Looking toward the east at the Carson City Airport in 1960.
Wednesday
150 Years Ago
Pets: Frank Hall of skating rink notoriety, and the polite barkeeper of the theatre saloon have two cats and a tame pigeon. Their antics are worth witnessing. One of the cats is a Thomas. The pigeon and the two felines eat, drink, and sleep together, and strange to say, the bird is the master of the situation.
140 Years Ago
The Circus: Robinson’s great circus will be here in one week. It is said to be the great show of that kind that has ever appeared in this state. The whole outfit has cost nearly $2,000,000. Old John Robinson does nothing in halves. The street parade will be more gorgeous than anything seen in Carson.
130 Years Ago
Perseverance: Ernie, the one-legged acrobat who is now performing in Virginia City, lost his leg at the age of four years. At the age of sixteen he decided to be an athlete and acrobat. He can lie on his back and lift 425 pounds. He does wonderful work on the horizontal bar and performs the extraordinary feat of running a block on a single crutch. He is a roller skater and a bicycle rider. He is married and has five children. He earns about $10 a day and sends it home.
100 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Grand Theatre, Lon Chaney in ‘The Trap.’ It mirrors the emotions of the primitive men and women who make up the population…. In the supporting cast are Alan Hale, Dagmar Godowsky, Irene Rich… Directed by Robert Thornby. Also, a Universal Jewell comedy, Joe Martin in ‘The Monkey Schoolmaster.’”
70 Years Ago
Little league: The undefeated “Yellows” racked up their fifth straight win, against the winless “Blue” team. Score was 7-2. “Homers” were split one each, with the “Yellow” four-bagger being hit by Chuck Gatten and “Blues” by Harry Smith.
30 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Nevada Opera presents John Raitt in ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Starring Cami Thompson and Michael Eardley. Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, tickets $12-50.”
Thursday
150 Years Ago
Waterspout: A waterspout occurred in the vicinity of Carson River, near the Merrimac Mill. It did considerable damage to property in that section. It occurred in a canyon on Tom Audrain’s Pine Toll-Road. The road was washed away in places, and large boulders were carried down the canyon and lodged in the Carson River. A blacksmith shop, a cabin and other pieces of property were swept away.
140 Years Ago
Gypsy: There is a gypsy fortune teller in a tent on Fall and Sixth. The woman is reaping a silver harvest from all classes of the superstitious in Carson.
130 Years Ago
Fishing: Tim Dempsey exhibited a heavy box of catfish with the catch of 20 minutes or 20 cents a pound or 20 men, or something of that kind. Tim will tell you.
100 Years Ago
Stenographer examination: An examination for the position of stenographer and typewriter will be held in Carson City on August 8, 1922. Applicants must be citizens of the United States, 18 years of age or over on the date of the examination. Apply to the local secretary, Board of U.S. Civil Service Examiners, Carson City, Nevada.
70 Years Ago
Carson River death: Jack Smoot was drowned in a tragic accident in the Carson River at Brunswick canyon, below the bridge. He was born in 1916 in Carson and attended local schools, served in the Navy for six years and eight months and was in the Army in World War II.
30 Years Ago
Presidential election: Bill Clinton offered the Democratic vice-presidential nomination to Senator Al Gore, Jr., and the Tennessee senator accepted.
Friday
150 Years Ago
Precaution: Cole Atherton, who was burnt out of his business, is taking over the Capital Hay yard and is guarding it against suffering twice from the same complaint by erecting a large force pump and having plenty of water on hand in case of emergency.
140 Years Ago
Beware of fraud: Carsonites are receiving sealed circulars from eastern lottery manipulators, offering the most tempting inducements. Those lotteries are carried on my adroit rogues and swindlers, who have served terms of imprisonment. Anyone who is green enough to transmit a single dollar towards these fellows will find out to his cost that he has been “taken.” We would advise our readers to steer clear. So large an investment for so large a return are frauds, every one of them.
130 Years Ago
All sorts: George Irwin has leased the old stone lodging house opposite the Arlington House and will call it the Alta House. It has been thoroughly renovated, and everything about the place is neat and clean.
100 Years Ago
Babe Ruth: New York — Babe Ruth scored another homerun to his already large record. The run brought in today makes this the fifteenth for the season.
70 Years Ago
Mr. Crippen dies: Charles was a native Nevadan and resident of Carson City for 62 years. He was born in 1874 at the 12-mile house in Douglas County. In 1890, he came to Carson to work for the street department driving the “sprinkling wagon.” He was street superintendent when the civic auditorium was built and was named caretaker there. He is survived by his sister, Mrs. A.G. Meyers; a brother, Clarence Hannagan; a niece, Verla Stinson and two nephews, Lester Groth and George Meyers, all of Carson.
30 Years Ago
Photo caption: The old and the new gravestones stand side-by-side at the 152-year-old Dayton Cemetery. On a windy hill above the city, the barren landscape of the cemetery offers no comfort to the living. With local donations, cemetery caretakers hope to change that.
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.
