The Territorial Enterprise Lives Again

We recently obtained a wonderful collection of Territorial Enterprise Newspapers from the Lucius Beebe – Charles Clegg era. The papers are amazing and represent a fascinating time capsule of Storey County History. But they are more than just a snapshot of Storey County. Back then Clegg and Beebe’s Enterprise was every bit as significant as the paper printed in the 1860s. Beebe and Clegg revived the Enterprise in 1952 printing a paper on May 2nd which includes the following missive:

 

Beebe and Clegg’s Enterprise became a chic and popular paper. Subscribers around the globe enjoyed the articles and advertisers from New York, Los Angeles, Denver sought the attention of the Enterprise audience. National Brands advertised and the paper represents a wonderful glimpse into American prosperity of the 1950s.

The Gold Hill News

The Teller is also in possession of an almost complete collection of The Gold Hill News. The Gold Hill News was an award-winning bi-weekly effort produced by Nevada Author David Toll, The Teller’s Editor Sam Toll’s father. The younger Toll learned several valuable skills while being a printer’s devil while working on The Gold Hill News in his front room. One skill was the process of print production. The younger Toll purchased the first Macintosh computer directly from Steve Jobs and helped upend the way the world communicated with his fledgling upstart, The Electric Page.

Another vastly more significant skill was knowing and appreciating the value of the free and fearless press. The stories printed in The Gold Hill News were not afraid to tell it like it was. This was a time before the Sheriff Department was run by a fair and balanced man. This was a time when the department had the ruthless and bitter Jim Miller Sr. as the lead dog. Miller was feral in every sense of the word.

Despite Sheriff Bob Del Carlo’s reputation as an even-handed man, he employed a vicious henchman in Miller. When the elder Toll called for Miller to return to his profession as a fry cook, our family paid the price of his vicious and unwanted attention. The Millers, Sr. and Jr. are dark stains on the Storey County Sheriff’s Office. The Miller stain isn’t easily washed from Del Carlo’s otherwise reputable tenure as Storey County Sheriff.

The Journals of Alfred Doten

The Teller also has the three volumes of the Journal of Alf Doten lovingly edited by Nevada Writer Hall of Fame winner and longtime Virginia City Resident Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Clark died in Virginia City and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery Silver Terrace. He painstakingly curated the daily entries of Doten’s handwritten journal. Doten, who traveled around the Horn in 1849 was a fixture in Gold Hill for decades as a wordsmith. Alfred Doten published the first iteration of The Gold Hill News

And so we begin this weekly effort. Some entries may be brief and fleeting, others will be more substantive. We hope all will be interesting. Please let us know if this is of any interest to you and worthy of the time spend curating. Like anything else, this takes time. If you like it, we’ll do more. If it is not interesting, we will stop. Remember, as always, commentary is free and easy here on The Teller.

The Territoral Enterprise February 4th, 1955