Alf Doten

History of Nevada Journalism

The first newspaper in present day Nevada was apparently the Gold-CaƱon Switch of Johntown, a mining community about four miles from what became Virginia City on the Comstock. The paper, founded about 1854, was handwritten. Unfortunately, no copies exist.

Bagpipes in Nevada

In 1869, Journalist Alf Doten noted that Virginia City's annual celebration of Robert Burns, Scotland's Poet Laureate, included "a highland piper in costume." Scottish dance competitions at Nevada's nineteenth-century Highland games would have also required the presence of a piper.

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