It shouldn’t be a surprise that Carson Valley ranchers opposed daylight saving time when it was first implemented during World War II.
In 1949, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill to impose the time statewide.
The Douglas County Farm Bureau dashed off a letter to Gov. Vail Pittman asking that he skip the time change.
“Many ranchers of this section refused to change their clocks and watches during the period when daylight saving time was established on a nationwide scale during the war,” The Record Courier reported in its March 17, 1950 edition, perhaps establishing the concept of “ranch time.”
Ranchers said the change shortened the workday and cost them up to a full hour a day.
The governor shrugged off the letter and on April 30, 1950, ordered the clocks set forward an hour.
Some 70 years later the issue is back before the Nevada Legislature.
Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka and Assemblywoman Robin Titus, R-Yerington, are sponsoring Senate Bill 153 to observe Pacific daylight time for the entire year.
Recognizing that California is seeking similar timing from Congress and that it might be time to hop aboard, the bill would require the governor to write a letter asking that Nevada be included in any potential federal legislation.
Those folks who grew up in Southern Nevada, will remember crossing Hoover Dam where the big clocks would give the time of day in the Pacific and Mountain time zones.
Some times of year, you would have to change your watch and others you wouldn’t, because Arizona didn’t recognize the time change.
That’s why this is one of those rare instances where we agree that the Silver State should follow the Golden State. It would be ridiculous for Nevadans who work in California, and Californians who work in Nevada to adopt to different times for half the year.
We have to admit we are not at our sharpest in these days following Sunday’s time change. If a vote were held today, we wouldn’t shed a tear if the time change was relegated to history.
