140 Years Ago
Letter from Sarah Winnemucca: The Carson Appeal aroused the ire of the Paiute Nation by calling their favorite Princess Sarah Winnemucca Bartlett, a Digger. The following letter was received: “Some of my people are very angry because I have been called by the Carson Appeal, a Digger, or descendant of the Diggers. They will not give me any rest till I refute the slander. The truth is, I am full Pah-ute blood, descending from the Truckee and Winnemucca families, and was born at Humboldt Sink. What little schooling I have, I got at a San Jose Convent. (Signed) Sarah Winnemucca Bartlett.” (Virginia Chronicle)
130 Years Ago
The circus: The town was billed yesterday for Robinson’s nine-ply circus. It takes 400 pounds of flour a day to make paste for the bill to stick. The bill advertises a tattooed woman, the 3-eyed ox, five great military, the South Sea Island beauty, testing the strength of the elephant, the giraffe climbing the greasy pole ... The only jabberwocky ever brought to America alive will be on exhibition. It weighs nine tons and sweats blood twice a day ...
70 Years Ago
Beavers: A colony of beavers in the Tuscarora area have caused great turmoil. A rancher planted the beavers along a creek on his property, and they immediately built a dam. His neighbor said it reduced the water he should have received from the creek, and the attorney general was asked for an opinion. He said the rancher being damaged had a right to remove the dam but he couldn’t remove the beavers ...
50 Years Ago
Gulf Oil Corp. has filed for oil and gas leases on 127,000 acres of land in Eastern Nevada — northeast of Railroad Valley where Nevada’s only producing oil wells are located.
30 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Come to the 4th Annual Capital City Fair at Fuji Park, August 5, 6 & 7. Free things to see and do — mud bog, petting zoo, chili cook-off, working dogs, Navy fleet band concerts ... $2 general admission, seniors and kids under 6 free ... ”
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.