A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler 

50 Years Ago 

Nov. 7, 1974

Frenchy’s Chinese Gardens attracted national notice. A Midwestern daily newspaper once snickered that it was housed in a "pink log cabin.” But to thousands of Whitefish residents who were used to its name and its garish decor, the restaurant/bar on Highway 93 South was a landmark before it burned to the ground. It had been there for some 40 years. The restaurant’s reputation was established by L.G. “Frenchy” Duvall, who owned it for 18 years. It started out in the early 30s as a dance hall called The Oasis, built by a man named Landon. Duvall bought it in 1954 from an eastern Montanan, Art Sack. It was being run at the time by Mrs. Lily Brash, later proprietor of the Blue Moon and of the Four Corners Bar. 

40 Years Ago 

Nov. 8, 1984

The dream season ended for the Whitefish Bulldogs. Reality poured all over the Bulldogs before about 1,200 fans when Miles City took control of the Class A semifinal game at Memorial Field early and never let up on its way to a 21-0 win and a ticket to the Class A finals in Sidney. Even though Miles City was a much bigger and stronger team, the Bulldogs were never out of contention and had a break or two gone their way, who knows what the outcome of the game could have been. The Bulldogs’ best scoring opportunity, an attempted field goal by Eric May, was blocked. 

30 Years Ago 

Nov. 3, 1994

Wet, heavy snowfall turned into pouring rain on Halloween, making for the wettest October 31st in recorded history. In the Flathead Valley, about three inches of snow fell Sunday night and Monday morning in Whitefish and Columbia Falls, delaying motorists, causing accidents and leaving northwest Montana the wettest it's been since spring. Another two to four inches of snow fell Wednesday morning, but most roads remain cleared. 

20 Years Ago 

Nov. 4, 2004

The software that actually counts the votes in Flathead County went belly up for hours. The glitch held up the count until 1 a.m. when it was discovered that a line on the ballot wasn't being counted. That line was for or against initiative I-147, the measure that would reinstate cyanide heap leach mining. The machine read the “for” votes, but not the “against” votes. The company that provides the county with the software, Elections Systems Software of Addison, was able to email a patch to the county's elections office. 

10 Years Ago 

Nov. 5, 2014

Neighbors of a proposed apartment complex on US 93 South filed an appeal with the city of Whitefish, saying the project doesn't follow city zoning regulations. Whitefish City Council approved a zone change for the project, but was forced to delay a decision on a planned unit development overlay after an attorney for the Park Knoll neighborhood filed an appeal to the city Board of Adjustments