View from the Past

100 Years Ago

A rabid coyote put in an appearance on Old River the past week, biting a horse belonging to George Mitchell and another belonging to Will Hoover. Hoover, a well known expert wild-west rider, lassoed the coyote and dragged it…A horse and saddle belonging to E.G. Norton was stolen from the street in Fallon Friday last week. Sheriff Coniff had information that led him to believe that Frank Butts had taken the horse and saddle to Winnemucca. He sent Will Hoover over to that place, Hoover arrested Butts and brought him back to Fallon. Sheriff Lamb of Winnemucca wired Sheriff Coniff that Butts, failing to strike a deal for the outfit, left the horse and saddle near that town.

Churchill County Eagle, Saturday, October 21, 1916

Chas. McCulloch of the Provision Co. of San Francisco and Petaluma, is here to fill a government contract for 1,300 turkeys to send to the U.S. boys in the Philippine Islands. He is making a strong effort to get the entire order filled here, and no doubt he will succeed.

Churchill County Eagle, Saturday, October 21, 1916

75 Years Ago

Pinger, Churchill county farmer, has entered his wheat seed at the 1941 international grain and hay show at the Chicago stockyards since 1926 with the exception of last year when his seed lacked standard due to rust. The first time he took 13th place, next his seed rose to sixth, fifth, fourth and third place in competition with wheat entries from all over the country, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Fallon Standard, Wednesday, October 15, 1941

50 Years Ago

The history of journalism in Nevada began in Genoa with the famed Territorial Enterprise in 1858. When Nevada journalism is mentioned, however, most people think of Samuel Clemens, pen name Mark Twain. Just as colorful but little-known men worked side-by-side with Clemens. A fellow chronicler on the Territorial Enterprise was William Wright who chose the pen name Dan De Quille. Say it fast and slur it together and you have the term “dandy quill.” De Quille was a tall, slender man of steady nerve. In Virginia City it was realized that a reporter must fight as well as write no matter what the results. De Quille wrote a true account of a killing done by Farmer Peel; whereupon he heard the killer was looking for him. Now the slender reporter believed that bullies are cowards and brave men recognize brave men when they look into their eyes. Undaunted by fear, De Quille walked to the killer’s favorite saloon and approached him with the business of the thing. “I hear you are looking for me,” said De Quille matter-of-factly. Farmer Peel recognized that something spells fearlessness in a man’s eyes and backed off with an apology. The episode won De Quille the respect of the Comstock.

Fallon Eagle-Standard, Friday, October 14, 1966

A View From The Past…stories from the Churchill County Museum & Archives, researched and compiled by Margo Weldy, Churchill County Museum Assistant.