10 Years Ago:

40 Years Ago – The fourth annual “Steve Owen Memorial Liar’s Boat Race,” was to run July 1. It was expected to draw its usual large group of entrants in a weird assortment of racing craft not normally seen on Walker Lake. Time trials for the popular Walker Lake Volunteer Fire Department sponsored benefit event was to begin with the showdown races scheduled at high noon in two classes; entries using “power units” over and under 10 horsepower. The basic rule of the unique races specified that anything that floated could be entered as long as it is not a recognized competition race boat. (Shown is the Hawthorne Kiwanis entry)

• Soldiers from the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and the Armed Forces of Armenia joined several thousand Marines and sailors from Marine Forces Reserve, headquartered in New Orleans, La., for exercise Javelin Thrust 2009.

• Members of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity were honored guests of the Hawthorne Elks Lodge when they arrived in Hawthorne on their journey from San Francisco to the east coast. This event known as Push America’s Journey of Hope, presented by KRG Capital, consisted of three teams (two leaving from San Francisco and one from Seattle) that were to cycle a combined 12,000 miles in the summer. Fundraising efforts of team members combined with corporate sponsors raised more than $500,000 to benefit people with disabilities through the Push America organization.

20 Years Ago:

• Sierra Pacific Power Co. donated 25 used utility vehicles to 25 community groups serving Northern Nevada. It was the single largest vehicle donation ever made by the company. The estimated total value of the vehicles was close to $79,000.

• Fireman from the Hawthorne Fire Department, Day & Zimmermann Hawthorne Corporation and Walker Lake Fire Department took part in an on-hand “structure firefighting” exercise at the Hawthorne Army Depot. The exercise was conducted at the training center at the Depot where containers of smoke were released in the building, representing a building on fire.

30 Years Ago:

• Three Las Vegas residents, two of them former residents of Hawthorne, filed a suit in district court in Hawthorne seeking $1,500,000 in damages which they claim are due by reason of having been falsely arrested, imprisoned, detained and prosecuted by the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office and its agents and employees.

• Employees at Mt. Grant Hospital, Mina and Hawthorne ambulance volunteers and the Hawthorne fire chief participated in a 10-hour seminar on radiation exposure accidents.

40 Years Ago:

• The town of Mina was again planning their 4th of July celebration. Included on this agenda were fireworks, barbeque, softball and horseshoe pitching.

50 Years Ago:

• About 3,407 acres of private land had been reconveyed to the United States through six private land exchanges. The Bureau of Land Management said the lands would be open to the public land laws generally.

• Nevada Public Service Commission gave authority for Sierra Pacific Power Co. to replace Southern California Edison Co. as electric distributer in two Nevada counties as was requested by the utilities the prior week. Sierra Pacific proposed to serve about 1,600 customers over an 18,000 square mile area of Nye and Esmeralda Counties.

60 Years Ago:

• Hawthorne residents were given two stiff jolts – earthquake fashion. The first rolling temblor came about 7:30 a.m. and was of sufficient intensity to rattle windows and doors as well as unsecured objects in homes and business buildings. The second quake, more of the twisting type, came about 30 minutes later and tremors were felt between the two distinct shocks. Seismologists at the University of Nevada in Reno and at the University of California in Berkeley indicated the center of the earthquakes to be in the Dixie Valley area near Fallon. An earth fault in that area had been pinpointed as the center of occasional earthquakes dating back to 1916, including a major temblor in 1954 which did considerable damage to property in Fallon and to highways for several miles distant. Scientific measuring machines listed the intensity of the quakes as ranging from 4.5 to 6.25 on the Richter scale.

70 Years Ago:

• The Bell Telephone Company of Nevada had filed an application with public service commission of Nevada for a general increase in telephone rates amounting to about $600,000 annually. In making this announcement, Robert W. Bruce, telephone company district manager stated that this would be the first general rate increase in the history of the company’s operations and so far as is known, of its predecessor company dating back to 1907. “Our problem is that 1907 prices are not enough to meet postwar costs”, said Bruce. “We have made every effort to get along on present rates as long as we could before asking for price relief, and now asking for only what is essential to meet current costs and keep the credit of the company sound.”

80 Years Ago:

• The long-discussed comeback of the famous old mining camp of Aurora, 38 miles south of Hawthorne near the California boundary line, seemed to be definitely on its way. Maintaining an average population of three and less, for many years, the old camp now boasted 58 residents. Accounting for this population increase in the past few weeks had been the resumption of mining activity on several properties.

• Considerable interest had been displayed here in the reported discovery of tungsten ore thirteen miles west of Coaldale in Esmeralda County. Location of the deposit was said to be near the Coaldale-Bishop Highway and was in the vicinity of Basalt which is situated in Mineral County.

90 Years Ago:

• “Desert Theater” is the name that had been selected by Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Bower for the pretty show house that was being rushed to completion in Hawthorne. The name “Desert Theater” was selected from 410 proposals that had been entered in a public contest for that purpose by the Hawthorne Theater, showing motion pictures at the Knights of Pythias Hall in Hawthorne.

• The building of 1,200 feet of road by Nye County and 700 feet more by the Golden Eagle Mining and Milling Company would shorten the distance to Ione by five miles, according to Kay H. Beach, manager of the company, who said that the spring program of improvement by the company had been completed.