Victorville, Calif., Recalls Real Estate Slump after Air Base Closed in 1991.

By Larry Rand, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jan. 26--VICTORVILLE, Calif. -- In 1991, the biggest real estate bubble in Victor Valley history popped.

George Air Force Base, the area's biggest employer, closed, and the local economy tanked, throwing the area into its worst economic times since the Great Depression.

It was one more plunge in the roller coaster ride called High Desert real estate.

"The market was fairly level in the early 1970s," said Gary Stater, of Gary Stater Realty Inc. in A