Yesterdays

60 Years Ago

Nov. 9, 1951

Word was getting out that the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. was serious about building an aluminum smelter in the Flathead Valley. The company got approval from the government for a three potline plant. (Editor's note: The original plant had only two potlines.)

Hunters were swimming in elk, with 460 brought out of the South Fork of the Flathead and 100 hunters still back there. Six inches of snow was reported at Spotted Bear.

50 Years Ago

Nov. 10, 1961

Fifty-seven students were ready to move into their new four-room schoolhouse in West Glacier over Thanksgiving Day weekend. The rustic-appearing building cost $70,967 to build.

In an editorial, Hungry Horse News publisher Mel Ruder described a proposal by several Columbia Falls residents to construct a house made of elk and deer antlers, similar to one at Yellowstone National Park. Ruder said he could envision tourists stopping in Columbia Falls to get their picture taken in front of the "horn house."

40 Years Ago

Nov. 12, 1971

Kokanee salmon spawning on McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park drew 267 bald eagles, according to a count by park rangers Dave Shea, Jack Fewlass and Ben Ladd. The Park's year-round bald eagle population was 15, and the Audubon Society's official count for the state was 209.

An underground nuclear explosion on Amchitka Island, in the Pacific Ocean, was recorded by a seismograph near Hungry Horse Dam.

30 Years Ago

Nov. 12, 1981

An all-time record for bald eagles counted in Glacier National Park was set at 639. The previous record was 619. The bird-counters were Park superintendent Bob Haraden, Oakley Blair and Riley and Pat McClelland.

Eyebrows were raised when Flathead County commissioners Mel Wollan and Joan Deist took a two-day trip to California paid for by Crop Hail Management. The company was the developer behind the proposed Eagle Bend subdivision, near Bigfork, which the third county commissioner, Henry Oldenburg, had opposed. Oldenburg owned land near the proposed subdivision and didn't accompany Wollan and Deist to view a sewage-treatment plant in California.

20 Years Ago

Nov. 14, 1991

A land boom was taking the Flathead Valley by storm. Most of the purchasers were by out-of-state residents, indicating that the Flathead had been "discovered." County commissioners reacted by asking the Flathead County Planning Board to get the ball rolling and get zoning in place across the county.

A steering committee hoped to get the idea of having a city manager form of government on the ballot in the 1992 Columbia Falls city election. City councilor Doug Karper said the city needed "a professional full-time manager trained and educated in city government."

10 Years Ago

Nov. 8, 2001

Gary Hall, new business administrator for the Salvation Army in Kalispell, was re-elected mayor of Columbia Falls. He defeated Claudette Hohn by 316-144.

Bill Shaw took over as the new city manager in Columbia Falls. He spent a week with outgoing city manager Dick Larsen before officially moving in on Nov. 5.