25 YEARS AGO: A ski resort planned for Blue River would be an alpine ski area with a difference. A lox-capacity lift would keep the number of skiers to a level where Mike Wiegele’s would be able to maintain powder skiing as much as possible, a consultant said about the Saddle Mountain conceptual plan intended to compliment the world renowned helicopter ski operation. The carrying capacity of the lift would be 1,600 per day. For comparison, Sun Peaks’ comfortable carrying capacity was to be somewhere around 9,000. The project was planned to include five lifts and upper and lower villages with 1,850 bed units. Preliminary costs estimates and job creation projections was about $35 million capital investment with 400 person years of construction employment.
20 YEARS AGO: A dinner and auction was held at the new Clearwater Legion hall for Bill and Linda Brierly to raise funds for community development work the couple had been doing in Guatemala for the previous three years. The event raised nearly $5,000. In particular, it would be targeted at building a home for a disadvantaged family in that Central American country. The youngest of that family’s three children was 13 years old and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Bill told the 150 people present. A photograph showed the family’s hovel made of wattle and mud, with a rusted tin roof. It would be replaced with a modest concrete block structure with a more hygienic latrine in the back.
15 YEARS AGO: Mineral deposits at a proposed tantalum-niobium mining project near Blue River were larger than expected, increasing the chances of the mine becoming a reality. Commerce Resources, which wholly owned the project, said samples from eight test drill holes indicated substantial deposits of carbonite, the host rock in which tantalum and niobium are found. Both materials are rare, relatively non-reactive metals. Tantalum is used to make components for electronic devices and niobium is used as an additive in steel.
1 YEAR AGO: Jade and Eralyn Pride put together a lemonade stand in front of their house, selling three types of lemonade and cupcakes, in an effort to raise money to support monarch butterflies, an endangered species. The girls raised $169.75 which was sent to Nature Conservancy Canada to help the NCC plant more milkweed for the monarch. The two were inspired to help after reading a book about the butterfly. Jade and Eralyn took the information they learned and created a few educational posters to accompany their table.
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