Looking Back: Ralph L. Thayer Memorial Trail dedicated
Al Schoenhuth, Flathead County Sanitarian, is shown nailing up a "No Swimming" sign at City Beach to replace one stolen by vandals. The beach was ordered closed until further notice by Schoenhuth after high water innundated sewage manholes near the beach, releasing raw sewage in the swimming area.
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
July 18, 1974
Those present at a special meeting agreed that many private septic systems and drain fields along the east lakeshore have been underwater and were probably the primary source of the current lake pollution. The meeting, called by Mayor John Thorson, was attended by councilmen Fred Stacy and Art Engelter, Public Health Officer Dr Bruce McIntyre and Assistant County Sanitarian Al Schoenhuth R.S. Water is involved in disease communication where the channel of infection is the mouth and intestinal tract. Water may contain infectious agents of typhoid and paratyphoid fever, dysentery, infectious hepatitis and cholera.
40 Years Ago
July 19, 1984
Ralph L. Thayer Memorial Trail was dedicated July 23 with a ceremony at the Werner Peak lookout. The ceremony would officially dedicate the Thayer Trail, which is part of the National Recreation Trail System. The designation honors the late Thayer, who worked for 40 years on the Glacier View Ranger District. Flathead Forest Supervisor Ed Brannon and Glacier View Ranger Dick Call made presentations at the ceremony and a sign was installed at the site to mark the trail.
30 Years Ago
July 14, 1994
The debate was heating up over a request to fill wetlands for a proposed outlet mall with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers likely having the final say in the matter. Stan Carson of Del Mar, California, one of the three partners who wanted to develop an outlet mall on a 14-acre tract off U.S. Highway 93 near Montana 40, said his company was taking all the necessary legal steps to have the project approved. “We don't have ducks living here or fish migrating here,” Carson said, pointing to the area designated as a wetland. “We have mosquitoes.”
20 Years Ago
July 15, 2004
Big Mountain announced the elimination of its Wednesday night gravity game series. The competitive series was aimed at mountain biking's fastest growing market segment, the downhill, but it failed to gain enough speed for Big Mountain to consider the race series viable. “Currently, there is a renewed focus on the skiing/snowboarding product. (The downhill series was) discontinued because the participation did not justify continuing the program. It comes down to participation,” explained Dan Virkstis, public relations manager for Winter Sports Inc., operator of the resort.
10 Years Ago
July 16, 2014
New construction in Whitefish was heating up. For the first six months of the year, 87 permits had been filed for new construction, remodels or additions within city limits. Nine permits for new single-family homes and nine permits for commercial and residential remodels were filed in June alone. New home construction ranged from a $100,000 project on West Third Street to a $4.1 million project in Iron Horse. In all of 2013, the city recorded 75 building permits for single-family homes. There were 51 permits in 2012, a number that had been the high for the previous six years.