Do you remember....Montana history (Missoula, Great Falls: to buy, movie theater, school)

[bigtrees]

- The drunk bears outside of Essex ? This was caused when a Burlington Northern train derailed and spilled grain everywhere. The railroad decided to bury the grain only to have it ferment. The fermenting grain attracted grizzly bears from all over who promptly got drunk and stumbled along the tracks. The sad news is many got hit by trains until BN was forced to fix the problem.

- The time that a large elk was hit by a train (near the goat lick south of Glacier Park) and several grizzlies discovered it and spent a few days enjoying the feast?

- The summer the Flathead didn't have? This was 1994, when it rained from June clear into mid August. The farmers almanac predicted 10 days of sunshine and they were close to being right.

- The winter that snowed the Flathead in? This was 1996 and it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed. At one point, I walked outside and noticed the snow level on the ground was as high as my shoulders! About 4.5 - 5.0 feet on the level.

- The year people finally figured out what the Glacier Park Chalet's had been doing with their sewage all along (which was dumping it out over the side of the mountain)? They ended up spending millions on composting toilets for the chalets.

- The year that Big Mountain finally replaced the 2 seat Chair 1 with the high speed quad? I was one of the last people to ride the old Chair one during the ski year, and don't miss it one bit.

Lots of other things to remember, but those are the ones that I remember tonight.

[rickers]

On August 17 1959 a 7.3 earthquake caused a landslide that blocked the Madison river creating Quake Lake. This quake also caused an overspill of Hebgen dam and caused cracks in the dam. 28 people died as a result of this earthquake.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by rickers

On August 17 1959 a 7.3 earthquake caused a landslide that blocked the Madison river creating Quake Lake. This quake also caused an overspill of Hebgen dam and caused cracks in the dam. 28 people died as a result of this earthquake.

Remember the book that was published about it a couple years later? my family has a copy somewhere (how to lose stuff forever even tho you know you still own it: move twice without unpacking everything!)

[Reziac]

I think that was the guy's name... he was the evening DJ back in the 1970s, when KBMN was an independent music station. Wonderful voice, that somehow didn't look anything like the big blond hiker type he was in person. Anyway, his signature closing tune on Friday nights was a single by a female vocalist, a sad minor-key tale that all I remember of is that the singer is going down to a pond, and it sounds like she plans to jump in... the voice and style are akin to "Summertime" but far more melancholy. Jack told me the only label on the 45 was "Christie" with no other name. It is NOT June Christie, tho (or at least not any of her catalogued works).

Anyone have the vaguest idea who or what this might be, or for that matter remember KBMN back before it went to all canned music? They had this HUGE music library (almost as extensive as KGLT's), but it was all discarded when the new owners took over and changed everything.

[Debee]

Back in the sixties we used to go to a movie theater in Missoula . The charge for kids on saturday was a Bon Ton wrapper(bread) and a nickel does anyone remember this? I was only 9 or so.It was off Orange street.Cant remember the name of the theatre. We used to walk there across a bridge.There was a swimming pool we used to walk to in that area also.? There was also a catholic school we used to walk by everday on the way to school is that still there?

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Debee

Back in the sixties we used to go to a movie theater in Missoula . The charge for kids on saturday was a Bon Ton wrapper(bread) and a nickel does anyone remember this?

I remember seeing Sleeping Beauty for a nickel when I was a kid, back around 1960, tho that was in Devil's Lake, ND.

At least as late as 1972, there was a hamburger stand in downtown Great Falls that sold 5 cent burgers on Wednesdays. They weren't bad for a nickel.

Dairy Queen cones and A&W small mugs started at a dime. There were good DQ and A&W stands in Great Falls, tho they closed somewhere around 1970.

Oh my, those were the days......

[Debee]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I remember seeing Sleeping Beauty for a nickel when I was a kid, back around 1960, tho that was in Devil's Lake, ND.

At least as late as 1972, there was a hamburger stand in downtown Great Falls that sold 5 cent burgers on Wednesdays. They weren't bad for a nickel.

Dairy Queen cones and A&W small mugs started at a dime. There were good DQ and A&W stands in Great Falls, tho they closed somewhere around 1970.

Oh my, those were the days......

They sure were, so many good memories.
Oops i was 7 not 9 dont want to make myself any older than i already am LOL. Yes we seen Sleeping Beauty and Mary Poppins so many .....
I think the Theater was the Fox.

[rickers]

This wasn't in Montana but when I was a kid my buddies and I used to all chip in and pool our pennies and nickels to buy a 35 cent movie ticket at the Strand or the Roxy. One would buy a ticket, go in and right off go straight down to the sides of the screen to an exit door. He would open the exit door and let all 6 of us in. Most of the time we wouldn't even be noticed and got a basically free movie. We were really brats and we would find empty popcorn containers , flatten them out and sail them across and over the heads of the other people in the audience. I'm sure we hit more than a few people with those things . I got hit in the back of the head with one that was returned to me , OUCH ! I deserved it, my God were we brats ! We also used to go up on to the theaters roof and toss water balloons on folks walking on the sidewalk below. I feel better now that I confessed ! Why are so many old theaters named Bijou, Roxy or Strand. I seem to see those same names everywhere !

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by rickers

This wasn't in Montana but when I was a kid my buddies and I used to all chip in and pool our pennies and nickels to buy a 35 cent movie ticket at the Strand or the Roxy. One would buy a ticket, go in and right off go straight down to the sides of the screen to an exit door. He would open the exit door and let all 6 of us in. Most of the time we wouldn't even be noticed and got a basically free movie.

Heh heh... we'd do something similar at the Bozeman theatre. It was built so you could access the bathrooms from either movie (it had two screens). So we'd pay for one movie, then when it was over (or if we got bored with it) we'd walk thru the bathroom into the other movie.

But the fact is, theatres don't really care what you view, so long as they've got your fanny INTO the building at all, because most of 'em don't make a dime on the films themselves -- what studios charge them is much too high for the film to pay for itself no matter how packed the seats are. Theatres make most or all of their money on the snack bar. Which is why the prices for eats are so high, even in the dollar theatres!!

Hey, is there anywhere that still has a working drive-in movie?? I haven't seen even a neglected-and-falling-down specimen in about 20 years.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Heh heh... we'd do something similar at the Bozeman theatre. It was built so you could access the bathrooms from either movie (it had two screens). So we'd pay for one movie, then when it was over (or if we got bored with it) we'd walk thru the bathroom into the other movie.

But the fact is, theatres don't really care what you view, so long as they've got your fanny INTO the building at all, because most of 'em don't make a dime on the films themselves -- what studios charge them is much too high for the film to pay for itself no matter how packed the seats are. Theatres make most or all of their money on the snack bar. Which is why the prices for eats are so high, even in the dollar theatres!!

Hey, is there anywhere that still has a working drive-in movie?? I haven't seen even a neglected-and-falling-down specimen in about 20 years.

Sure, they have on in Columbia Falls that is still open. And in Washington State, we have two different drive ins. One is a single screen and the other is a whopping five-plex! Used to be six until one blew down.

There is a multiplex down in Mesa, AZ as well.