Tuesday, December 05, 2006 Looking Back is a regular feature of the Modoc County record, published weekly in Alturas, California. The following is transcribed from the November 30, 2006 issue. Looking Back 97 Years Ago – 1909 LAST FRIDAY the sum of $2,932 was paid to the treasury of Modoc County by the Forest Department of the government. This was for the fiscal year 1908 and 1909. The amount is about double that counted on by our county officials. Clerk L.S. Smith informs us that an equal or greater amount will probably be paid by the beginning of the year. This will make a welcome addition to the road and school funds of the county, and the amount is divided equally. Our roads can stand some improvement….the coldest days in November was a mild nine degrees above while the highest of the month was 69. 92 Years Ago – 1914 THE TOWN council is considering an ordinance that will prohibit the building of any garages on Alturas’ Main Street. A fire Monday at 2: p.m. completely destroyed the Modoc Garage. Sixteen Alturas residents had their cars stored there for the winter and only five were saved from the blaze. Besides the garage, the businesses of the Armstrong Saloon, the Werver Saloon, the Rachford barbershop, the Arabolad and Pit River Hardware warehouses and the Exchange Restaurant were either destroyed or badly damaged by the blaze. The fire started when Mr. Renshaw lighted a gasoline torch in a repair pit and set fire to nearby gasoline. Mr. Renshaw barely escaped with his life. It was the most damaging fire in the history of Alturas. 72 Years Ago – 1934 NOTICE HAS been served in Kansas City that the reorganization of the Pickering Lumber Company is underway and could lead to the opening of the Pickering Mill in Alturas that has been in the hands of a receivership since January. The mill is reported to be the largest of its kind in the nation, but it has not turned a wheel since its construction….The town of Cedarville has organized a volunteer fire department and will stage its first Fireman’s Ball Saturday. 52 Years Ago – 1954 THE HEALTH and Safety Committee of the Big Valley is waging an all out effort to obtain the services of a medical doctor in Big Valley….Joan Delan has been named FHA Queen at MUHS….Bill Waldon of Cedarville was struck in the eye by a shotgun blast six miles south of Cedarville when a hunter shot at some quail while Waldon was driving by….Shirley Rhodes, PE instructor at MUHS, has ordered 131 girl’s gym suits. 32 Years Ago – 1974 AN ASSEMBLY of damages that resulted from a fire in the Belli Building on Main Street in Alturas on Saturday was still being made today, but preliminary estimates are that the figure will approach $300,000. More than 75 percent of the interior of this 45-year old Alturas landmark was gutted by flames early Saturday morning. Fire Chief Buster Spicer said he was “reasonably sure” that the blaze originated in, or near, a sofa in a rental apartment in the upstairs portion of the building. Best guess, he said, is that it began in a sofa and was touched off by either a cigarette of an electric heater.Three business were located in the building: Wells Fargo Bank, Wickenden Engineers and the Swing Machine Center. The Picker in Mill was a great place for kids to play. The place was brand new and had everything installed except the motors and engines to run the saws, the chains and the dehydrator. Unfortunately it stood, unused, until after the war when a lumber company moved in: they dismantling most of the mill using only a portion that it needed for operation. When the Mill was being constructed, a Lakeview Realtor, Favell/Utley, built many houses close to the mill for the convenience of the laborers. Many of these houses remained empty until late in the depression. I worked in my Dad’s Title Office and collected monthly payment from $7 to $11 dollars a month, plus interest, from those people that bought them dirt cheap. Hope to see you again next week. Ron Morgan