Looking Back for April 14
A warm welcome awaited Sarah Fitzgerald shortly after she completed the 20K race of the Continental Cup cross-country ski race in 1991. A Whitefish High School graduate, Fitzgerald was a junior at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and had recently competed in the NCAA championships where she finished eighth at regionals and 18th at nationals.
10 years ago
April 13, 2011
Three Whitefish Middle School students submitted a petition signed by 348 students to the city stating their disapproval of a tobacco business that was slated to open across from the school on Second Street. Sixth-grader McKayla Stone organized the petition while student council members Bergen Carloss and Kate Ehrenberg helped gather signatures.
20 years ago
April 19, 2001
Montana farmers and ranchers boarding the state’s resort communities had long been faced with an uphill battle to pay property taxes escalating out of proportion to the income they gained from their land. The same was happening to another group of local property owners who live along the shore of Whitefish Lake.
30 years ago
April 11, 1991
Breaking records in both snow depth and skier visits, the Big Mountain closed its season. There were 345 inches of snow recorded on the mountain’s summit. At one point, Big Mountain had more snow at the summit than any ski area in the world. With five days to go in the season, 283,357 skiers had visited the resort.
40 years ago
April 9, 1981
The approval of a building permit by City Council signaled the end of a two-and-a-half year effort to bring another low income housing project to Whitefish. Construction of the 31-unit building near Muldown ELementary School was expected to begin shortly.
50 years ago
April 8, 1971
Contamination of the Whitefish River by the City of Whitefish when it was dumping snow removed from city streets was brought to the attention of City Council. Figures indicated that if the city removed three feet of snow in winter it would produce 94,500 cubic feet of stuff that was being dumped into the river.