Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

70 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 3, 1951

LAUNDRY IS YEAR’S FIRST NEW BUSINESS

A laundry is Thompson Falls’ first new business of 1951. The EZ Way Laundry, to be operated by Mrs. LeRoy Hanson in a building adjacent to their home, and across the street from the county jail, opened for business January 2. Equipped to do washing but not finished work, the all electric laundry boasts of five automatic washers and one small dryer all set up. Another large dryer is supposedly on its way. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson extend a welcome to all who care to come and inspect their new project.

WORK PROGRESSES ON TROUT CREEK BRIDGE

Steel has arrived for the Trout Creek bridge across the Clark Fork River which will be 727 feet long with eight piers. Four of the pier foundations are complete, three of the foundations are in, and the crews are working on the last, R. A. Stephenson, engineer said. Two spans of the superstructure have been placed.

30 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 3, 1991

ARCTIC BLAST HITS VALLEY

Old Man Winter vacated his traditional haunts and took up residence in Sanders County and northwest Montana last week as the area experienced some of the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in 20 years.

But despite the heavy snowfalls and possibly record low temperatures, residents seemed to cope and stayed warm.

During the worst of the weather, Undersheriff Gene Arnold said they had a few calls to aid stranded motorists, although Deputy Bob Lippencott was called out in his four-wheel drive pickup to aid a truck driver who was stranded.

The Thompson Falls area received about 12 inches of snow last Thursday and Friday and then another 4-5 inches this weekend. In the Noxon area, 10 inches of new snow fell Sunday, making the total snowfall close to 48 inches. Several areas around Noxon also reported strong winds of up to 45 miles per hour which added depth to snow accumulations as drifting became common.

Some areas up from the valley floor reported 30 inches of compacted snow on the level following the winter blast.

But the snow was only half of the story. While much of the area escaped an arctic blizzard that blasted areas near Kalispell, the area still suffered the freezing temperatures. In Thompson Falls the mercury dipped officially to 30 degrees below freezing Saturday morning and one home six miles west of Thompson Falls measured 40 degrees below.

The winter weather parallels the holiday season of 1968-69 when temperatures reached a low of 43 degrees below zero and snow reached a depth of 30 inches on the level for the first week of the new year. But then while temperatures moderated, the snow continued to fall with 3 inches of precipitation in the first week of January, 1969.

Before the end of the winter in 1969, area deer suffered losses when weather changed from cold to thaw/freeze cycles that made it nearly impossible for the animals to forage for food. At times, the animals would attempt to jump fences and wouldn’t make it over.

Ironically, it seems winters of cold and snow run on about 20 year cycles, according to Rich Wollaston, a lifetime resident of Thompson Falls. He said the winter of 1948 was the worst he could remember. Although temperatures didn’t reach the 43 below of December 1968, the snow was deep enough to cover fenceposts, he recalled, and was deepest in the Noxon area.