Alfred Doten had one of the longest tenures of any Sagebrusher in the history of the Comstock. His Nevada career began at Como in 1863, and ended 40 years later with his death in Carson City in 1903. Today Doten is remembered for the journals he wrote spanning 54 years documenting his career and personal experiences. Seventy years after his death, the University of Nevada Press published a massive three volume set, weighing a hefty 14 1/2 pounds, titled: “The Journals of Alfred Doten 1849-1903.”
The Journals are a fascinating read for they contain so much local history that would have gone unnoticed had Doten not recorded it. They also document the bane that dogged the lives and careers of both Doten and DeQuille at the time they lived on the Comstock. The men shared a friendship for the better part of three decades, that included the habitual consumption of alcohol on a regular basis. It’s in the Doten Journals that we come to understand the magnitude of the addiction both men had with the disease.
On Christmas day, 1869, Doten duly noted in his journal that: “Dan is in the station house very sick with the delirium tremens.” And again on April 7, 1870, Doten tells us: “Dan has been in the station house with the delirium tremens the last 2 or 3 days - Downey took him to the county hospital this morning - got it bad.” The journals are dotted with entries like these for the entire time both men lived on the Comstock.
Delirium tremens or the DTs are caused by the withdrawal of alcohol and DeQuille suffered from this more so than Doten. DeQuille was fired from his job at the Territorial Enterprise more than once because of his drunkenness. Doten suffered a fate far worse when his wife left him because of his drinking. Mary Stoddard was a teacher at Gold Hill in the early 1870’s. She married Doten in 1873, just after he took over ownership the Gold Hill Daily News. Upon their separation she taught in Reno for 20 years until her retirement in 1903. In 1891 she applied before the Board of Regents for a teaching position at the University, but was turned down because she had a drunken husband. Doten duly recorded the incident in his journal on July 14, 1891. For the one time proud owner and publisher of the Gold Hill Daily News, this must have cut Doten to the core to have fallen so far from grace.
Doten spent his last years in Carson City freelancing for any number of publications just to make ends meet. In 1899 he became a major contributor for the new “The Nevada Magazine” that premiered in August of that year. The Winnemucca based magazine however, had a short life and perished with its sixth edition in January, 1900.
In failing health and virtually destitute, Doten kept writing to the very end. He logged the last entry in his journal on Wednesday, November 11, 1903 at 11:30 p.m. and died the following morning of the 12th. He was 74.
Dan DeQuille wrote for the Territorial Enterprise from 1862 until the paper suspended operations for the entire year of 1893. When new owners revived the paper in December of that year, Dan who was in his mid-60’s, and in poor health was not asked to return to the journal he helped build into an institution. Although he left the Comstock several times, his 31 years at the Enterprise gave him the longest tenure of anyone ever associated with the paper that once was the mightiest voice in Nevada journalism.
Dan was in such bad shape by now he could hardly walk. Time was getting short and Dan knew he had to get off the mountain, while he still had the energy to do it. On July 14, 1897, Dan boarded the train with his wife and daughter for their home in West Liberty, Iowa. Also at the depot that day was Alf Doten to see his friend for the last time. Doten recorded the incident in his journal, and his physical description of Dan was that of a man who didn’t have long to live. Doten didn’t know how prophetic that entry would become. Eight months after he penned it, the Washoe Giant was gone. Dan DeQuille died March 16, 1898 at his home in West Liberty, Iowa. He was 69 years old.
There were other Sagebrushers who went through the same ordeal as Doten and DeQuille. Denis McCarthy died from alcoholism at age 45. Fred Hart and Lyin’ Jim Townsend also had problems with alcohol. What makes Doten and DeQuille unique was their iron constitution, pounding out copy day after day for three decades, oftentimes handicapped by alcohol. It’s quite amazing that both men left a legacy of over a million words each.
The era of the Sagebrusher ended after the turn of the 20th century. Many of the old mining camps were now deserted with only a few old shacks standing as a remembrance of a time long ago when Sagebrushers plied their trade. Virginia City was the exception, it was never abandoned, but its Sagebrushers were long gone when the Enterprise finally went under in 1916. The early newspapermen of Nevada were a distinct and special breed of writer. They were baptized in a world of ink and whiskey, and tempered by the harsh realities they faced on a daily basis.
Sagebrush journalism is no longer published in today’s newspapers. The stories, poetry and “Quaints” are but a distant memory. They died a century ago along with the men who created them.
Next Time: Part 4 last installment, a bibliography and additional notes.
Go here for Part 1 of the series.
Go here for Part 2 of the series.
— Chic DiFrancia is a long-time Virginia City resident, freelance writer, historian and letterpress printer. In his youth he once was a typesetter at the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City.