Nevada State Archivist and historian Guy Louis Rocha has asked for any records of Mark Twain's 1860's membership in the oldest union in Nevada, the Washoe Typographical Union, now part of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO. In chapter 41 of Roughing It, published in 1872, Twain refers to that union membership. (Twain wrote that he had instructed his friends back home "to sell my share of the Tennessee land and tender the proceeds to the widows' and orphans' fund of the typographical union of which I had long been a member in good standing.") We also know he was a member while working at his brother Orion Clemens' newspapers back in Missouri. The Great Virginia City Fire of 1875 and the Great Reno Flood of 1997 destroyed many of the union's old records. Twain's membership has long been a source of pride for the longest-established union in Nevada, so we would sincerely appreciate any and all information with which to rebuild our files regarding our most famous member.
Please e -mail the editor.

Rocha is searching for evidence that Mark Twain (or Will Rogers) ever said "whiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting over."
If you have any facts or scurrilous rumors, please send them here. Thanks.

PAYDIRT

The Nevada State Journal for September 8, 1903, on Page 1, indicates "the
Plumbers' Union" was in the first statewide Labor Day celebration parade held in Reno.

The Nevada State Journal of September 3, 1907, in a story on pages 1-2, reported the Reno Labor Day parade included: "... the Gas and Steam Fitters, with 48 men...".

The NSJ for September 6, 1909, in a page one report on the Labor Day Parade, stated that the planned kickoff in Carson City would include: "Reno Plumbers and Steam Fitters' union".

The 1911 Labor Day parade was held in Virginia City. The Territorial Enterprise for Sept. 1 did not show an entry for the Plumbers.

The Reno Evening Gazette of August 31, 1912, in a page one story, shows in the Program For Labor Day that the "plumbers" would appear in the Second Division.

— Courtesy of Brother Dan Rusnak, retired Business Manager of Laborers' International Union Local 169 and former member of the Nevada State AFL-CIO executive board. The above came in response to a request for information on the history of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 350, which celebrates its centennial on October 13, 2006. (See below.)

On Sept. 5, 1949, a Labor Day parade in Las Vegas included 200 carpenters union members marching in white overalls and bartenders and culinary union members working at a moving bar and lounge. (Courtesy of longtime Nevada reporter Dennis Myers' Poor Denny's Almanac.)

The Storey County Miner's Union marching in the Virginia City Labor Day parade, September 7, 1908.
(Nevada Historical Society photo)