150 Years Ago
A trip toward the moon. A most curious flying experiment took place when a machine was constructed by David K. Smith for a trip in the air in a monster kite, with a stout rope ladder for a tail. The trial took place twelve miles from the city, and the kite was raised a short distance from the ground and firmly held by the united strength of the party until the aeronaut completed his preparations. He took his seat on the rope ladder. Beneath his armpits was a copper cylinder, a foot wide from top to bottom. He wore a tight-fitting suit of ribbed cloth where between his arms and body were a pair of webbed wings. When the wings were raised, it looked like a “Green Monster.” When he had reached a quarter of a mile in elevation, he detached his arms from the ladder, his feet remaining upon it and waved the wings upward and downward. Then he sprang off into the open air! He then descended after 30 minutes and touched the ground, exhausted (Minnesota).
130 Years Ago
School books. Agents of A. L. Bancroft & Co. — have the following school books recently adopted by the Board of Education — Swinton’s Grammars, Harper’s Geographies, Swett’s elocution and Bancroft’s Spelling Blanks.
110 Years Ago
Donated train. At the request of the Superintendent of the Orphans’ Home, Mr. E. B. Yerington, of the V&T donated the use of a train over the local road to the Orphans of the State for their annual picnic at Bowers’ Mansion.
70 Years Ago
Rattlesnake. Two small boys crawled out of the bathtub and into their pajamas. When they walked into the kitchen, they saw a rattlesnake coiled in the center of the floor. The boys, Donald and Harold Fields, are the small sons of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Fields. Armed with a stick, their mother chased the snake under the stove, and a neighbor killed the rattler which had five rattles.
50 Years Ago
Summer vacation for orphans. Philanthropists Victor and Joseph Saturno of Reno have set up a $100,000 trust fund to provide summer vacations for orphans in the Nevada State Children’s Home in Carson City ... to finance vacations to historical sites and eastern cities.
20 Years Ago
Advertisement. “Meadowdale Theaters in Minden: ‘The Indian in the Cupboard,’ ‘Apollo 13’ with Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon, ‘Something to Talk About’ with Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid.”
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.