Carson City looking north from the top of the Capitol building in 1871.
Saturday
150 Years Ago
Type thieves: Some bad little boys have been caught taking wood and metal type from the Appeal office.
140 Years Ago
In brief: Cows and dogs are rapidly filling up the pound.
The miners in the Voltaire tunnel are getting better indications daily. The work is now being done by three shifts and the next fifty feet will tell the story.
Dan DeQuille prophesies a big storm for the 27th, he having observed the halos of the moon and the general appearance of the clouds. No windstorm is genuine without Dan’s autograph.
130 Years Ago
Hair dressing: Some Comstock ladies are adopting the latest fad in hair dressing – a wire frame upon which a crimped switch can be easily arranged into a light chignon.
110 Years Ago
Wheelmen: Roy Robinson received a letter from San Jose stating that the Garden City Wheelmen are willing to come to Reno to race the locals.
70 Years Ago
Atomic attack: There were nine men who volunteered to crouch in a trench only 2,500 yards from the center of an atom explosion. They agreed it would be safe to go even closer in future detonations properly protected in a trench or foxhole. They gained the distinction of having been closer to an atomic blast than any human being since A-bombs were dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. All ten men are nuclear warfare graduates, crouched in a 5-foot-deep trench, 1 1/2 miles from the 300-foot tower, when the bomb was exploded. The devise detonated with a blinding flash, a hundred times brighter than the sun and the slender steel tower disappeared in a millionth of a second…
30 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Overland Homes of Nevada, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, solid oak cabinets, 2x6 walls, 4 Bay windows. You gotta see it! Only $39,900 set and delivered plus tax.”
Sunday
150 Years Ago
Street sprinkling: It couldn’t be more dusty along our principal thoroughfares if the prevailing winds were wafted up on the heated waves of an August atmosphere instead of being blown through the retreating skirts of March. Let us have some public water strewn upon our streets without further delay.
140 Years Ago
Easter services: All the churches were filled with worshippers and the new toilets were not the least of attractions. The sinful, the wayfaring, and unregenerate who are usually considered outside the fold came to church.
130 Years Ago
All sorts: A bill has been introduced in Minnesota to compel Chinese people to wear their shirts inside of their pants.
110 Years Ago
Improvements in this city: The old Klein corner near the Catholic Church has been purchased by Mr. Tipton and is being remodeled.
The V&T will tear down the old car barn near the Governor’s Mansion.
70 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Carson Theater — ‘The Devil Makes Three,” with Gene Kelly and Pier Angeli. He’s a devil-may-care G.I. She’s a lovely lure of the German underworld. Cartoon and News.”
30 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Wallace Theatres — The New Movies, 2751 N. Carson, Carson City. ‘Fire in the Sky,’ ‘Falling Down,’ ‘A Far-Off Place,’ and Groundhog Day.’”
Monday
150 Years Ago
The depredations: The little boys in town have developed a type-stealing mania. They have done our job office quite a serious injury. They do not discriminate and take types from at least a dozen different fonts. One of our printers discovered a lot of youngsters in the very act of plundering a cabinet of card type. We ask as a favor that the various schoolteachers of the place speak to the children about this matter because we have been told by some schoolboys that the school children “had lots of ‘em.” All the stolen types must be returned to our office. No questions asked.
140 Years Ago
In brief: Mr. Shaw of the Hot Springs, has a gang of men at work on the road and proposes to put it in good driving condition. He will also plant a line of trees on each side of the road.
130 Years Ago
Big fight on the 8th: On the 8th of April, Charles Turner, the colored cyclone of Stockton will fight George Allen of Australia for $1,000 a side in the Carson Opera House. The match was made before the Anti-Prize fight was passed in California. Glove matches are not prohibited in Nevada and Carson City has been selected as the battle ground.
110 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Carson Opera House, the season’s greatest rural comedy success, ‘Zeke, the Country Boy,’ with band and orchestra, 100 – Big hearty laughs – 100 seats now on sale at Muller’s Drug Store, 25, 50 and 75 cents.”
70 Years Ago
Vows exchanged: Parker-Fletcher vows exchanged: Miss Joan Marie Fletcher of Sunny Acres and Cpl. Gene Nolen Parker of the U.S. Marine Corps were married in the presence of friends. Rev. John E.L. Swineford performed the ceremony. Mr. R. van der Smissen, guardian of the bride, gave her in marriage. The young bride wore a ballerina length tulle gown with fitted bodice and over shirt of Chantilly lace in camellia pattern… The bridal couple left for a trip to the home of the bridegroom in Corpus Christi.
30 Years Ago
Photo caption: Susie the dog lends a paw to Bert Wade after saving the life of Penny, the horse. Susie discovered Penny upside down in an ice crevice in the corral and began barking up a storm trying to alert the caretaker to Penny’s predicament. After running back and forth from the barn to the caretaker’s trailer three times, Wade followed Susie to the corral. Penny was found and saved from the ice crevice.
Tuesday
150 Years Ago
Peeping Tom: One of our citizens discovered the dim figure of a man crouched under his wife’s chamber window. Every now and then he saw his head pop up for a peep into the apartment. Very soon the husband pounced upon the back of this Peeping Tom and clutched him with a gripe that carried with it a conviction of earnestness. After being found he gave a lame excuse and took off.
140 Years Ago
Election of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church officers named gentlemen who were elected at the vestry for the ensuring year: Judge Leonard, judge Sabin, M.M. Hyde, H. Mason, Dr. Lee, James Kennedy, and Samuel P. Davis.
130 Years Ago
An evening with the puritans: For the benefit of the Loving Service Circle of King’s Daughters, Mrs. H.H. Howe will read the interesting romance, “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” The reading will be interspersed with choice music. Refreshments will be served by the young puritans at the close of the program.
The young ladies composing this circle are organized for loving and ready service wherever needed and ask for kindly sympathy and substantial aid from the public.
110 Years Ago
Old camp at Rawhide: A lot of good quiet work has been going on resulting in the development of much milling ore. The National mill is to be rebuilt. Los Angeles parties, who have driven a shaft to the 600-foot level, have opened up some excellent ore.
70 Years Ago
New theatre: A new $125,000 theater will be built in Carson City by A.R. Bowen. The new showhouse will be at the corner of Carson and Washington streets and will be 63-feet wide by 130-feet deep from the corner to within five feet of the French Hotel.
30 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Celebrity Showroom, T.G. Sheppard – Stepping Out Package $15.95 per person, Rotisserie; $21.50 per person Trader Dick’s or Steakhouse Grill.”
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.