Yesterdays

60 Years Ago

Aug. 31, 1951

Glacier National Park naturalists planned to conduct their annual aerial survey of the Park's 60 glaciers, while U.S. Geological Survey scientists would conduct a ground survey. Glaciers all over the world were known to be retreating since 1890, but Park glaciers in 1950 seemed to holding their size for the first time since Glacier Park was created in 1910. Still, Sperry Glacier, the largest in the Park, had shrunk from 880 acres in 1900 to 330 acres in 1950.

The driver of a fuel truck for Morrison-Knudsen, the construction company working on the Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road, lost control of his vehicle near the Weeping Wall. The truck went through a rock retaining wall and plummeted about 1,000 feet down a steep slope. The truck was a complete wreck, but the 250 gallons of gasoline and 400 gallons of diesel fuel did not catch on fire. The driver was thrown clear and suffered only lacerations and bruises.

50 Years Ago

Sept. 1, 1961

August 1961 was one of the hottest Augusts in the Flathead since 1915, and this was reflected in the number of fires in the Flathead National Forest. Firefighters dealt with 68 lightning-caused fires and 18 human-caused fires. The worst was the Hornet Creek Fire in the North Fork, which burned 10 acres near the Canada border. Ninety-six men, including 34 from Plum Creek and Stoltze Land & Lumber Co., had the fire under control in two days.

More than 1,000 people took one-hour tours of the Anaconda Aluminum Co. smelter north of Columbia Falls. Tours were scheduled twice a day during the work week for people 14 years or older.

40 Years Ago

Sept. 3, 1971

California passed Montana as the leading source of visitors to Glacier National Park, according to an Aug. 9-15 survey at Park entrance stations. Vehicles with foreign license plates, including Canadian, were not required to pay entrance fees. Concession buses were up 84 percent, and camper use had increased 21 percent over 1970.

A giant car-crushing machine was brought to the Flathead from Spokane, Wash., and set up in Columbia Falls. After the work was done here, the machine would be moved to Martin City, where old vehicles were stacked on lots owned by Kenneth Birnel.

30 Years Ago

Sept. 3, 1981

A 23-year-old Pennsylvania man died while climbing 10,142-foot high Mount Stimson in Glacier National Park. Harry Donaghey had been missing from his base camp at the Nyack Creek patrol cabin for several days, and Park rangers spent two days searching for him. His body was found at the base of a 400-foot cliff at the 8,000-foot elevation. Donaghey's climbing partners had become separated from him and one shot off bottle rockets about halfway down the mountain to indicate he was returning to camp.

Dean Calderwood, 27, opened up a dentist practice on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls. Raised in Alaska, he attended Brigham Young University and the University of Pacific in San Francisco.

20 Years Ago

Aug. 29, 1991

The state of Montana informed the city of Columbia Falls that it would continue to keep an eye on air quality here for three more years even if control measures were effective and no violations were recorded in 1991. Most city streets had been paved or oiled since air quality infractions in 1987. Half the city's air pollution was from road dust, and 19 percent was attributed to Plum Creek Manufacturing operations.

Flathead County sheriff's deputies responded to the Berne Park water spout on U.S. 2 in Bad Rock Canyon. There had been complaints that huckleberry vendors were not providing the general public with access to the water spout.

10 Years Ago

Aug. 30, 2001

The new Columbia Falls Junior High School building opened to rave reviews. Sixth-grader Cody Kolodejchuk lined up in front of the school at 5:30 a.m. so he could be the first student through the door. The building cost nearly $12 million and featured classrooms from 1,000 to 1,200 square feet.

A fire that originated in the Whitefish Range near Moose Creek had quickly grown to 15,000 acres and was heading toward the North Fork Road. The firefighters camp was moved from Moran Creek to the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. grounds, and much of the North Fork was closed to visitors.