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The Rise and Fall of Reno’s Chinatown
The Sacramento-to-Reno section of the Central Pacific Railroad was completed in the spring of 1868 and the many Chinese laborers who had risked life and limb laying track over the Sierra Nevada received final payment and were left along the line to fend for themselves. Many settled in Reno, where they constructed flimsy bare- wood structures at the crossroads of Virginia and First streets along the banks of the Truckee River and attempted to put down roots in the community they now called home.
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Nevada’s Outlaws
If you were to ask the average Western history buff to name the most infamous desperados of the late-19th-century frontier, he would no doubt rattle off such names as Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin, and Billy the Kid. It is highly unlikely that such monikers as “Big Jack” Davis, “Three-Fingered Jack” McDowell, “Fighting Sam” Brown, or “Farmer” Peel would ever come up. And yet, these products of a raw and often lawless Nevada, as well as dozens of their contemporaries, were every bit as piratical as their more notorious counterparts.
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Manhattan Photographs
A Peek Into the Past Photos from Manhattan’s heyday provide a glimpse into yesteryear. STORY BY LORRAINE A. DARCONTE PHOTOS COURTESY JOSEPH DEISS A cache of photographs taken in the small mining town of Manhattan in the early 1900s was discovered by chance, and the images taken by Percival Nash offer a personal look at […]
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Little-known Facts of our Official State Emblems
There’s a state locomotive? Indeed there is. While most people can name our state animal or state song, all told there are 22 official state symbols as designated by the Nevada Legislature. How many can you name?
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Five Fools On A Flume
A bonehead challenge in Nevada’s ‘wooden wonder’ BY BOB SAGAN That ancient adage—a fool and his money are soon parted— might have found its purest form of expression in a little-known incident that occurred in 1875 Nevada, had it not been for a hefty dose of dumb luck. The incident in question was triggered by […]
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A Mysterious Murder On The Comstock
VIRGINIA CITY – A MYSTERIOUS MURDER ON THE COMSTOCK Unanswered questions loom after the murder of a notorious prostitute. BY ROBIN FLINCHUM It’s been 150 years since that dreadful January morning when Mary Jane Minieri left her little cottage on Virginia City’s D Street and stepped carefully through the mud to her friend and neighbor Julia Bulette’s […]
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The Petticoat Prospectors
The Petticoat Prospectors Looking back: The little-known history of female miners in the Silver State BY TERRY SPRENGER-FARLEY “We do not see any reason why women should not engage in mining as well as men. If they can rock a cradle, they can run a car; if they can wash and scrub, they can pick […]
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History Men
Nevada Sentinel E Clampus Vitus keeps keen eye on the state’s story STORY BY ERIC CACHINERO PHOTOS BY ASA GILMORE If you’re a consumer of Nevada history, E Clampus Vitus may play a bigger role in your life than you’d expect. Sure, you may think that this group of men, donning red shirts and badge-clad […]
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The Territorial Enterprise
The Territorial Enterprise FIRST SHUTTERED 100 YEARS AGO, THE ICONIC COMSTOCK NEWSPAPER LIVES ON. BY CHIC DIFRANCIA When William Jernegan and Alfred James pulled the first sheet of the Territorial Enterprise off an old Washington hand press in Genoa on Dec. 18, 1858, a newspaper legend was born that has endured to this day. Future […]
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Law, Order, and a Game of Chance
Law, Order, and a Game of Chance THE EARP BROTHERS SEEK THEIR FORTUNES IN NEVADA. BY RON SOODALTER Life in the Old West—Hollywood notwithstanding—was often mundane. The deadly gunfights and daring hold-ups were comparatively few. Yet, certain names have attained legendary status, selling countless books and millions of theater tickets, while the reality was considerably […]
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Dashing Through History
Lake Tahoe Famiy at the Reins of a Half-Century of Memories. BY TERI VANCE With a natural affinity for the outdoors and animals, Sam Borges had always dreamed of a life working with horses. And when a sense of dissatisfaction with the routine of his job in San Jose, Calif., came upon him, Sam […]
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Harolds Club
Harolds Club RENO’S WILD WEST CASINO EXPERIMENT LEAVES LASTING IMPRESSION ON GAMING. BY DORESA BANNING The giant, $60,000 mural that once hung over Harolds Club’s South Virginia Street entrance in Reno now stands in front of the Reno-Sparks Livestock Center as an homage to this pioneering Nevada casino. The 70-foot-long, 35-foot-tall painting is vibrant in […]
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The Genes of our Jeans
The Genes of our Jeans JACOB DAVIS, RENO’S UNSUNG INVENTOR, CREATES A FASHION LEGEND. BY KATHLEEN PAINI CLEMENCE When a jean-clad crowd filters into Reno’s Knitting Factory on concert nights, it’s unlikely many know they are entering the site where fashion history was made. Formerly known as 31 Virginia Street, the property housed the […]
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Boulder/Hoover Dam
History never repeats itself, but the Kaleidoscopic combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends.— Mark Twain Then & Now: Boulder/Hoover Dam HISTORIC ENGINEERING FEAT STANDS STRONG FOR NEARLY 80 YEARS. BY ERIC CACHINERO We love historic places in Nevada, and […]
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The Spark that Ignited a Valley of Fire
The Beauty of this Nevada State Park Burns Bright. BY ERIC CACHINERO Fire is a truly wondrous element. It can be used to heat, cook, forge, ignite, power, illuminate, and even sustain life. But it’s not flames that light up Nevada’s first state park, rather millions of years of geologic activity that gives the landscape […]
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The Glenbrook
Historic Train Roars Back to Life. BY WENDELL HUFFMAN After slumbering for almost 90 years, the historic locomotive Glenbrook is once again under steam, blasting its whistle just a short distance from where it first started operating in 1875. This Memorial Day, the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City is set to host the […]