Past Pages for Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014

140 years ago

(Black Hills Expedition; continued from Wednesday) ... are allowed to enter upon it in pursuit of gain, the treaty with the Indians will of course be grossly and infamously violated, and an Indian war of the most desperate character may be anticipated. But, if this is not intended, it is difficult to comprehend the purpose of these publications. (Continued on Friday.)

130 years ago

Bottling the rattlesnake. Hy Downs, a tunnel tender on the V&T, catches a great many rattlesnakes near Lake View and has reduced the science to a nicety. He takes glass jars and sinks them in the ground until the mouths are level with the earth. He then herds the snakes near the jars, and they go in like it is a den. Downs then jars the snakes as gifts to his friends in Carson.

100 years ago

If it had not rained the night of the 17th and 18th, June, 1815, the future of Europe would have changed. On the 18th, Napoleon had 240 artillery guns, while Wellington had only 159. Napoleon’s plan was a masterpiece. He would go straight at the center of the Allied line, cut it in two, drive the British over Halle, the Prussians over Ingres, carry Mont St. Jean, seize Brussels, drive the Germans into the Rhine and the Englishmen into the sea. But it rained. Had it not rained, the artillery would have moved.

70 years ago

Captain James P. Olding of the U.S. Navy has recently returned from service in the South Pacific. Captain Olding was born and raised in Carson, a graduate of local schools and Annapolis. He has been in the Navy more than 35 years and has two sons in the service.

50 years ago

A surprise order by the Nevada Game and Fish Commission to abolish a dozen positions by next July left employees here confused, bitter and muzzled.

30 years ago

Nevada’s youngest crime fighter at seven years old defies electronic devices, never has a bad day and never asks for time off. Up to 150 persons a day get the benefit of this crime fighter, a Cessna 172 airplane. The project began as the gleam in the eye of Nevada Highway Patrol Col. Peter Zadra.

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