Remember When?

80 YEARS AGO • MARCH 31, 1943

ROCK SLIDE

A big rock slide blocked the Clark Fork highway east of Thompson Falls near Weeksville Saturday evening. The slide was about a block long. Approximately 50,000 yards of rock impeded highway traffic. The highway department had to bring in a steam shovel and it was not until Tuesday evening the road was opened for travel.

APRIL 21, 1943 • A GOOD OFFER

The Army has relinquished the buildings and property at the Thompson River CCC camp, to the Forest Service. These buildings were of excellent construction and well maintained, the camp being a model for the whole district. With the discontinuation of the CCC the forest service has no further use for them and will shortly arrange to dispose of them. Supervisor W.E. Fry informs us that they may be advertised for bid in the Ledger, although usual procedure on material sales is to tack a notice on the bulletin board, so only a few here and there see it. However, timber sales must be officially advertised, because in the old days the lumber Kings robbed the government out of too much of its domain by secret and collusive bids, and so it is now a national law.

However, there is one building that has already been offered as a gift to the Noxon School district. That is the big recreational hall. This building, comparatively newly built, was constructed by the CCC enrollees from Arkansas. It is very large, built of heavy timbers, hard wood floors, and reinforcements. As a gymnasium and public meeting place nothing could be better. All the Noxon district has to do is to have it moved to Noxon and put up again. The cost should be a fraction of new construction costs, and today material for new construction can’t be obtained, and won’t be forsome time.

However, there is one fly in the ointment on the above proposition. The Thompson River CCC camp is built on land leased from Dave Snyder. We have been reliably informed through Dave Snyder’s attorney that an injunction will be brought to stop removal of the buildings from the land, since it is contended that with expiration of lease the buildings revert to the owner of the land. The injunction must have held true because there were many of the original buildings still around in the 1980s. The famed River Ranch was in the CCC mess hall. Some buildings remain still.

70 YEARS AGO • APRIL 22, 1953

HOSPITAL ENDS FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION

Midnight on April 13 marked the end of the first year of operation for the Sanders County General Hospital at Hot Springs, during which time 678 patients were treated at that institution.

Ninety-three babies, which included two sets of twins, were born during the year. Of this number, 48 were boys and 45 girls.

Figures compiled by Mrs. R.F. Smit, superintendent, and Mr. Smit, business manager of the hospital, show that 116 surgeries, including major and minor operations, were performed during the year.

Sixty-three transfusions were given and 393 X-rays were taken.

Mr. Smit reports that patient occupancy of the hospital averaged 50.5 percent during the year. There are 17 adult beds in the hospital, three cribs and five bassinets.

Landscaping of the hospital grounds with shrubs and plants donated by the Montana Power Co. nurseries at Polson is expected to begin soon.

During the year an apartment on the hospital ground floor was also completed, in which the Smits make their home.

On the first of the year, the hospital qualified and was accepted into the American Hospital Association.

30 YEARS AGO • APRIL 15, 1993

RESTORATION PLANNED FOR HISTORIC HOTEL

Larry Hull and Tom Graham have stately plans for the historic Black Bear Hotel in Thompson Falls.

The two men assumed ownership of the historic building last week, purchasing the landmark from previous owner Elsie Yates.

Hull told the Ledger they plan to restore the hotel to its original condition, including renovation of the rooms and the exterior. The building is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ownership and management of the hotel is the first such venture for Hull and Graham - the pair left careers in the mining industry in Idaho.

A grand opening is tentatively planned for the first week in May, when the two men hope to have one of the first rooms restored.