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January 2, 2020



70 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 2, 1950

DRIVE ON TO RAISE FUNDS TO BUILD MODERN, COUNTY HOSPITAL

Past federal legislation has made $345,000 available to be used in grants to aid in the building and furnishing of county hospitals.

Sanders County has $38,000 in the county hospital fund which was voted on and passed by the voters several years ago as a bond issue.

In applying for the federal aid for our county hospital the application was turned down for lack of sufficient funds. The board however pointed out that if additional funds of 14 to 16 thousands of dollars could be added to our present that we could qualify and be eligible for 40 to 45 thousand dollars of federal aid grant.

This money, if raised, must be added to the $38,000 county hospital fund. Also there is a time limit set as of January 16th for raising of this money.

The county commissioners held a meeting at Hot Springs immediately upon their return last week from Helena. There were 51 people present and $2,996 was pledged that evening. The county owns the site on which the hospital is to be built in Hot Springs. So, of course the people of Hot Springs and community are willing to carry the bulk of the burden in raising the necessary funds but feel that the county as a whole should take an active part in helping to build this hospital.

This hospital will be used primarily for county indigent people but will have several beds for county pay patients. The building of the hospital would in no way affect the continued operating of our County Nursing Homes as the people cared for in these homes are not hospital cases.

There will be a special meeting at Thompson Falls, Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. in the county courthouse. Everyone is invited to attend this meeting and help put our county hospital over the top.

A new county hospital was built at Plains and the old county hospital now houses Evergreen Care Center.

50 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 1, 1969

1969 WAS YEAR OF PROGRESS

In this end of year summary, the Ledger will point to the news events of the past year that made it memorable.

Schools are ever in the front of Sanders County news, and buildings in Plains and Thompson Falls hit the headlines often. Plains completed construction of a $430,000 structure on its west end and after being defeated once, a bond issue to pay for a new high school at Thompson Falls was passed Nov. 15.

The proposed structure in Thompson Falls will be built northeast of the city on land traded to the city for Ainsworth Field, formerly the high school athletic field.

Next football season the Blue Hawks will be playing on a new field promoted and realized largely through efforts of the Booster Club.

A long awaited, much needed highway project was completed in July 1969 when the new Perma Curves were opened for use. In April the curves were closed for 90 days and now the infamous Perma Curves are just a memory.

Quarrels, quibbles and quandaries describe the public and private hospital situation in the county for the year.

In March the county commissioners decided to delay action on modernizing the present county structure at Hot Springs, but late in October a hospital district was formed to work toward modernizing and making additions to the facility.

In the meantime forces were at work which sought the construction of a privately funded general hospital at Plains. By late July, pledges had reached 80% of the bond total.

Another long sought road project, the Thompson Pass Short Cut, was brought to the action stage after many months of haggling. In May, Montana Highway engineers and Forest Service officials announced work was about to begin, and in November it was reported that the surveying and staking tasks were almost finished on the 3.9-mile stretch. Previous to the reconstruction of the Thompson Pass road it was a narrow one lane tire-eating dirt and rock road that was a rutty mud pit in the spring and full of potholes and other automobile hazards.

A victory for the county chamber of commerce was celebrated shortly after the turn of the year when the Northern Pacific agreed to continue passenger stops at Noxon and Thompson Falls after having scheduled termination of the service.

And of course, in 1969 as in any other year there were those personal moments of sorrow which affected the heart and brought tears.

Notable among the friends not carried into the new decade are Billy Munson, who died in March, and George Reller, who died Oct. 14. Three young men died in Vietnam, Richard Johnson, Roy Thomas and Ted Reed, formerly of Trout Creek.

 

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