Page 23 - Flathead Beacon // 6.4.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM
COVER
JUNE 4, 2014 | 23

PRESERVING MONTANA’S

FORGOTTEN FLOOD

T

he impact of the 1964 lood in by and the Glacier Reporter in Browning.
the Flathead Valley and Great While neither had the reach of the papers
Falls dwarfed the human toll on elsewhere in the state, the archives of the
the Blackfeet Indian Reserva- Glacier Reporter at the Blackfeet Commu-
tion, where 30 people died and more than nity College serve as an invaluable record
260 homes were destroyed. Yet, with all of what happened in the weeks and months
of that destruction, the lood’s impact on following the lood.

the reservation has often been overlooked, As the 50th anniversary approaches,
according to author and professor Aaron historians and documentarians are work-
Parrett from the University of Great Falls, ing on recording the story of what hap-
who wrote about the lood in 2004.
pened before those who remember are
gone. Last summer, Washington State Parrett said one of the biggest rea-
University journalism professor and ilm- sons little was written or reported about
maker Benjamin Shors began working on the lood was that the largest newspapers
a documentary about the lood. There will that were close enough to the reservation,

also be a mobile phone component so peo- those in Great Falls and Kalispell, were
ple can travel to certain sites on the reser- preoccupied covering the lood’s impacts
vation and watch interviews and see pho- in their own communities. Parrett added
tos of what happened there a half century that early on during the lood, communi-
earlier.
cation between the reservation and the
Parrett, who authored the article outside world was cut of and there was no
“Montana’s Worst Natural Disaster” in way to report what was going on out there.

2004, will be speaking at a 50th anniver- However, others have suggested one of the
sary event at Flathead Valley Community reasons little was reported about the lood
College on June 5 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The on the Blackfeet is that some people cared
event is hosted by the Flathead Conser- little about what happened on a rural and
vation District and is free and open to the poverty stricken Indian reservation in
public. For more information visit www. Northwest Montana.
latheadcd.org.
Two media outlets that did extensively
cover the lood were KSEN Radio in Shel-

For a

Limited

Time!

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