Past Pages for Wednesday, April 9, 2014

140 years ago

That is a vicious crack that split in the cuticle of Mother Earth at Gold Hill. Last evening’s Chronicle says that another accident occurred in the Fort Homestead tunnel yesterday afternoon, shortly after the wreck of the noon train was cleared away. The timbers and lagging had been torn away from the roof, leaving masses of loose earth without support. As the Washoe was passing, a quantity of earth came down with a crash and smashed the headlight of the locomotive out of existence.

130 years ago

John S. Wise, of Virginia, a man who has passed through several duels, has recently experienced a change of heart and denounces the code after a most vigorous fashion. The Record Union applauds Wise’s courageous stand and holds the code to be simply a plan inaugurated by men who found the duello an easy way to commit murder. Ruf Shoemaker of the Grass Valley Tidings takes a view and insists that a little more of the code would teach low-bred men who try to pick quarrels with betters that they can be accommodated.

100 years ago

Highgrader arrested. A Tonopah blacksmith has been arrested for having highgrade in his possession. The officers found 13 sacks of ore in his possession, valued at $1,000. It is said by the Bonanza to be an admixture from all the producing mines in the camp and is presumed to have been purchased by miners.

70 years ago

Mrs. Archie Pozzi Jr. entertained her young son, Archie III, known to his friends as “Misty,” and a number of his little friends at an Easter egg hunt at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Pozzi Sr. on West Robinson Street. Due to weather conditions, the hunt took place indoors.

50 years ago

California divers are exploring a vast underground lake beneath the floor of the world-famed Death Valley, a volcanic cavern reachable only through a waterhole known as the “miner’s bathtub.” Divers will use equipment adapted to reach down to 1,000 feet.

30 years ago

By Monday afternoon, ratepayers will know who is going to blink first in a simmering battle that has embroiled ratepayers and the Public Service Commission on a $9.5 million rate hike for Southwest Gas.

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