Downtown Carson during the Nevada Day Parade in about 1950.
Saturday
150 Years Ago
Alex LePort tells us that the late batch of immigrants is composed of twenty Swiss who came directly from Switzerland to Carson, having been written for by some of their countrymen who had settled previously at Franktown and at other places in our neighborhood. They, like those who preceded them numbering altogether about one hundred, are Italian Swiss and speak each of these languages with equal fluency, having been brought up on the border. They are stout and hardy, but generally unprepossessing fellows in appearance and have shipped to these parts with no higher motive than to chop wood.
140 Years Ago
It is reported that on a certain evening, not long since, several young men and ladies of our town were seen coming out of a house in Chinatown where they had been smoking opium. Aside from the evil effects of opium smoking, it is about time to stop this sort of thing, so that the bad example should not become contagious. It seems that the duty of the night watchman is to stop this business of opium smoking. — Austin Democrat
120 Years Ago
John Austin, after whom the town of Austin, this state was named, died at Los Angeles Tuesday.
80 Years Ago
Chairman Richard L. Waters of the Ormsby county committee that handled the recent war bond drive has received thanks from state chairman W.W. Hopper for helping make Nevada go over goal by 28 percent.
40 Years Ago
A massive earthquake felt through most of California Monday only a light sway in Carson City, but 15 minutes after it was felt here, the Division of Emergency Management knew the origin of the quake and was checking for damage statewide. The 6.5 quake seriously damaged Coalinga.
20 Years Ago
The developer of a possible Carson City Auto Mall is “definitely going forward” but has decided not to buy a privately owned 42-acre parcel in north Carson.
Sunday
150 Years Ago
Blind Tom. We have heard many wonderful stories of this phenomenal musical prodigy, and while we have been inclined to receive them with some admissible grains of allowance, we come suddenly upon less a veracious voucher for his remarkable powers.
140 Years Ago
It is generally believed that a man could not cross the Sierra now even on snowshoes. The peaks have been wrapped in storm clouds for a week, and a regular battle of the elements seems going on within a few miles of the city.
120 Years Ago
A Tonopah exchange figures that 743 men are employed there in mining and that it requires 1,400 head of horses and mules to haul supplies to the camp.
70 Years Ago
Approval of East Washington St. as a display site for the old V&T train was voted last night by city trustees after a lively session involving debate on the merits of a number of alternate locations.
20 Years Ago
Despite staff requests to delay action, the board of supervisors Thursday decided to eliminate a clause of the unclassified employees’ contract that allows for monetary compensation for unused leave.
Tuesday
150 Years Ago
The petrified tusk of an elephant or megatherium or possibly that of a plesiosaurs or a gyascutus has been found in the sandstone ledge at the state prison. We shouldn’t be surprised to hear at any time of their finding a second. Cardiff giant or the fossiliferous remains of an antediluvian Indian peace commissioner. Stranger things than that have happened.
140 Years Ago
On Saturday night last Buck Murphy was again arrested for flourishing a six-shooter. This young man is becoming quite notorious in that practice and should by all means be suppressed. It is not generally believed that he intends to shoot anyone, yet his weapon might at some time go off accidentally and hurt a person worth a whole brigade of such amateur desperadoes.
120 Years Ago
Those in Nevada who are surrounded by snow will view with feelings of admiration the announcement that the first crop of alfalfa in Lincoln County is ready to cut, and the barley is ripe. Olives, pomegranates and grapes are in blossom, and the outlook for a fig crop is excellent.
70 Years Ago
The most elaborate atomic test ever scheduled in the United States, originally slated for May 7 was postponed for 24 hours because of unfavorable weather conditions. The test was dropped from a high-flying bomber, over Frenchman Flat. It exploded in mid-air.
20 Years Ago
Money beat out principles Thursday in a feisty 3-2 vote among top county officials against pursuing a lawsuit with a developer over a hotel-casino project in Indian Hills.
Trent Dolan is the son of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.