Monday, July 31, 2006 Looking Back is a regular feature of the Modoc Record, a weekly newspaper, published in Alturas, California. The following is transcribed from the July 13, 2006 issue Looking Back 112 Years Ago –1894 TOM KEMBLE, our Tax collector, finished haying last Saturday with a crew of five men. He cut and stacked 150 tons of hay in 10 days…. Johnny Bush is again proprietor of the Alturas-Lakeview stage, having purchased it from Bert Spicer…. The school has retained its entire corps of teachers for the winter and include Professor Vergon, Miss A.L. Stephens and Mrs. M.L. Raker…. A Jockey club has been formed and named J.T. Laird as president… It is a sad thing to see so many people from our place pulling out to live in the bustling town of Reno. We think they are too easily discouraged and believe with great sincerity that better times are ahead for the people in Modoc. 92 Years Ago – 1914 R.L. SLOSS has resigned as head of the town band to devote full time to campaigning for Tax Collector…. Work on the new courthouse is progressing and an elevator has been constructed to carry cement up to the towering top floors…. Agriculture will suffer a blow from which it cannot recover if the eight hour work law and 48 hour workweek is made effective by the federal government . It is ridiculous to imagine restricting labor to only 48 hours each week; ruinous to the county. 72 Years Ago – 1934 JOHN DILLINGER notorious bandit has been killed in East Chicago by federal agents as he left a moving picture show where he had watched “Manhattan Melodrama”…. The construction of the West Valley dam and reservoir has been assured and the government has allowed $160,000 for the project of building the 60 foot dam…. More than 2,200 acres of timber have been burned on Sugar Hill where CCC’s brought the blaze under control yesterday. 52 Years Ago – 1954 BASEBALL MAY be on the way out in Alturas. Lou Wright, business manager for the Alturas Tigers, said the lack of fans at games this year hasn’t allowed the team to break even at any of the home games. Little League, which has completed its first season in Modoc, also claims gthey did not make enough from spectators to keep things going for another year…. Warner Asher has graduated from pre-flight school in the Navy…. The Alturas VFW is sponsoring a baby cojtest to determine the “King and Queen” of Mother Goose…. The Modoc National forest will return about $250,000 to the county in forest receipts this year. 32 Years Ago – 1974 TRUCK DRIVERS OF Pearson Logging Company in Bieber blocked traffic on County Road 87 and 93, going in and out of Lookout early Wednesday morning in protest to certain road closures ordered by Lassen County that have virtually halted their logging operation… The City of Alturas won approval to change its priority for future spending of Proposition 1 monies when they appealed to the Board of Supervisors. The okay may give the city as much as $70,800 toward the purchase of the Arrowhead Golf Course for principal purposes. It likewise removed an original priority to construction of a new museum building in Alturas, proposed at $85,000. I remember going across the street to the Guysin house one morning and being asked what I thought of the Dillinger killing. I had no idea who he was, so was taken immediately in hand for a lesson concerning the national news by members of that family. It is very peculiar what your' mind retains over many years, particularly when the knowledge is of no particular consequence to your life. The Sugar Loaf fire was one of the largest in Modoc county and wiped out thousands of acres of prime forest land. However, before the fire had cooled, new plantings were being accomplished. The area became a wonderful buck hunting area for several years after the fire because of all of the new underbrush that forms after a fire. Today, the area looks as if there never had been a fire at all. Hope to see you all again next week. Ron Morgan .