By Don McDonald

Pages of the Past

SERVICES AND UTILITIES: The Chamber of Commerce also kept contribution records for the Los Altos Volunteer Fire Department’s equipment fund. Minimal Police services were provided by the County Sheriff. PG&E and Bell Telephone services were available. There were a few small, local water companies, but most people relied on their own wells. Orchards near Adobe Creek used its water for irrigation. Septic tanks and privies took care of sewage.

THE DEPRESSION WAS NOT YET CALLED “GREAT”: In the News, “the depression” had not yet become”The Depression.” There were reports of various efforts to relieve the unemployed. Poignant, in retrospect, were the frequent upbeat pronouncements to the effect that the depression was or soon would be over. Other items stressed an optimistic outlook, as in an editorial urging, “Avoid the man who talks hard times - he’s more dangerous than small-pox.” The Chamber of Commerce did its bit to help fight joblessness by running ads urging citizens to “Help Promote Prosperity.” One slogan they used was “Community money, community made/ Should stay at home for community trade.”

OTHER BAD NEWS: Much more frequent than today were articles describing traffic accidents. They remind us that in those years before safer roads and cars, accidents were not only more common, but usually more lethal than they are today. Also common were reports of Wright Act violations, reminders that Prohibition, the 18th Amendment, was still in force. Occasionally sinister warnings appeared about the valley’s sinking water table; as we now know, this was soon to lead to the building of more dams.

NOTEWORTHY ITEMS: Accounts of the Los Altos Garden Association activities were often in the paper. In 1931 it sponsored its third annual County Flower Show. (We learn also that the County made its annual contribution of $250 for the event.) The Association held its meetings in the library, located at Scout Hall.

Don McDonald is a member of the Los Altos History Museum Association.