4 <strong>John</strong> F. <strong>Cahlan</strong>grandfather drove the first team into VirginiaCity with a load <strong>of</strong> flour, and the man he wasdoing business with was unable to pay him.But he told my grandfather that he would givehim the deed to some lots in <strong>Reno</strong>. But mygrandfather told him that he didn’t have toworry about it. He’d pick it up the next timehe came around. I’m not sure, but I don’t thinkmy grandfather ever got paid for the flour.But the lots that the man <strong>of</strong>fered to deed tomy grandfather were on Virginia Street fromthe Truckee River on the west side <strong>of</strong> VirginiaStreet, from the Truckee River to SecondStreet, from Second Street to Sierra Street,and back down to the river which now is theheart <strong>of</strong> the city <strong>of</strong> <strong>Reno</strong>. So that’s how closewe came to be landed property owners.But anyway, my mother’s father,Frank Marion Edmunds, was a hoistingengineer in Virginia City, and my mother’smother, Gertrude Barron Edmunds, was aschoolteacher. Both <strong>of</strong> them had come outfrom New Hampshire, and they had livedwithin a few miles <strong>of</strong> each other in NewHampshire and didn’t know each other. Hewas born in Andover and she in Concord. Andwhen they got to Virginia City, my grandfathercourted my grandmother, and married her.My mother was born October 30, 1875in Virginia City. As I say, her father was ahoisting engineer and was on duty the nightthat they had the tragic Savage fire in whichseveral people lost their lives. My mother saidthat she could remember the night when thefire broke out. It was about sundown, andshe saw this red haze or red glow <strong>of</strong>f to theleft <strong>of</strong> their front window, and she called herfather’s attention to it, and he said, “Oh, myGod, the—there’s a mine fire!” so he wentdown and stayed on the job for, as my mothersaid, I think it was forty-eight hours withoutrest, doing rescue work, and other things thatcould be done.In the Edmunds family, there were twoother daughters. My mother, Marion, was theoldest; Alice Edmunds, who later became Mrs.Will Sauer—her husband was a rancher in theWashoe Valley; and the third daughter, AmyEdmunds, who never married and taughtschool in Butte, Montana, and Minneapolis,Minnesota. She returned to <strong>Nevada</strong> about ayear before she died. So that about takes care<strong>of</strong> the family.My grandfather had two other daughters.My father’s mother, Charlotte Farley <strong>Cahlan</strong>,died when he was about five years old.And my grandfather married another wife,Charlotte Warren <strong>Cahlan</strong>, and they had twodaughters, Mrs. R. Hyrum Browne (Geneva<strong>Cahlan</strong>), who now lives in California, andMrs. Arthur Mathews (Lena <strong>Cahlan</strong>), whoalso lives in California. As I say, both mybrother and I were both born in <strong>Reno</strong>. Ihave a daughter, Virginia <strong>Cahlan</strong> Otero,who was born in Las Vegas. My brother hasa daughter, Ruth Marion Henderson, whowas born in Elko, and a son, <strong>John</strong> Forest<strong>Cahlan</strong>, who was born in Las Vegas. The sonhas three sons, Albert Edmunds <strong>Cahlan</strong> II,<strong>John</strong> Forest <strong>Cahlan</strong>, Jr., and Stephen Bradford<strong>Cahlan</strong>, all <strong>of</strong> whom were born in Las Vegas.Their mother was the former Jean Garner.The only “foreigners” in the family are myniece’s children, all <strong>of</strong> whom were born in Mt.Ayr, Iowa. They are Miss Susan Henderson,Bruce Henderson, David Lee Henderson, andPatrick Henderson. Their father is MiltonHenderson <strong>of</strong> Mt. Ayr, Iowa.Now I’ll get back up to Carson City. Itwas a very interesting era for me because <strong>of</strong>being a young kid, and doing the things thatyoung kids used to do. I can recall playing inthe capitol building, and one <strong>of</strong> the favoritesports was to go up to the second floor andslide down the banister, and I have had mybackside bumped on many occasions by the
My Early Life and Education5big ball that stands at the balustrade down atthe bottom <strong>of</strong> a staircase. It was there that webecame very well acquainted with many <strong>of</strong> thepoliticians <strong>of</strong> the era. I remember especiallyWill U. Mackey, who was the foreman in thestate printer’s <strong>of</strong>fice and Mr. Joseph Poujadewho was a lawyer and referee in bankruptcy,practicing before the supreme court, and lots<strong>of</strong> the other people whose names have escapedme now.But I do recall that when I was in thethird or fourth grade at the Carson schoolthat the new state library was set up in theoctagonal building at the rear <strong>of</strong> the statecapitol, and Mrs. Louise W. Edwards, who wasthe mother <strong>of</strong> Dwight and “Bunk,” became thefirst librarian. And it was our job to suggestthe books that would be put in the library forthe youngsters. And, <strong>of</strong> course, we got theTom Swift books, the Rover Boy books, Frankand Dick Merriwell, the O’Henry stories,James Fennimore Cooper—so we had littlesomething to do with the establishment <strong>of</strong>the state library in Carson City.Shortly after we got to Carson City, wemoved to a place on Second and MinnesotaStreets which had a very convenient alcovebetween the house and the woodshed on theother side away from the house, and a perfectbackstop in the back <strong>of</strong> this alcove where mybrother and I used to play baseball. It wasn’tmore than a day or two after we startedplaying ball out there that two heads peekedup over the fence to watch us play baseballand we started in talking to the kids, or talkingto one <strong>of</strong> the kids, and he indicated that hisbrother was deaf and dumb. We couldn’tquite understand that, but we finally acceptedit; the kids’ names were Dowling. And fora period <strong>of</strong> three years, my brother and Iworked with the oldest one, Wilbert, whowas the deaf-mute. We finally got him to apoint where he could communicate with theother youngsters. When we first knew him,the only thing he could do was grunt. Andthrough association with us and our trying allthe time to teach him how to talk, we finallygot him so he could speak several words andmake himself understood pretty well. Later, hewent to a deaf and dumb school in Californiaand became quite well educated and went onto take care <strong>of</strong> himself. I’ve always felt that ifit hadn’t been for us, the kid never would’vegotten anything.There’re so many things that remainin my memory. For instance, the V and Troundhouse in Carson City. Every Saturday,we used to go down and watch the mechanicsworking on the engines down there. They hadanywhere from eight to ten engines in there atone time. They would change engines goingup to Virginia City from Carson City and theyhad to pull out some booster engines to go upover the hill.And speaking <strong>of</strong> the Virginia and Truckeerailroad, I can always remember the trainsthat they used to run on the holidays. <strong>Reno</strong>,Virginia City, and Carson City used totrade holidays. One <strong>of</strong> ’em would put on theMemorial Day festival; another the Fourth<strong>of</strong> July; and the other one, Labor Day. Andwherever the celebrations were staged, the Vand T would run trains to the town. They hadlong flatcars with benches bolted onto them,no sides on ’em; no nothing. They just hadthe benches on there, and everybody wouldget on the train and go wherever they weregoing—Virginia City or <strong>Reno</strong>. Going up, itwas quite a party because there seemed tobe a lot <strong>of</strong> demijohns underneath the seats<strong>of</strong> the benches which the men would swigquite frequently, and by the time they gotinto Virginia City, they would be quite high.Coming back, they used to put on extraguards so that the sleeping boys wouldn’t roll<strong>of</strong>f en route to their home.
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- Page 7 and 8: ContentsPreface to the Digital Edit
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4Southern Nevada Civic Affairsand P
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5A Term with theUniversity of Nevad
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A Term with the University of Nevad
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A Term with the University of Nevad
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A Term with the University of Nevad
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6Evolution of theCentennial Commiss
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104 John F. Cahlanbottom of a canyo
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106 John F. Cahlanand after he got
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108 John F. Cahlan“Senator, I und
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110 John F. CahlanRoosevelt never d
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112 John F. Cahlandecided that Ted
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114 John F. CahlanAs a result, Mech
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116 John F. Cahlanin-law, Clifford
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118 John F. Cahlanotherwise, and I
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120 John F. Cahlanof the fact that
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8The Southern NevadaIndustrial Foun
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The Southern Nevada Industrial Foun
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9“Cahlan School of Journalism”I
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10ConclusionBefore we conclude this
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Conclusion137for the first time. Th
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Conclusion139family record, and so
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142 John F. CalhanAAdams, Eva, 243A
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144 John F. CalhanCahlan, Albert W.
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146 John F. CalhanFGarside, Frank F
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148 John F. CalhanKIndians, 130, 13
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150 John F. CalhanMcNeil Constructi
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152 John F. CalhanPRPace, Dorothy,
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154 John F. CalhanSilver Centennial
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156 John F. CalhanWigwam Theater (R