Friday, March 24, 2006 Looking back is a regular feature of the Modoc County Record, a weekly newspaper published in Alturas, California. The following is transcribed from the March 16, 2006 issue. Looking Back 95 Years Ago – 1911 MODOC IS now enjoying delightful weather. Grass is growing, the birds are singing and the fish are biting…. The juvenile problem must not get out of hand, although signs of the time indicate it is growing in Modoc. 90 Years Ago – 1916 While in Lakeview last week, R.M. Cox, manager of the NCO railroad states that a couple of weeks ago a shipment of 16,000 pounds of Montgomery Ward catalogs were delivered along the line of the railroad between Reno and Lakeview. This one shipment required an extra car. It remains a matter of disgrace that so much of the money earned in Alturas is dispatched out of the county for circulation, never to return…. Last Friday the people of South Fork country gave a dance at Likely. Alturas people went down. 85 Years Ago – 1921 THAT MODOC County may be on the verge of a great oil boom was indicated this week by an announcement that the Goose Lake Valley Oil and Gas Company now have 5,000 acres under lease in the Goose Lake and the Hot Springs Valleys. A wire was received yesterday by the company stating that a geologist from San Francisco would conduct test surveys immediately. 80 Years Ago –1926 THE SCHOOL trustees are asking the public to refrain from dancing the Charleston at the MUHS hall. This building is getting rather old and the vibration that is created by this dance might cause damage to it that would ruin it for public use…. The Civic Club presented their drama, “A Virginian Heroine’ to one of the largest crowds ever gathered at the MUHS Friday evening. Everyone in the cast did her part well, with Catherine Gloster, Ida Heard and Mrs. H.C. Watson bringing tears to eyes for their acting. The other players were; Mrs. Mary Mullins, Mildred Scott, Velma Pengalley, Mildred Watson, Mrs. Mae Gooch and Mrs. J.C. Jarman. Mrs. Irma Laird was in charge of the music, and it was excellent. Perhaps the biggest hit of the evening was the fiddle of A.L. Smith with his daughter, Bessie Jackson, as accompanist. John Rachford called a lively quadrille dance after the show. 50 Years Ago – 1956 ALTURAS CITIZENRYY got its first look-see at the VFW town band last night and punctuated approval in rounds of applause during the course of the evening. The 1926 item brought many memories of folks now long gone. Catherine Gloster was my 1st grade teacher; Ida Heard was my 8th grade teacher; Mildred Scott Boyd was my 7th grade teacher. Mrs. Jarman used to have a feisty little dog that made those of us delivering groceries to her kitchen wear galoshes so that our ankles would go unscarred, Irma laird would hire me each summer to paint her front porch red, and “Uncle” Johnnie Rachford kept me in saddles, bridles, hackamores, and other horse paraphernalia. Time has passed by so swiftly. See you all again next week. Ron Morgan