Looking Back to 1955: Flood project approved, county delays cloud seeding

Posted: 6:20 am, April 26, 2024 by Reporter Jackie Iddings

This look back at Paso Robles history comes from local newspapers in the Paso Robles Area Historical Society collection. News for this column is selected with the assistance of Research Director Jan Cannon. Newspaper photography by GiGi Green.

Excerpts from the Thursday, April 28, 1955, Paso Robles Journal

Flood project given approval

A $7,000,000 bond issue has been approved by a vote of 9,958 to 859 for construction of a proposed dam on the Nacimiento River near Camp Roberts.

The dam would be designed to hold back the flood waters of the river before they flow into the Salinas River and also to permit the water to percolate into the ground to raise the water table.

Approval by Monterey County voters made construction of the dam a virtual certainty.

Supervisors of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties reached agreement on the project about a year ago.

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The impounded waters will be in this county about 20 miles northwest of Paso Robles, but the principal benefit will be to ranchers northward in the Salinas Valley.

In addition to the flood control features of the dam, it is planned to make the reservoir site a recreational area with exceptional facilities for lovers of the out-of-doors.

The site is due west of San Miguel and Camp Roberts and north of Adelaide.

Incorporation drive renewed in Atascadero

Chamber of Commerce reopens campaign to get petition signed

Efforts to incorporate Atascadero will be renewed Monday night at a meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce in the Veterans Memorial Hall.

E.A. Anderson, chamber president, said today that final plans have been laid for the new campaign, which will start Monday night with the assembly of all Chamber members at 8 p.m.

The goal is to secure more signatures for a petition which has been in circulation for several months. It calls for a special election which would put the question of incorporation before the people.

Need for haste

There is a time limit, said Anderson, and it is hoped that the election can be held by late this year, in order for Atascadero to take advantage of incorporation status when county tax allocations are made early next year.

Directors of the chamber have been working on the new campaign for several weeks.

County delays cloud seeding

Shandon area ranchers voted against cloud-seeding and Carissa Plains ranchers voted for it in separate mass meetings held Monday, and the result was that the county board of supervisors decided to wait until next year to do any cloud-seeding in eastern San Luis Obispo County.

Specifically, the question before the meetings was whether or not the governor should be asked to declare the two districts “disaster” areas due to lack of rainfall. Such a declaration was necessary if cloud seeding was to start without a three-week delay required by law.

The meetings were called at the request of the supervisors by Farm Advisor Curtis Berryman and Agricultural Commissioner Thomas Chalmers.

About 30 farmers attended the Shandon meeting which opposed cloud seeding and 18 were at the Carissa Plains gathering.

Lengthy discussions preceded the supervisors’ decision to take

No action this year. A committee was appointed to study drought relief measures which might be put into practice next year. It consists of Chalmers and Berryman, Roland Cooper and Dewey Werling, both of Carissa Plains, James Sinton of Shandon, Guy Arnold and Mac MacNeil of Pozo, Ernest Righetti of Edna and Wright Hartzell of Cayucos.

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Thank you to the sponsors of Looking Back

Paso Robles Pioneer Museum – Come take a real look back into local Paso Robles history. Open Thursday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 2010 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles, CA 93446, www.pasoroblespioneermuseum.org (805) 239-4556.

Estrella Warbird Museum is an aviation museum dedicated to the restoration and preservation of military aircraft, vehicles, and memorabilia. Woodland Auto Display is also open. Hours: Thursday through Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. 4251 Dry Creek Road, Paso Robles, CA 93446, ewarbirds.org, (805) 227-0440.

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