Pages past — Aug. 26

On this date …

2005: The federal military Base Closure and Realignment Commission agreed with the Department of Defense’s recommendation to close Cannon Air Force Base. The base would only be spared if a new mission could be found by 2010. Ten months later, DOD announced Cannon would become home to the Air Force’s 16th Special Operations Squadron, which remains today as part of the 27th Special Operations Wing.

1965: Curry County Clerk Angeline Stanley said her phone “rang off the hook” as area residents inquired about getting married before midnight in efforts to avoid the military draft. President Johnson signed an executive order making any man married after midnight today eligible for the draft on the same basis as a single man. Stanley said her office only issued two marriage licenses before it closed for the day.

1964: About 5 percent of New Mexicans were reported to be on welfare, including 1,100 people in Curry County. The average Aid to Families with Dependent Children case was composed of a single mother with three children under age 18, officials reported.

Deadly year …

Newspaper accounts suggest more than three dozen Clovis-area residents died from influenza in 1918-19. More than 20 million people died worldwide from the flu in that 18-month period, including an estimated 5,000 New Mexicans. Clovis Mayor Lester Stone ordered all schools, churches and theaters closed after the city’s first flu death occurred on Oct. 7, 1918.

Water, water, everywhere …

Clovis’ Wilhite Road on the north edge of town was named for farmer J.A. Wilhite. He created one of the community’s largest irrigation projects in 1949. His well, powered by a 215-horsepower gasoline engine, pumped more than 1,100 gallons of water a minute. Dryland farmers averaging 15-to-20 bushels of wheat per acre were suddenly able to see yields of 50 bushels per acre when they installed irrigation systems.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

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