View from the Past

100 Years Ago

A paper on alfalfa seed oil was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, by the department of agriculture of the University of Nevada upon the chemistry of alfalfa. It was prepared by Professor C.A. Jacobson and August Holmes. The oil was found to be a drying oil, similar to safflower oil, brownish yellow in color and having a pronounced greenish fluorescence in sunlight. Oils of this kind are used extensively in the manufacture of paints, varnishes and lacquers. They are also employed in the arts, in soap manufacture, perfumery, foods and medicine. Churchill County Eagle, Saturday, April 1, 1916

The latest reports from Mexico indicate that Villa is surrounded by American and Carranza troops. A report was sent out from Madera, Mexico, that Villa had been wounded in the leg. General Carranza’s agreement has been accepted for use of the Mexican railroad for transporting supplies to U.S. troops beyond the border.

Churchill County Eagle, Saturday, April 1, 1916

75 Years Ago

The Leeteville-Hazen highway construction job is expected to be underway by May 20, according to A.D. Drumm, manager for the Silver State Construction Company of Fallon which last week was awarded the contract on its bid of $111,845 by the state highway department…

The Fallon Standard, Wednesday, April 2, 1941

“Are the Australians afraid of Japan?” was one of the questions asked of Miss Zelda Reed as she spoke before the Fallon Rotary club. She replied that the Australians did not because of the distances the Japanese would have to overcome. Australians consider President Roosevelt as the man of the hour. Their defense program employs small firms, as for instance, a factory which made lipsticks before the war is now manufacturing bullets. Miss Reed recently returned to the United States from Australia where she had been employed in newspaper and radio, the only woman, a journalist, who had a military pass. The temporary fame upon arriving in San Francisco in the sail boat Benecia was unexpected. When she left Australia her friends thought she took a terrific chance going off in a freighter, as so many of them had recently sunk. She did not know then that both engines of the Benicia had been at the bottom of the ocean, had been hauled up and fixed up for duty again.

The Fallon Standard, Wednesday, April 2, 1941

50 Years Ago

The civil defense test, a simulated bomb burst on Reno, with resultant fallout on the Fallon area, Friday, April 1st at 1 p.m. was quite successful due to outstanding cooperation from all participating organizations. The helicopter flight of Lieutenant Arthur Anderson of NAS Fallon Hangar 4 was quite dramatic with the dumping of 100 pounds of flour over Fallon as simulated fallout. Fifteen photographs were taken from the copter by Dee L. Chase PH-1 from the NAS.

Fallon Eagle-Standard, Tuesday, April 5, 1966

From the Past….Stories from the Churchill County Museum Archives, researched and compiled by Margo Weldy, Churchill County Museum Assistant.