Past Pages for Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013

140 Years Ago

Catholic Church: Mr. Ed Sweeney and the County Commissioners joined forces to redeem that part of King Street which lies in front and to the east of the Catholic Church from the tearings and gullying of water. A large quantity of earth had been excavated and a very large and substantial flume built ... seven hundred feet, six feet in width and three feet six inches in depth. When this important work is done, it will be the best thing ever devised.

130 Years Ago

Telegraph: J.W. Mackay is delighted with the work of his new company. Two operators upon the wire of the postal telegraph have been sending and receiving 542 messages in three hours — at the rate of 90 messages an hour.

120 Years Ago

Startling discovery: A great many insane commitments from San Francisco have been illegal. The law says an insane person shall be arrested on a warrant and examined by medical experts. After their report, Judge of the Superior Court shall order the insane person confined in an asylum. The practice has been to have patients examined by the Commissioners of Lunacy without issuing a warrant ...

70 Years Ago

Photo caption: How a wartime dog should properly execute a parachute jump is demonstrated by “Chip,” an army Airedale mascot. He jumps — floats earthward — and then calmly trots away.

50 Years Ago

Visiting bear: A bear wearing a furry dark coat was caught in Ash Canyon pilfering apples and happily chomping down the fruit. He would climb the trees to down apples and then cavort between gulps ...

30 Years Ago

Marlette Lake: At one time was the private property of the Curtis Wright Co. Remnants of a caretaker’s cottage still sit on an island in Marlette. Former General Services Director Bruce Greenhalgh said at the Red House, a year-round caretaker mixed water from Marlette with a spring that bubbles nearby. The Marlette water system was built in 1873 to provide domestic water and water to run the mills in Virginia City. It still provides water to Virginia City and some state buildings in Carson City.

Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.