June 2, 1999
Photo - Doug Jorgensen
Livermore Mayor Cathie Brown (right) used a metal detector to try and help find the city's Centennial Time Capsule. She, and others, were unable to find its location.
Dignitaries were puzzled Tuesday when they dug into the earth at Centennial Park in Livermore, and failed to find the city's time capsule.
The capsule was buried 25 years ago with the notion it would be dug up 100 years later to show future residents something of the 1970's lifestyle. Residents appointed to a new time capsule committee --- one that will commemorate the millennium --- wanted to dig up the older capsule and take some of its objects for inclusion with the new capsule and also to check on the condition of the items.
There was concern the centennial capsule may not have been secure and objects could be deteriorating.
They dug for about an hour near the totem pole in the park at Fourth Street and Holmes Street, but had no luck, said committee member Barry Schrader.
No one involved in the capsule burial 25 years ago is still on the city staff, so there is no recollection of where it is, said Schrader. It was supposed to be near the totem pole, but efforts there did not pay off, he said.
Dan Lee, retired Livermore city engineer, told the Independent that he didn't recall where it was buried. He suggested the location might be mapped out in city files, though those are purged of some old materials every 10 years or so, and any map could be gone now.
Metal detectors and long metal prods into the earth were used Tuesday in the effort to locate the capsule.
Schrader said he's disappointed about the elusiveness of the capsule. He had promised that some of the items would be available for display at the county fair, which begins later this month.
Meanwhile, Schrader said he's thinking about contacting Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to see if they have any super underground detection devices that might aid in the search.
April 2, 2000