The Carson Daily Appeal. was first published in on May 16, 1865. It was founded by E.F. McElwain, J. Barrett and Marshall Robinson and edited by Henry Rust Mighels.[2][3]
Mighels and Robinson bought the paper in November 1865 and ran it until December 1870. After the sale, the paper was renamed to the Daily State Register. In September 1872, Mighels started the New Daily Appeal with help from John P. Jones. Robinson and Mighels joined forces a month after the November election to buy and merge the Daily State Register into the New Daily Appeal.[2]
In 1873, Mighels dropped the "New" from the masthead and it became the Daily Appeal. In May 1877, the Daily Appeal became the Morning Appeal, switching back to the Daily Appeal in May 1906. The name was changed again in 1947 to the Nevada Appeal. Mighels became the paper's sole owner in 1878 and died a year later from stomach cancer. His wife Nellie Verill Mighels ran the Appeal until she married the paper's editor Sam Davis in 1880.[2]
In 1948, the newspaper was sold to George H. Payne.[1] Three years later the paper was sold again to a company headed by R. E. Carpenter.[4] In 1993, the Appeal was sold by the Donrey Media Group to three of its executives.[5] They sold it to Swift Communications in 1995.[6]
In July 2018, the Appeal reduced its print schedule from six to two days a week: Wednesdays and Saturdays.[7]
On April 16, 2019, an edition of the Appeal was found during the opening of a time capsule from 1872 in the cornerstone of a demolished Masonic lodge in Reno.[8][9]