70 years ago – 1948

Fern Valley Mutual Water Company installed a 420,000-gallon water tank on Strawberry Creek.

65 years ago – 1953

A record-breaking crowd of anglers hit the Hill for the opening of trout season. A crowd of 1,500 to 2,000 lined banks of Strawberry Creek shoulder-to-shoulder on opening day.

60 years ago – 1958

Tahquitz Lake Golf Club reopened, adding a cocktail lounge and dining facilities.

55 years ago – 1963

The Winter Park Authority announced that the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway would not begin operations until August. It had been scheduled to open in April, but weather conditions caused delays.

50 years ago – 1968

Cyril Blackburn was considered the luckiest man in town. He wasn’t at home when his hot water tank blew up in the basement, tore a hole through the floor, ripped out stairs, blew walls off the foundation, burst through the roof and finally came to rest a half-mile away from what was left of the house.

45 years ago – 1973

A Riverside youth climbing Tahquitz Peak fell 120 feet and landed in a tree. Other climbers rescued him. He suffered only minor injuries.

40 years ago – 1978

A Hemet Unified School District trustee squashed a student-initiated proposal to designate a smoking area for Hemet High School students.

30 years ago – 1988

Sparkletts Water Company’s plan to draw water from a Pine Cove well faced a snag as the owners of the Alandale Water Company claimed that property owner Carl Schirmer had no right to the water he was selling.

25 years ago – 1993

Joann White of Garner Valley almost lost her life in a single-car traffic collision on Highway 74. She had driven down the side of the embankment at Keen Camp Summit. She bled for about two hours before being rescued from her truck.

15 years ago – 2003

Members of Idyllwild’s American Legion Post 800 Honor Guard performed the opening ceremony for The Moving Wall (a portable replica of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.), which was being exhibited in San Jacinto.

10 years ago – 2008

A cigarette was attibuted to the cause of an 800-acre fire near Apache Peak along the Pacific Crest Trail.

5 years ago – 2013

Summer was fast approaching and that meant wildland fire season was coming, too — except it was already here. Several major fires burned in California, and two about 25 miles from Idyllwild in the last week, caused by discarded cigarettes, illegal burning, sparks and hot construction equipment.

1 year ago – 2017

Idyllwild Brewpub received a top environmental Sustainability Award from Riverside County.