70 years ago - 1948
The Sportland amusement center burned to the ground.
65 years ago - 1953
Forty volunteer searchers combed the hills of upper Fern Valley searching for a 7-year-old girl who had wandered off with her dog. She was found in the middle of the night curled up asleep in the middle of an abandoned logging road.
60 years ago - 1958
Judge Byron Walters, Tahquitz Lake Estates president, announced plans for constructing a nine-hole golf course on a 45-acre meadow at Dutch Flats.
55 years ago - 1963
School enrollment broke all records when 221 students were registered at Idyllwild Elementary School, an increase of 64 pupils over the previous year. The eighth and part of the seventh grade had to be housed in a building on the Idyllwild Pines Camp property.
50 years ago - 1968
A fast-moving fire broke out in Poppet Creek Canyon, destroying 4,600 acres and 10 structures during the first 12 hours.
45 years ago - 1973
Some 230 of California’s rare Desert Bighorn Sheep were tallied in Anza Borrego Desert State Park’s annual count.
40 years ago - 1978
A fund-raising drive by the Pine Cove Fire Department volunteers netted more than $1,000 to convert the department’s rescue vehicle into a combination rescue-ambulance.
35 years ago - 1983
The Pine Cove County Water District Board of Directors voted to renew the lease for Dutch Flats for the Idyllwild Softball Association.
30 years ago - 1988
Local historians held a public meeting to review plans for a soon-to-be published history book, “San Jacinto Valley — Past and Present.” The Hemet-San Jacinto Genealogical Society, publishers of the book, invited area artists to enter a contest for the front-cover picture.
25 years ago - 1993
A group of teachers and parents opposed to a drug testing program for Hemet Unified School District protested outside the HUSD Board of Trustees meeting.
20 years ago - 1998
The U.S. Forest Service announced that the Tahquitz Peak fire lookout tower would soon be operating again with the help of the local Forest Service Volunteer Association. The tower had been closed since 1990.
15 years ago - 2003
“Turquoise,” a film written and produced by local screenwriter Stephen Savage, was featured at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles. Half of the actors in the movie, filmed locally, were from the Hill.
10 years ago - 2008
For the second consecutive year, Idyllwild School had the highest overall academic performance index score in the Hemet Unified School District.
5 years ago - 2013
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a $15,000 agreement to provide assistance to low-income victims of the Mountain Fire.
1 year ago - 2017
Riverside County firefighters responded to reports of an injured hiker at Humber Park. One hiker died, the other was severly injured.
