It was founded by E.F. McElwain, J. Barrett and Marshall Robinson and edited by Henry Rust Mighels.

His wife Nellie Verill Mighels ran the Appeal until she married the paper's editor Sam Davis in 1880.

[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] On August 1, 2019, Swift sold the Appeal and its sister publications (The Record-Courier, the Lahontan Valley News and Northern Nevada Business View) to Pacific Publishing Company.

[10] The company sold those paper in January 2025 to Eagle Valley Publishing, founded by the Appeal's editor Adam Trumble.