STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
At an average cost of $20,000 a mile, a total of 60.29 miles of Imperial Irrigation District lateral canals will be concrete-lined during 1967.
General Manager Robert F. Carter informed IID directors yesterday that 1967 projects approved to date will cost $1,204,615.
Included in the mileage and construction cost figures reported by Carter were six applications approved yesterday to concrete-line 23,890 feet at a cost of $112,651.
Carter also stated additional applications cannot be approved because contractors cannot handle additional work for the balance of the current year. However, applications will be accepted and the necessary surveying and engineering work done for the 1968 program.
40 years ago
El Centro Public Library acting head librarian, Romaine Magee, held up a copy of “English Lands, Letters and Kings” by Mitchell “that since 1915 hasn’t been used once” and declared that “this is the kind of thing that we have been discarding.
“We re-catalogue our books in 1954 and we have dozens of books that have only been used a few times since then,” she added.
The Library board addressed the problem at Thursday’s regular meeting of what to do with books that are outdated, in poor condition or just eliminated because of lack of space.
“When we get 2,500 new volumes a year something has to give,” said Magee, who will give way to new head librarian, Margaret Perez, beginning Aug. 1.
30 years ago
The inadvertent drilling of a water well 200 feet inside Riverside County more than 30 years ago could hamper growth along the Salton Sea in Imperial County, according to spokesmen for the Salton Community Services District.
Representatives of the community services district Tuesday asked the Imperial County Board of Supervisors to establish a “sphere of influence” around the district to slow the intrusion of the Coachella Water District into Imperial County.
Supervisors did not reach a decision Tuesday, but asked the Salton services representatives to return at a later date.
Coachella Water District will be able to block any annexation to the smaller Salton district and smother its growth if the Salton district cannot find a way to stop it, Tom Cannell, Salton’s general manager, said.
20 years ago
Brawley resident Frank Longanecker was having a difficult time crossing the street and decided to do something about it.
A resident of a Main Street mobile home park, Longanecker, 52, years old and legally blind, said the standard length of time the traffic signal read “Walk” wasn’t enough at the intersections of Main Street and Western Avenue and Main Street and Imperial Avenue.
“I was having trouble getting across because the lights weren’t long enough,” he said. “It would change too fast. It would go from ‘Walk’ to ‘Don’t Walk’ very fast.”
Longanecker first called City Hall.
“The city said they couldn’t do anything about it,” he said. “They said it belonged to Caltrans, since it’s a state highway.”