90 Years Ago – Three men were injured; none seriously, in a rock slide at Cat Creek Dam. Ralph Reed, shift boss received a deep gash over his left eye and four stitches were required to close the wound. He also received cuts and bruises about the body, including a wrenched shoulder and sprained ankle.

10 Years Ago:

  • Cliff Cichowlaz, SOC Hawthorne Vice President and General Manager presented Carmen Dupree, head coach of Mineral County High School Cheerleading Team, a check for $500 to help with the cost of 2009-2010 season equipment support.
  • Lon Bartoli, the training officer at SOC Hawthorne Fire Department gave a class on types of fire extinguishers and their uses to summer employees during a training session at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Office.

20 Years Ago:

  • Foster Kenton, Jr. of Hawthorne returned from Greenville, Ohio where he won the Class B-1 World Horseshoe Championship, making it his second World Horseshoe Tournament championship.
  • The Independent-News received a copy of the Stipulation and Order for Dismissal with Prejudice that was filed in the U.S. District Court, District of Nevada on July 8, 1999. This case was in reference to the lawsuit that was filed two and a half years ago in March 1997 against Mineral County Assessor Gloria Hughes as defendant by Shirley Johnson, Cassandra Rucker and Rolanda Treharne-Carter, as plaintiffs. In the document of stipulation and order for dismissal with prejudice it stated . . . “It is hereby stipulated by and between all parties acting through counsel, that the within action may be dismissed with prejudice, each party to assume and pay their own court costs and attorney’s fees.”

30 Years Ago:

  • Nearly 60,000 pounds of smokeless powder stored in a bunker at the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant went up in flames, but no injuries were reported, Army spokesman Capt. Gary Baratta stated. Although flames shot 100 feet in the sky, the fire burned itself out in a matter of minutes, he said. A bomb squad from the Sierra Army Ammunition Depot at Herlong, Calif., came to investigate the cause of the spectacular blaze, but were unable to enter the bunker until the next day allowing it to cool enough for the investigation.
  • The assessor’s office in Gabbs was flooded during a downpour. Three rooms and the jail cell area ended up being flooded. Once the rain had subsided the assessor’s office was left with up to two inches of water and silt on the floor.

40 Years Ago:

  • A decision would be made late in October whether Candelaria Partners would proceed with a large scale mining operation at the old camp of Candelaria in southeast Mineral County.
  • The Mineral County Park and Recreation Commission was interested in obtaining citizen input on a county wide basis relative to the naming of the swimming pool park.

50 Years Ago:

  • A DC-3 airliner which disappeared after taking off from Hawthorne early in the morning of Feb. 18 was located in a remote area near a peak on the Mt. Whitney Range southwest of Lone Pine, Calif. The plane enroute from Hawthorne to Burbank, Calif. carried 32 passengers and a crew of three, all of whom were killed when the twin-engine plane crashed into the mountain during a snow storm.
  • Announcement was made by the state highway department that bids would be accepted for examination in Carson City for a safety improvement project north of Hawthorne. U.S. Highway 95 would be widened to four lanes from near the north limits of Hawthorne to a point 2.14 miles north and completely resurfaced.

60 Years Ago:

  • Considerable progress had been made during the past two months in completing various final phases of work on the Hawthorne community swimming pool and the project committee had high hopes that it would be possible to finish the job that year, according to Jack Bott, chairman.
  • Fifteen airplanes landed yesterday evening at Hawthorne’s airport with between 40 and 65 businessmen, contractors and ranchers from Fresno, Calif. who were guests of the El Capitan in this community. The visitors were spending that day at “the bright spot between Reno and Las Vegas.”

70 Years Ago:

  • Less than 48 hours after several buildings had been destroyed by fire in Mina, residents of that community again were thrown into a state of tension when a second fire, said by officers to be of incendiary origin, occurred. The previous night’s fire was in the same locality where Sunday’s blaze did heavy property damage and again it was a storehouse building owned by Fay Baker of Reno, who owned all but one building swept in the fire.
  • Mina had been bearing up well under the strain of economic reverses and lack of mining activity, but the big fire was more than an average blow to take. Led by Joe Viani, several Hawthorne business men were proposing that a grand benefit dance be held in the community within the next few weeks to give the Mina post and auxiliary a lift in their big job of rebuilding their home – Mina’s only social center.

80 Years Ago:

  • Factual evidence that Hawthorne was steadily moving ahead was shown by the books of the Mineral County Power System and the U.S. Post Office. A 24 percent gain in installations of water and light meters in the previous six months of 1938 was shown.
  • Mineral County Lions would be on their best behavior attired in their niftiest bib and tucker and would exhibit their most generous hospitality on a Saturday night in Mina. The occasion would be charter night and also ladies’ night.
  • The stageline between Reno and Las Vegas, passing through Hawthorne, reported a gradually increasing number of passengers. Workers traveling to the various mining projects opening in this and other districts in Western Nevada.

90 Years Ago:

  • Earl E. Games, Reno contractor, commenced work on his contract for enlarging the drainage system in the magazine area at the ammunition depot. His equipment included a Northwest dragline and a large Caterpillar. The contract called for the removal of approximately 21,000 cubic yards of dirt, being all excavation work.