Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 6.29.16

NEWS
FEATURE
Downtown White sh in the winter of 1953. MARION LACY
Preserving History One Negative At A Time White sh photographer collects historic images dating back more than a century
LBY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
OOKING THROUGH THE COL- lection of photos he has amassed over the last few decades, Ed Gilli-
land lights up each time another one pops up on the screen.
“Wow, look at that!” he says, point- ing toward the screen as another mono- chrome image appears.
The images come from all corners of Northwest Montana. There are photos of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in the 1930s when it was just a dirt path to Logan Pass; images of skiers coasting down the slopes of Big Mountain in vivid Kodachrome color; and black-and-white pictures that capture the construction of the Hungry Horse Dam.
Gilliland, a retired railroader from White sh, has been a photographer nearly his entire life and in recent years has turned to collecting historic neg- atives and prints. To date he has pur- chased at least 10 large photo collections, some dating back more than a century and many focusing on life in the Flathead Valley during the early to mid-1900s.
Great Northern Railway crews move the Columbia Falls train depot. FERDE GREENE PHOTO
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JUNE 29, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM