Carson City looking north from the top of the Capitol building in 1871.
Wednesday
155 Years Ago
All sorts: Rev. J.W. Stump, formerly a resident here, has been stationed by the Methodist Conference of California, at Nevada City.
140 Years Ago
Wayside notes: There is a Chinese person in front of Ah Sing’s place in Chinatown chained up like a wild beast. He has been there for several days.
Two young girls have gone into business in Austin as dolls’ dressmakers. A sign is hung out which reads: “Dolls’ dresses made and sold here.” Many little girls are seen emerging from the door with dolls in their arms.
130 Years Ago
Justice court news: Cigarette Bill, the man who welted Theodore Davenport in the mouth, was fined $10 by Justice Hawthorne. He will stay in jail.
70 Years Ago
No more horror: The new czar of the nation’s comic book industry ordered an immediate halt in the distribution of publications featuring horror, terror and gory crime.
60 Years Ago
Photo caption: A new Montgomery Wards catalog house will open in Carson City. Construction on the building has started. The new building will be located on the corner of Adams and Carson streets. The building will cost $250,000 and parking space will be provided for customers. The property transaction was handled by Carson realtors…
Thursday
155 Years Ago
Pine nuts: The tramp of Indians through town, during the past few days in a southeasterly direction, accompanied by squaws carrying huge conical shaped baskets, is thought to be occasioned by the arrival of the season for gathering pine nuts. Pine nuts are found 16 miles from this place.
140 Years Ago
A ghoulish robbery: The Tribune states that the late Fred Bullock, formerly an attendant in the dining room of the Ormsby House, was robbed of all his jewelry before or after he was being prepared for burial. Such a thief ought to be lynched.
130 Years Ago
Coast news: John Leavitt, a barber and religious fanatic, attempted to walk on water and in doing so narrowly escaped drowning. After three trials he was taken in hand by the Chief of Police Wilkes and sent to the county jail.
70 Years Ago
Beauty secret: American women need to drink more milk and eat more meat and vegetables to prove that beauty is more than skin deep according to Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson. Benson said such foods are the “very foundation of beauty.”
60 Years Ago
Advertisement: “Carson Theater — ‘Stage to Thunder Rock’ and ‘Captain Blood.’”
Friday
155 Years Ago
State Capitol building: The stonework of the walls of the Capitol building was completed and the foundation of the cupola laid. The roof will be erected in about 10 days, and the cupola at the same time. The cupola will include an observatory and dome, 47 1/2 feet above the ridge of the roof and will be surmounted by a flagstaff 40 feet high rising some 16 feet higher than the top of the flagstaff or liberty pole on Capital Square. The contractor, Mr. Cavanaugh — the real power in forwarding the building toward completion — expresses himself well pleased with his workmen. He says they are the best set of mechanics on this coast.
140 Years Ago
Bitten by a mad dog: A passenger on the Genoa stage was severely bitten by a dog that was supposed to be mad. The dog had a fit on the stage and turned and grasping the man’s hand in his mouth, lacerated him frightfully. The passengers wanted to shoot the dog, but the man would not allow it.
130 Years Ago
All sorts: Everyone in Carson should join in an appeal for a letter box to be placed on the telegraph pole in front of the post office. (News)
70 Years Ago
Beauty secret: Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson urged American women to drink more milk and eat more meat and vegetables to prove that beauty is more than skin deep. They are the very foundation of beauty according to Benson.
60 Years Ago
Four still trapped in atomic shaft: (Mercury) Four men trapped at the base of an 1,800-foot nuclear test shaft remain cheerful and optimistic today as rescue attempts passed through the 60th hour. Thirty-five men crews have been working under broiling desert sun. Three hundred feet of the shaft is clogged by cable in the shaft and seals four men in a 30-foot square room. They were released after 80 hours underground.
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.