Page 13 - Flathead Beacon // 7.9.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS JULY 9, 2014 | 13
County Road Department to Restore Historic Piece of Equipment
Starting your
DREAM BUSINESS?
Three Rivers Bank offers many versatile options for small business loans. Start dreaming. We’ve got your financing covered.
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com
Historic 1925 road grader will be on display outside road department shop
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
It’s been sitting and sinking into the pavement for nearly a decade. Now an historic road grader built in 1925 will be getting a second lease on life at the Flathead County Road Department in Kalispell.
The historic piece of equipment was once part of the Flathead County Mu- seum collection south of Kalispell, but when the museum closed, it and some other local artifacts were moved to the road department shop. A few years ago, the machine, built by the Austin Man- ufacturing Co. in Chicago, caught the eye of shop supervisor Corey Pilsch, who thought it would be a fun restora- tion project for his crew.
“It’s just too cool of an old machine to let it go to scrap,” Pilsch said.
Before Pilsch could move it from the back lot into the shop, he and public works director David Prunty decided to look into having the grader donated to the road department. The county commission welcomed the idea and the machine will be formally donated to the department soon.
Once the deed is in the road depart- ment’s hands, the grader will be moved into the shop and the restoration will
Flathead County Road Department shop supervisor Corey Pilsch is heading up the restoration of an historic road grader that was built in 1925. The piece of equipment was once part of the Flathead County Museum collection until it was moved to the road department shop where it has sat for more than a de- cade.JUSTIN FRANZ | FLATHEAD BEACON
By BEACON STAFF
Officials with Montana Fish, Wild-
life and Parks are investigating a bear attack involving a woman who was run- ning with her dogs on U.S. Forest Service property in the Cedar Flats area north of Columbia Falls.
The attack occurred the morning of July 3. According to FWP investiga- tor Brian Sommers, the bear ran out from the trees and attacked one of the dogs. The runner yelled at the bear, then lay on her side on the ground. The bear charged and grabbed the runner just above the hip area, biting her several times. The bear then turned back to the dogs. The runner sat up and the bear re- turned and bit her on the head several times. The bear then released its grip
and ran back into the woods as the dogs ran off.
The unidentified victim was not armed with bear pepper spray, Sommers said. Later, the victim’s husband came back and retrieved the dogs, which were injured but alive.
The victim is recovering from sev- eral bites in the torso and head area and claw wounds and was released from the North Valley Hospital in Whitefish on the day of the attack.
Sommers’ account is based on initial interviews and site visits, and he contin- ues piecing together the final details of the incident.
“Running with dogs can be a poten- tial hazard,” FWP Bear and Lion Spe- cialist Erik Wenum said. “A dog running off-leash can encounter a bear or other
animal, and potentially bring the bear back to the owner.”
Wenum added that all hikers or run- ners should carry bear pepper spray as a safety precaution.
The victim told investigators she thought it was a black bear, but they are not certain. They also don’t know the sex of the bear or whether cubs were pres- ent.
Investigators have been unable to locate the offending bear, and a trap set last week has been removed.
The Forest Service reopened the Ce- dar Flats trail area late Monday.
“All of Northwest Montana is bear country,” Wenum said. “Besides carry- ing pepper spray, hikers should be aware of their surroundings at all times.”
www.
begin in between other projects. Pilsch said he expects it to take about a year to restore. The machine will be sand- blasted and repainted. Pilsch said some metal work would also be completed, specifically to fix the mangled steps on the back of it.
Once it is repaired, some pexiglass windows will be installed to protect the interior from the elements and then it will be displayed out in front of the road department shop. Currently, an
old horse-pulled road grader is on dis- play.
“It’ll be pretty neat to have a little piece of history to put on display out front,” Prunty said.
Pilsch said the department would spend about $2,500 to fix it up. He said while it would be interesting to restore it to operating condition, it would prob- ably break the project’s budget.
[email protected]
Woman Recovering from Bear Attack Near Columbia Falls