70 years ago - 1949
With the help of a slide rule, Larry Smith estimated he had removed 8 tons of snow from his roof.
65 years ago - 1954
The snow pack in Tahquitz Valley, the survey team found, measured only 28 inches in depth.
60 years ago - 1959
Planes and helicopters spent several days over Idyllwild and environs searching for a missing jet trainer from El Paso. No trace was found.
55 years ago - 1964
Dr. Max Krone announced that the University of Southern California had acquired the campus and all structures of the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts.
50 years ago - 1969
For the first time in more than 20 years, the level of Lake Hemet was at the top of the dam. Flood gates were opened to release some of the water.
45 years ago - 1974
The Town Crier printed a story, “How to get gas.” Only one of the three Idyllwild gas stations was pumping on weekends; the second was pumping weekdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., and the third started at 8 a.m. but stopped when 500 gallons had been pumped in a day.
40 years ago - 1979
Motor homes, vans, pickups, Indio CHP cars, a large bus, trailers and catering trucks rolled into the Lake Hemet Market parking lot. It was a startling sight for local customers and travelers. The filming of a two-hour “Eight is Enough” TV episode was taking place.
35 years ago - 1984
The Pine Cove Property Owners Association, citing the need for more of a local voice in county government, went on record in support of a Hill Municipal Advisory Council.
30 years ago - 1989
The Hill lost a legendary institution when the restaurant Taylor’s Lodge in Mountain Center closed after 41 years of business.
25 years ago - 1994
Riverside County officials were looking for input from the community on a new emergency medical services plan that would standardize the dispatch of paramedics during an emergency.
20 years ago - 1999
Idyllwild Fire Protection District got a great deal on two used Thumpers (mechanical cardio-pulmonary resuscitator units) from the city of Mesa, Arizona. The price was $1,000 plus tax, compared to more than $11,500 for new ones.
15 years ago - 2004
The Hemet Unified School District board decided to install artificial turf on the playing fields at several schools, including Idyllwild and Hamilton.
10 years ago - 2009
The trial of Raymond Lee Oyler, 38, of Beaumont, for murder and arson for the Esperanza Fire of Oct. 26, 2006, concluded with the prosecutor and defense attorneys completing their closing arguments. He had been charged with starting 23 fires in the Banning Pass and Cabazon areas during the spring, summer and fall of 2006. He also was charged with five counts of felony murder.
5 years ago - 2014
Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed legislation to assist drought-affected communities and provide funding to better use local water supplies.
1 year ago - 2018
Hemet High School became another target of the aftermath from the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. A student scribbled a threat on the stall in a girls’ bathroom at HHS.
