Sierra Booster is a newspaper serving the eastern sierras including but not limited to the Sierra Valley, Downieville, Loyalton, Sierra County and Portola, Graeagle, Quincy, Greenville, Chester, Lake Almanor and all of Plumas County. Our coverage extends to Truckee, Truckee Meadows Region, Lake Tahoe and in the North Reno Nevade area.

Sixty years ago, on October 21, 1949, Hal Wright (often called the “Flying Paperboy”) published the inaugural issue of the Sierra Booster. The paper was to be published fortnightly at Loyalton, California, until further notice. Hal passed away at age 96 in June of 2000. The Sierra Booster, however, continues, now published by Hal’s younger daughter, Janice Buck, in the original Sierra Booster office in Loyalton, California.

The story of Hal Wright is a big part of Sierra County history; not only has the Sierra Booster documented the everyday lives of the citizens of Sierra County, the local politics, the geological wonders of the area and economic development, there has been no better promoter of the area than Hal. Hal brought positive exposure of Sierra County and the surrounding area to the international arena. His story has been published in hundreds of periodicals and newspapers in several different countries; radio and television networks have shown his accomplishments throughout the world. Much of this article is written by Hal, himself. It is taken from editorials in early issues of the Sierra Booster, letters he wrote and interviews he gave to various news media through the years.

Les Berven and I grew up in Loyalton, California during the
1950s. We played trumpet together and obtained our novice class
amateur radio licenses together (WN6PAP, later W6PAP, for me
and WN6TUY, later W6TUY, for Les). We also learned to fly
at Beckwourth, Les in Frank Nervino's Aeronca 7AC and I in
the family Piper J3 Cub. I began with Dad, but Frank did most
of the instructing of both Les and me, and soloed me on November
5th, 1958, my 16th birthday.

The J3 was a Piper J3C-65 Cub, a member of Piper's long lived
Cub family, The J3 was built from 1937 until 1946 and served,
as the L4 Grasshopper, in both the Army and Navy Air Corps
during World War II. Our J3 had been equipped with an 85
horsepower Continental C-85 engine in place of the stock 65
horsepower Continental A-65.