIF) district in the city. The first step was to develop an urban renewal plan, which could include "streetscaping" Nucleus Avenue.