Past Pages 12-25

130 YEARS AGO

Merrie Christmas: No day in the year has such a thorough hold upon the world as Christmas. Festivities are shared alike by the infidel and the believer. In a thousand mining camps on the coast, the gold hunters will lay aside the pick and sluice box to make merry in rude cabins decorated with green spoils from the forest. There will be some drunkenness and fighting and some lives let out, but the spirit of the festivities will be well meant.

100 YEARS AGO

Reno Fire Chief Webster yesterday said the fire that destroyed St. Thomas Aquinas Church was caused by a dope fiend known as "Troubles". No trace of the man was found in the charred remains.

70 YEARS AGO

Children at the Nevada Orphans home held Christ-

mas ceremonies at the facility. The children sang "Silent Night" and "Oh Come all Ye Faithful." The amount available from the Henry Wood fund is $19.80 per child.

50 YEARS AGO

Children of Sunny Acres Children's Home received about a dozen gifts each this year including the traditional gift from benefactor Henry Wood. Employees of the Carson Nugget gave them a Christmas Party along with a show, "Alice in Wonderland." Governor and Mrs. Grant Sawyer distributed the gifts.

20 YEARS AGO

The Navy has found thousands of bombs, scrap, ammunition, flares and rockets in a sweep of public land around Fallon Naval Air Station. In a search of the area about 123,375 pounds of ordnance was recovered.

10 YEARS AGO

Preservationists got a stay order from the Nevada Supreme Court to stop a Super Bowl Sunday implosion of the Mapes Hotel Casino in Reno.

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