150 Years Ago
Fatal accident: The wife of Mr. James Dean of Double Springs Ranch (near Wellington) was found drowned by her husband. She had gone to the spring for a bucket of water, lost her balance, fallen in headfirst and drowned. This is a very heartrending affair.
130 Years Ago
Sagebrush elite: Miss Simkins has decided not to be married in Lent, owing to a society item in the “Call” announcing that her intended had skipped to Australia. Miss Klusey Kraft, the beautiful brunette, was to have left for a short visit to New York, but for the fact that just as her trunks were being taken on board the train, they were seized for an old milliner debt. Mr. Squirt, who has just blossomed out in society, wore an elegant swallowtail at a recent reception, which cost him $45 at Blumenthal & Cohn’s. The amount he nipped from his mother’s money box. When he returned from the party his “ma” gave him a lively trouncing with a peach blow stick.
110 Years Ago
Nevada Historical Society: Gov. Sparks signed the bill providing for an annual appropriation. Miss Elizabeth Weir of Reno sent a gold pen to the governor asking that he use it to sign the measure. The Honorable Frank Williams of Lincoln County introduced the act making the Historical Society a state institution.
70 Years Ago
Rhyolite for sale: Rhyolite, a famous gold camp of the old west, is up for bid. N. C. Westmoreland has owned and operated Rhyolite for many years and has advertised it for sale due to poor health. In its heyday in 1906 Rhyolite had two bands, a newspaper, school, stores and a railroad. The stucco depot is now a nightclub for visitors to California’s nearby Death Valley who want to gamble in Nevada.
50 Years Ago
Carson Honor Roll for the past six weeks, straight A’s: Anne Christenson, Ann Haglund, Colleen Isom, Susan Kelley, Margaret Lauck, Eric Roberts, Susan Snyder, Madeleine Loranger, Patrick Moore, Charlotte Morse, Jeanne Trigero, Larry Anderson, Sandra Francesconi, Diane Woolverton, William Jones, Gary Suenaga, Dean Fialks, Cheri Jacobsen, Suzanne James, Nancy Kelley, Allison Kies and Carol Millard.
20 Years Ago
Photo caption: Downtown Carson’s Ormsby House showed 1996 losses of $4.8 million. Since the casino went under bankruptcy protection, manager Bruce Dewing has taken control.
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.