Yesterdays

60 Years Ago

June 22, 1951

The name of Gus, the bear commonly seen on the side of Glacier National Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road at the foot of the Garden Wall, looking for handouts from tourists passing by in their cars, was changed to Gussie after she was seen guarding her triplets.

Mother Nature provided fireguards and lookouts at Glacier Park's annual June fire school a convenient training exercise when lightning struck a tree snag in the nearby Belton Hills. It was the first fire of the season for the Park.

50 Years Ago

June 23, 1961

The city of Columbia Falls began testing its new emergency communications system. Two telephone lines connected the Flathead County Sheriff's Office, where staff were on duty 24 hours a day, to the city's fire and police stations. If a call went to the fire hall, the siren would sound, calling in volunteer firemen. The new system also included a radio receiver in the police chief's office and a portable radio carried by the on-duty police officer.

The first fatal accident of the year in Glacier Park occurred on Mount Henkel, in the Many Glacier area, when 17-year-old James Moylan, of Fort Wayne, Ind., fell to his death. His fellow worker at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, Douglas Krueger, 18, of St. Paul, Minn., also fell and spent the night with a broken back awaiting rescue. Both were scheduled to attend Glacier Park Inc.'s employee orientation classes the next day.

40 Years Ago

June 25, 1971

Interest was growing in converting the Anaconda Aluminum Co.'s Employees Club building into a city hall and library facility for Columbia Falls. The company said employee clubs were a thing of the past.

The Columbia Falls Zoning Commission recommended an ordinance requiring gas stations be located at least 1,500 feet apart effective Oct. 1. Existing gas stations would be grandfathered in.

30 Years Ago

June 25, 1981

The Montana Department of Transportation was considering plans to move U.S. Highway 2 from east of the Flathead River (where Highway 206 runs now) to LaSalle Road and Highway 40. Parts of the proposed route had recently been rebuilt as a four-lane highway.

The Hungry Horse News won the Montana Press Association's annual Thomas Dimsdale Sweepstakes Award for the second time in a row. The newspaper took home nine individual awards, including six photo prizes.

20 Years Ago

June 20, 1991

City councilor Linc France announced he was resigning from the council because he didn't like the way the city was being run. "I was so fed up I was afraid to even start talking in the last couple of meetings," he said. France said one of his notable accomplishments was bringing back the 10 p.m. curfew.

Heavy cranes lifted the roofs onto the new Alberta Tourist Center in West Glacier. The building stood 60 feet high.

10 Years Ago

June 21, 2001

Red bus No. 98 roared back into Glacier Park, its V-10 engine powering the refurbished vehicle up the Sun Road to Logan Pass for a look-see. Ford Motor Co., which headed up the effort to restore the buses, said the rest of the fleet would not cost $500,000 apiece to restore, as No. 98 did.

The Columbia Falls City Council agreed to expand its search for a new city manager. Hiring an interim city manager also was under consideration.