Downtown Carson during the Nevada Day Parade in about 1950.
Saturday
150 Years Ago
Mammoth. The work under those parallel and far-reaching corrugated roofs at the V.&T. Depot is progressing finely. The masons will have finished their part of the business in two weeks or so. The musical ring and clatter of the hammer upon the last nail will be heard in probably two months – so Mr. Mitchell tells us. There are sixty-eight men engaged about the unfinished building including carpenters, machinists, thinners, masons, painters, and common laborers.
140 Years Ago
Uncle John Robinson has always given the little inmates of our Orphan Asylum a pass to the circus, and it is not likely that he will fail to do so this time.
120 Years Ago
The use of bloodhounds in the pursuit of criminals is not open to reasonable objection. To many persons with erroneous ideas regarding the characteristics of these animals, their employment savors of brutality and inhumanity but in reality, it is not so. The well-trained blood hound seldom bites the object of his pursuit. His training is to follow the scent until the fugitives are overtaken, and then he understands that his mission is ended.
70 Years Ago
Airplane spotters will man observation posts for the first time since World War II in Washoe County, state civil defense director Ellis Folsom said today. Folsom said the Western Air Defense Command at Hamilton Field requested air spotter posts be manned at Reno, Geraldo, Nixon, Wadsworth, Crystal Bay, and Vya. Later stations will be manned in the Carson City area.
30 Years Ago
Mammoth Lakes health officials are urging caution while they investigate whether the death of a University of California graduate student is being spread by rodent droppings causing the hantavirus virus.
Sunday
150 Years Ago
A man of genuine politeness. On Saturday night when the great wood pile near Carson was on fire, a man was making haste to the scene, on foot, and he fell partly into a culvert. A train of cars was near. Two men promptly extricated him. As soon as he was off the track he turned quickly, raised his hat, waved his hand gracefully and politely said, “I am much obliged to you.” That man ought to be promoted.
140 Years Ago
Several drunken remnants of the Caledonia picnic were left over here on Sunday, behaving themselves in a scandalous manner.
120 Years Ago
Yesterday’s dispatches state that one of the worst of the convicts who escaped from Folsom has been captured and there is likelihood that others will be taken into camp. Roberts, the man captured, is an opium fiend, and his love for the drug led to his capture.
60 Years Ago
Should any of those grizzled desert prospectors run across the nation’s nine new astronauts this week he might rub his eyes in wonder and swear to his faithful donkey that the Martians have finally landed. Astronauts arrived at Stead Airforce Base Monday to begin training in the desert of Nevada.
40 Years Ago
Carson City Sheriff’s Department patrol cars are sure taking a beating lately. First a patrol car caught on fire last week. Now, today, the latest vehicle assault was reported in the form of one irate neighborhood prowler, described as about one foot in length, with black fur with a white stripe down his back, and mad as heck about his predicament. The skunk had its head stuck in a salad dressing jar and was banging his head against a trash can. When officers arrived, the skunk made its way underneath the patrol car unleashing its full fragrant fury at officers. Luckily, the skunk smashed the jar on the underside of the car and ran away, hopefully never to be seen again.
Tuesday
150 Years Ago
The water in Carson is exceedingly low at present and getting lower every day. Two years ago, it fell lower than it is now; but before this season of drought is over, it will probably have dwindled to a narrower current than ever before since the advent of the sites into this country. Half of the mill hands have been discharged from the Mexican and Brunswick Mills already.
140 Years Ago
Manager John Piper, who was here yesterday, says that its highly probable that it will be months before another legitimate theatrical company will either visit this city or Virginia, all owing to the limited encouragement that the last few companies received.
120 Years Ago
Wednesday evening the telephone line between Tallac and Bijou went down, and a crowd of campers from Mason Valley who were at the latter place were nearly scared to death. They were sure the wire had been cut by escaping convicts, and they sat up all night, fearing to speak above a whisper.
60 Years Ago
Nevada Appeal general manager Ed Brown today announced the appointment of Ed Allison as editor of the local newspaper. Allison replaces Jim Leavy, who became the bureau chief of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Carson City.
40 Years Ago
To protect their medical benefits and overtime pay, Carson City telephone workers have joined their counterparts across the nation in manning the picket lines.
Trent Dolan is the son of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.