100 years ago, 1916
A regular tornado of wind, hail, rain, thunder and lightning struck Dixfield about five o’clock tonight, doing great damage to houses and trees. The storm came without warning and was several miles in width. A plate glass window in the store of C. E. Dunham was blown in as were the windows in several dwelling houses. It was useless to shut doors or lower windows, the rain beating into the houses in spite of everything done to prevent it. A large elm tree near the Chapel was torn up by the roots and several trees on Mill street were destroyed. Gardens were wrecked by the hail and fruit trees torn up by the roots in the fierce gale.

50 years ago, 1966
A little nameless gully in Auburn may determine whether a nuclear waste disposal site can be located here. Members of the city’s Low-Level Radioactive Waste Committee were told Thursday that the suitability of the Waterman Road land which has been offered by its owner for use as a disposal site depends on whether an intermittent stream which drains the land can be classified as a “wetland.” “If the (engineering consultants) want to know if it’s wet, they can try taking a four-wheel drive across it,” said neighboring farmer Winfield Coleman. “I’ll charge plenty for hauling them out, too.”

25 years ago, 1991
Boaters would be banned from about one quarter of Lake Auburn under the final draft of a new plan to protect its water quality. The plan would restrict boating on the rest of the lake to vessels without motors and fishing boats with small motors. Fishing and other public use of the shoreline would be prohibited in some areas. The restrictions and other parts of the plan are intended to protect the purity of drinking water from the lake and avoid the need to build a costly water filtration system, according to Normand Lamie. superintendent of the Auburn Water District. The plan will be discussed at Monday’s meeting of the Auburn City Council and at a public hearing at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Auburn Middle School.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.

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