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Time capsule unearthed

A time capsule buried in downtown Clovis was unearthed Thursday.

Buried in 1957, the capsule was discovered on the north side of the Clovis Fire Department beneath a sidewalk.

“(The capsule) looks great ... for being buried for 50 years,” Clovis Fire Chief Ray Westerman said Friday.

The exact locale of the capsule was debated. About 10 people spent four hours searching for it with a metal detector, maps and old drawings, Westerman said.

Rumor had it a major construction project in the 1980s forced firefighters to find the capsule a new home. Nothing was discovered when firefighters, city officials and residents dug where they assumed it had been moved near the front steps of the fire department.

They struck gold when they returned to the original burial site.

Once the gem was found, another hour was spent unearthing it, Westerman said.

“We dug a hole and went in sideways (around the sidewalk),” he said.

“The capsule remained undisturbed until yesterday afternoon for 50 years,” Westerman said.

According to a newspaper account of the burial, a 1957 commemorative edition of the Clovis News Journal, a souvenir booklet published as part of the city’s 50th anniversary celebration and “pictures and other items of interest” are contained in the capsule.

The capsule will be opened and its contents revealed April 13 as part of the celebration of Clovis’ centennial, according to Westerman.