Remember When?

30 YEARS AGO • MARCH 8, 1990

STREET EXCAVATION TURNS UP UNEXPECTED TANK

Riverside Constructions workers dug up more than old asphalt last week after they discovered two unexpected underground storage tanks near the corner of Main and Fulton.

Moore Oil manager Ed Benton said they were called in to pump out the contents of one of the tanks. It was an approximately 500 gallon tank that had probably been in the ground for the last 30 or 40 years, Benton said.

There once was a service station at that location with gas pumps in front, he said. However, the tank was filled with water, Benton explained, adding that is common for old tanks to rust through creating an entrance for water to seep into.

Riverside Construction project manager Marcy Mill explained that they were aware of one underground storage tank at the location, but instead of one tank there were two buried beside each other; these two were removed following safety guidelines, she said. The third tank was discovered when a backhoe bucket, entangled in connecting pipes, unintentionally pulled it up, Mill said.

The tanks were buried in the street in front of Heater & Heater Garage, who sold Texaco gas and later Chevron gas. The gas pumps were on the sidewalk. Customers pulled alongside the gas pumps and the service station attendant would run out, pump your gas, check your oil and wash your windows.

CROSSING HEARING SET

A public hearing will open the March meeting of the Thompson Falls City Council, a hearing that will provide input to council members before they make a decision on whether to close the center railroad crossing access ramps. The council is considering the closure as part of the overall project of reconstructing Main Street, which is now in progress.

Mayor Sterling Larsen estimates that by closing the crossing, the town could gain from 30-56 additional needed parking places along Main Street. With a change of a few years ago of the elimination of some angled parking slots as they are converted to parallel parking along Main Street, he and council members feel the additional parking could greatly benefit merchants.

Montana Rail Link, who would also benefit with the closure of the railroad crossing, for paving of the parking area. The parking lot would be located in the same area as the current up ramps for the railroad crossing.

The closure would leave residents with two roads leading to and across the railroad tracks, one on the east end near Moore Oil (now Energy Partners) and one on the west intersecting with Gallatin Street, west of the post office (now Thompson Falls Pharmacy).

Some residents have indicated they don't wish to have the access routes closed off while others feel the loss of parking places is an important consideration and that residents would adjust to using the remaining two crossings.

Remnants of the middle crossing can be seen by standing on the sidewalk near True Value or Simple Simon's and looking north toward the railroad tracks. The old roadbed is used as a path to get to the stairs that come out at the parking area on the north side of Main Street between Broad and Mill streets.