History
Founded in 1883 by Paris Gibson and railroad magnate James J. Hill, Great Falls began as a planned power city, situated to take advantage of the hydroelectric power of the waterfalls of the Missouri River. Historian William J. Furdell described it as "a businessman's town" and it was said that the city "couldn't pont to a boot hill or a hangin' tree."
In 1884, the Great Falls post office was recognized by The United States Postal Service. In 1889, construction on the Black Eagle Dam began, which would provide the city with hydroelectric power by the following year.
Great Falls quickly became a thriving industrial center and, by the early 1900s, was on route to become Montana's fastest growing community. The rustic studio of famed Western artist Charles Marion Russell was a popular attraction, as were the famed "great falls," after which the city was named.
It prospered further with the opening of a nearby military base, but as rail transportation and freight slowed in the later part of the century, its population dwindled. It once had over 60,000 people, but as of 2000 had about 56,000.
Military
Great Falls is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base and the 341st Space Wing. The 341st Operations Group provides the forces to launch, monitor and secure the wing's Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) and missile alert facilities (MAF).
These ICBMs and MAFs are dispersed over the largest missile complex in the Western Hemisphere, an area encompassing some 23,000 square miles (approximately the size of the state of West Virginia).
The group manages a variety of equipment, facilities, and vehicles worth more than $5 billion.
Great Falls International Airport is also home to the Montana Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Wing. The 120th is composed of F-16C/D fighter aircraft and associated support personnel.
Great Falls is also home to the 889th Army Reserve Unit.
The Mariana UFO Incident
Main article: The Mariana UFO Incident
In August 1950, the city of Great Falls was thrust into the spotlight of UFO enthusiasts worldwide when baseball manager Nicolas Mariana filmed two UFOs above the town with his personal 16mm camera. The footage, taken from the Legion Ball Park, was immediately submitted to the Great Falls Tribune and later shown to friends and family. At a friend's suggestion, Mariana submitted the footage to the Air Force and it was formally examined by Project Blue Book at nearby Malmstrom Air Force Base (then the Great Falls AFB). When the footage was returned to him, Mariana claimed that clearer footage featuring the ships rotating had been removed by the military.
The remaining footage has been featured in numerous UFO documentaries and, to this day, remains one of the strongest cases supporting the existence of UFOs ever captured on film. Since then, over 100 other UFO sightings have been made in Great Falls, making it one of the most active locations for UFO sightings in North America.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Genealogy Trails website is available for adoption. If you are interested in hosting this
contact Jo Ann.
(a desire to transcribe data and basic web page-making skills are required).
Send me text or picture data, information on Cascade County and I will post it. Your data is owned by you not the web site. SEND DATA to this e-mail. All work is copyrighted, 2006-10.
If you wish to submit data of any type to this site, it will be graciously accepted
and added to this site.Remember: Submitted data will always be YOURS.
CONTROL of any submitted data is yours. At any time you can choose to
remove it or keep it online from any site-wherever on the web.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
