150 Years Ago
Thanksgiving: Our hint has had its intended effect. We publish a proclamation by the governor fixing a day for “Public Thanksgiving and Prayer.” The 28th day of the month has been designated as the time for holding services. Read it not, turkeys! For ‘tis a knell which summons you to that undiscovered country where no turkey ever returns with a whole wishbone.
130 Years Ago
A western delicacy: Customer to a Nevada hotel proprietor: What have you got in the way of game, landlord? Landlord rubbing his hands appetizingly: Well, I can get you up a couple of nice grasshoppers on toast.
110 Years Ago
Thanksgiving proclamation: “The time is near at hand when, according to the custom of our people, a day should be set apart and devoted to thanksgiving, prayer and praise ... Now, therefore, I, John Sparks, Governor of the State of Nevada, do hereby designate and declare Thursday, the 28th of November 1907, Thanksgiving Day.”
100 Years Ago
War puts in new words — Archies: anti-aircraft guns. Black Maria: big shells, not high explosive, that leave black smoke. Body snatchers: snipers. Bourgeois: Every one in Russia whose interests are opposed to those of the masses. Bully: canned beef. Busted: reduction of a non-commissioner officer to the ranks.
70 Years Ago
Food collection: A Thanksgiving food collection will get underway in Carson City for the starving millions in Europe and the Far East. The food drive is being conducted by members of St. Theresa’s Catholic church under the auspices of the Archdiocese and Dioceses of the United States in cooperation with the war relief services.
20 Years Ago
Auction block: The Nevada Department of Transportation has 21 houses on the auction block and bidding starts at $1 a square foot. The catch is that if you buy the house you have to move it. Homes are in the north Carson City corridor being cleared for construction of the Highway bypass.
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.
