Territorial Enterprise

February, 1883 - January, 1885
Alf Doten wrote for the Territorial Enterprise, the largest and most successful newspaper in Virginia City, sporadically from the time he moved to the Comstock in 1864 until the end of his life, as a freelancer and briefly as a “local reporter.” He also filled in for Dan De Quille at times when De Quille was detoxing from alcohol. After a great deal of financial and professional success as the publisher of the Gold Hill News, Doten’s fortunes took a very bad turn in late 1882, resulting in his family’s move in 1883 to Austin, Nevada, a more prosperous town where he might have more opportunities. They stayed for less than two years, but during that time Doten wrote 73 columns, “From Eastern Nevada” that were published in the Enterprise. It was his only steady work, and he gave it his best writing about daily life in Austin, a much smaller and quieter place than Virginia City. If nothing interesting was happening, he fantasized a bit, using fictional characters that typified (but exaggerated) the types of citizens of his new home. This series provides a wealth of information about Austin during the early 1880s

TE11 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….April 22, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA A Festive Wedding—Concealed Comstock Bonanzas—Smallpox—Sour Grapes—The Vineyard of the Lord—a Conscientious Proposition. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., April 20, 1883. One of the approaching weddings shadowed forth in my last week’s letter took place evening before last, and was the most popular affair of the kind that ever transpired in Austin, although there was nothing ostentatious about it. It was the wedding of Alexander C. McCafferty and Miss Mary E. Barrett, both well known and popular residents of...
TE12 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….April 29, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. A Piute Wiggins’ Prognostication—Austin Belligerents—Less Blood than Thunder—The Manhattan Mill Shut Down—Some Austin Festivities—Piute Orchards—Young Winnemucca—Sutro Tunnel Propositions and Westward Possibilities—Reno and Carson Antagonistical Meanness—Both Places Not So Bad as They Might Be. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., April 27, 1883. Winter continues to linger, etc., and if it really is a fact that "April showers make May flowers," the Reese River section will be one grand universal bouquet shortly...
TE13 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….May 6, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. May-Day With Strawberries and Snow Cream—Lamb and Green Peas—Austin Fruits—Army Horses for Arizona—Mill Recuperation—A Long Shaft for a Long Belt—An Acceptable Brick—Carson and Colorado Prospects—Is Sharon Really on Deck—Knights of Pythias—A Connubial Mash. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., May 4, 1883. Nobody in this section ever saw a rougher May-day than was last Tuesday. Snow and hail fell fast and furious all day, and if it had been a little colder, good sleighing would have been furnished, but although...
TE14 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….May 13, 1883 Entered at the Postoffice at Virginia City, Nevada, as second-class matter. FROM EASTERN NEVADA. A Juvenile Horse Boom—Tributers’ Luck, and Fortune’s Tribute—A Gold Hiller’s Grand Recognition—Eastern Nevada Mining Prospects—Another Promising Mine—A Political Squib—Weathercocks. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., May 11, 1883. The Colonel, Captain, Lieutenant and the Inspector mentioned in my last week’s letter as being here buying up all the able-bodied regulation-sized horses they could find in Reese River Valley and vicinity for...
TE15 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….May 20, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. The Merry Month of May—Church Festivities and Amenities—Hobart’s Boiler Scale Ideas—Base Range Base Ball—The Glory and Obnoxiousness of Wealth—Unportable Dollars—Journalistic Luck—Memorial Day. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., May 18, 1883. "Hail, all Hail, thou merry month of May," should have been written by the author of "Beautiful Snow." Anyhow there has been more merry hail played with the weather during the present month of May than the oldest Austinite ever saw, either before or since the flood. Hail...
TE16 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….May 27, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. An Old Comstocker in Luck—Jonas Seely’s Bonanza—Nevada’s Undeveloped Wealth and Prosperity—Austin Amenities and a Church Festivity—An Austin Stalwart—The Old Bullion Grinder Again—A Pleasant Matrimonial Consummation. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., May 25, 1883. Jonas Seely, whom we all know, arrived here on Tuesday night’s train, and left next day for Ophir Canyon, about fifty miles to the southward of Austin. There, as heretofore stated, he is a principal owner of the Twin River mine. It is one of the...
TE17 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Tuesday……….June 12, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. Summery Proceedings—About Contempt of Court—The Glorious Fourth—Local Itemizing and an Unlucky Reporter—The Service of God and Mammon—The Old Prospector’s Last Location—The Dark-Eyed Indian Maiden. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., June 8, 1883. Eighty degrees of Summer have prevailed continually for some weeks past, and there will be no more snow until next week or the week after. The strawberry crop is consequently more abundant, and the Methodist ladies propose giving a festival for the benefit of the...
TE18 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….June 24, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. Climatic Impulsiveness—Young Reese River Cyclones—Base Ball Speculations and Deductions—Independence Day and Pioneer Patriotism—Reese River in Cold Chunks—Unique Bath—A $10,000 Suit—Of Clothes—Smelting and Milling—Bricks—Jonas Seely’s Sad Ending. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., June 22, 1883. Nothing can be more legitimate than hot weather in the proper time and season of it, but the only difficulty is to define and satisfactorily apportion the various contingencies thereof. Here in Austin the weather is...
TE19 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….July 1, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA The Gentle Summer Sunshine—Cool Vaults of Silver—Some Regularly Productive and Exceedingly Well-Managed Mines—Also a Few Items of Their History and Development—“Razor Blade” Ledge Results—Varicose, But Very Fine Veins—Good and Bad Breaks—Thousands for Tribute—Present and Coming Events. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., June 29, 1883. Yesterday was the hottest of the season thus far, the average thermometer scoring about ninety-five degrees in the shade, which is really hot even for Austin. The laziest man felt a...
TE20 TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE Sunday……….July 8, 1883 FROM EASTERN NEVADA. How the Fourth Got Celebrated—An Affluent Bonanza of Explosives—Fumigation—Musical Notes—Celestial Amenities—The Boss Team of Any Procession—Indians and Engines—Talking Under Fire—Reese River Pioneers on the Ball-Room Floor—What They Tell Me and What They Do—Canine Unpleasantness. [Correspondence of the Enterprise.] AUSTIN, Nev., July 6, 1883. Unusually glorious was the celebration of the recent Fourth in Austin. That proud National day has been celebrated here in good style many times, but never quite equal to this time. Our...

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