Transcript of interview with Robert D. Howell by Joe Sant, February 26, 1977

UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell i An Interview with Robert Howell An Oral History Conducted by Joe Sant Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019 UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell iii The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell iv Abstract On February 26, 1977, collector Joe Sant interviewed local Nevadan business owner, Robert D. Howell (born November 22nd, 1939 in Las Vegas, Nevada) in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers Las Vegas in the old days, from Mr. Howell’s personal experience of being born and raised in Nevada. During this interview, Mr. Howell also discusses the early above ground atomic tests, local environmental and social changes, the economic landscape, the Mormon Fort, religious beliefs, and local recreation. The interview concludes with discussion on air pollution. UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 1 (Audio starts midsentence)—This is my project, the Oral Interview Project on Nevada History. And I’m interviewing, Mr. Robert Howell, who is the owner of Howell’s Personnel. Bob, can you tell us the year you were born and if you were born here in Southern Nevada? I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 22nd, 1939, when there was approximately five thousand people in Las Vegas, (unintelligible). Where did your family come from? And what brought ‘em here? Okay. My mother originally was born in Minnesota, in Brownsdale, Minnesota—moved to Southern California, went through all schools, elementary schools and graduated of UCLA and moved to Las Vegas when she was nineteen years old, to start teaching. And she was one of the first teacher’s in Las Vegas at the Old West Side Grammar School. There was at that time only two grade schools: The Fifth Street Grammar School and the Westside Elementary School, started in 1928, and taught here for twenty years, retiring in 1958. My father was born in San Bernardino, California, in the year of 1908. Moved to Las Vegas in 1915, when she was seven years old. The reason for his family moving to Las Vegas, was that they were building the railroad and my grandfather, my dad’s dad, built the railroad from California to Las Vegas, Nevada—Union Pacific. How did they find life in general, in the Las Vegas area in the early days? I was doing some research this morning at the time that my dad and his family, immediately family moved to Las Vegas, there were approximately twelve hundred people already in Las Vegas. They lived in some tents for a few months and at that point then the railroad built some housing down around the Fourth and Charleston area, which they are no longer standing, and they took over a railroad home while the railroad was being built. UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 2 I see. There was absolutely no humidity factor whatsoever. The reason I can state that is that even, as after I was born here and so forth and lived here for years without any evaporating cooling of any sort. There was no humidity no nothing, we had no problem. It was hot but it wasn’t unbearable. So. Very, very dry climate. Extremely dry. During the summer days all you did was open the door, and breeze, get a breeze, and so forth running through the sprinklers. I see. Do you remember anything about the Old Mormon Fort or the—what is called, the Stewart Ranch? The Mormon Fort? I know the name the Mormon Fort but it was tore down prior, me being born here. I do recall quite (unintelligible) the Old Ranch, which was owned by the Stewart family. It was turned into the Old Ranch. It was at that time that—that there was a restaurant and like a little park recreational area and swimming pool, where all of us kids throughout Las Vegas at that time—that’s where we met and went swimming, and so forth on weekends. It was the first swimming pool in Las Vegas. It’s located—it was located, at Las Vegas Boulevard North and—which is Washington Boulevard now, down by—its immediate location would be about Elks Lodge right where the present Elks Lodge is, right now, today. Do you—can you describe any of the buildings in the Old Ranch? If you remember. Uh—there was about two or three buildings at Nellis. This was when I was five years old. So, we’re talking about thirty-two years ago. I do recall that there was a restaurant that was—it was broken into two parts. Divided into two parts. One was a little nicer section of the restaurant was like a steakhouse and the other part was just a coffee shop type of operation, hamburgers and so forth, snack bar, something like that, and a big swimming pool. There was a lot of big trees. We UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 3 used to play on the trees as kids there. Cottonwoods. We had tremendous amount of Cottonwood trees in Las Vegas in those years. (Unintelligible) The Mormon Fort though I do recall the name. But that was prior to my— Okay. What do you remember best about growing up in the Las Vegas area? It was an extremely small town. Without any exaggeration everyone knew everyone. It was a small community. I recall like where my family lived—our first home, after I was born, was at Fourth and Charleston. And then—for six to seven months. And then, that house is still standing today. My mother—I might tell you a little about that—my mother was school teacher prior—they, some guy had lost all of his money gambling in Las Vegas and she picked up the house for fifteen hundred dollars. It was a three-bedroom, two-bath home, which is still there, today. Then, we moved over to Sixth and Franklin between Charleston Boulevard and Oakey. And at that time, that was way outside the city limits. From Franklin on, growing up as a small child—Franklin Avenue, which runs parallel to Charleston through the center of the Huntridge Housing Tract, which Huntridge was the first actual tract homes built in Las Vegas in the early 1940s. I went to John S. Park Grade School and Franklin at that point up until about the Sixth or Seventh Grade, was a dirt street. There was absolutely nothing from Franklin going south. It was, as I say, desert, cottonwood trees; us kids used to build tree forts and so forth. Bob, before gaming was legalized in Southern Nevada and Nevada in general, what did your parents do for—to sustain a living? Oh, as I had mentioned before, my mother came here in 1928, was a schoolteacher. She taught school for thirty years. My father built—helped build, worked on the first highway department, major highway at that time, it was called highway 91, outgoing north from Las Vegas to Salt Lake. He did that for approximately two to three years, then becoming—he quit that and they UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 4 started a post office system in Las Vegas. And my father was actually the second man hired for this city of Las Vegas, Nevada postal service. They had brought a man out by the name of CK Cub (Unintelligible) as postmaster, and my father was the first mail carrier hired in 1925 to deliver mail in Las Vegas. Even after I was born, and I’m talking about thirty-nine into the early forties, till I was about five or six years old, the houses were still far and few between. So far and few between that he was the only mail carrier riding a bicycle with a leather mail bag on his back. And he did this for some five years and then the town did start to grow a little bit in the early forties and gaming started to become a big thing in Las Vegas. I’ll be really honest with you it was the people or the guys, the men from back east and Cleveland, Chicago, New York, New Jersey that were book makers back east and that had been thrown out or been put in trouble for illegal gambling. And they all moved out here and made a tremendous amount of money and they came out and started the hotel clubs. I can recall that 1943, I believe it was—’42, that the first major hotel casino was built in Las Vegas, Nevada. At that point was at—the location was Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard South, which the name of the casino was El Rancho Casino, of which the men that actually were involved in that, there were several people involved. A lot of these men today still work here—live here in Las Vegas. And some are in their seventies, sixty-five and so forth. They are still employed by these major casinos in Las Vegas. The next hotel to be built was at the present location that it is now, called the New Frontier. But the name was the Last Frontier. They built a big arcade type village, rustic saloon, main, you know, big hotel and casino and it was called the Last Frontier, which is now named the New Frontier. I can recall each hotel being built at—one time I used to be able to tell you, in order and the year that they were born. And the best I can remember now is—the El Rancho was the first one and the Last Frontier was the second. Then came the Flamingo Hotel and that was Bugsy Siegel. I’m sure you UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 5 folks have heard about that. There is a book published today called the Greenfelt Jungle, which is a very factual paperback book about the origination and the start of the gaming business in Las Vegas, which also mentions people by name. They’re still very influential people in the gaming business and that work in the hotels here. Some of them are still alive and the Flamingo was third one and then became the Sahara Hotel. There was a—prior to building the Sahara Hotel though there was a building single story structure that a Mr. Ed Moss, his children that I grew up with. The Moss family, owned a club called the Old Bingo Club. It was a grey building and structure, and just a single story building. That was the fourth hotel built. And then, at the present site of the Sahara Hotel now—then they built the Sahara Hotel and Alex Sufi, which is a very prominent name, actually did sincerely start as a busboy at the Bingo Club, as a busboy and dishwasher. And throughout the years came connected with Kirk Kerkorian who originally built the big Hilton, the Las Vegas Hilton. It’s just a story I like to tell, how a busboy started and became a very extremely wealthy man. And—on approximately a three hundred thousand dollar a year salary, plus bonuses and compensations, become the president of Kirk Kerkorian’s empire, which owned at that time. And after building the big Las Vegas Hilton, he owned the Flamingo Hotel and the Las Vegas Hilton. Bob, whatever happened to the El Rancho Hotel? It existed from early 1942 to the year 1959, it burnt to the ground. A fire—I do know a little bit of information about that, that’s factual. At that point in 1959, I was working at a bank here in Las Vegas. My first job out of college was then called the Bank of Las Vegas, which is now the Valley Bank of Nevada. And Bernard Kattleman, who was the major stock holder at the time of the El Rancho, realized the strength and growth of the gaming business and that a lot of people were going to be coming out here and building bigger and better hotels that came into all the UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 6 banks at Las Vegas. I think there was about three of them then, trying to obtain money from the banks to redo and remodel, refurbish, the hotel into a plusher place. And none of the bankers at that time would loan Mr. Cattleman any money and he sincerely did burn the place down and collect a tremendous amount of money. Several million dollars for the insurance money for the El Rancho Hotel, which the ground is still vacant today. It is never—it has never really had anything to it since the fire. 1959 was the—when their first hotel burned to the ground. And again that was located where? At Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard South. Directly across the street from the present Sahara Hotel. Does Mr. Cattleman still own that property? No. At some years later then and he kept trying to obtain the money, he sold the property in 1967, to the late Howard Hughes and there was big news articles and releases stating that Howard Hughes was ‘gonna build a huge medical center, there, which never happened, never materialized. Mr. Cattleman is still alive and lives in Southern California in Beverly Hills, California. Let’s go back in time a little bit—back in your high school days, or grade school days, do you remember the boundaries of Las Vegas and in what extent? Yes. I do. And I’m talking about from 1945 to approximately 1954—the boundaries of Las Vegas were—Main Street was the first, was the street running north and south, and was the furthest street going west. Ogden Street was running east and west, was the furthest street to the north. And Oakey Boulevard then, which is two streets passed the Franklin Street that I’ve mention prior, was the street running—Oakey runs east and west was the furthest street going south. That was the whole town. (Laughs) It was square. UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 7 Can you tell us when the first community services were available for the Las Vegas area, and say, what schools were available, how many, when did the town really start to grow? The first community services hospital for example that I remember, I don’t know exactly where it was built, was built after I was born here. I’d like to state that I was born in a place that doesn’t exist anymore, it was on Westside, was a place called, Warren’s Maternity Home. But the—no hospitals. There was just a Warren’s Maternity Home for children’s birth and so forth. And then, the first hospital was built like, I don’t know exactly what year it would be but early forties. ’42, ’43, was the hospital called the Las Vegas Hospital which is still standing today, they just closed it in somewhere in ’74, 1974, or 1975, it was called the Las Vegas Hospital. That was the only hospital facilities available to Las Vegas. Talking about school days, when I was going to school, the only grammar school at that point was John S. Park Grade School, and the Las Vegas High School is—was where my father attended school. Also went to school with Senator Alan Bible and Howard Cannon. They attended Las Vegas High School at its present—not at its present location but the location of that high school was at where the Federal building is today or the old Fifth Street Grade Grammar School. What happened there was—I might reiterate on that is that there was—that was the location of the Las Vegas High School at it burned down, I do not know what year it burned down and so forth. And then, they built the Fifth Street Grammar School. There were two grade schools, I’m sorry. There was the John S. Park Grade School that I attended and one on the Westside of town, which was called the Westside Grammar School. That was the only schools until approximately 1953, I’d say, 1950, then they built one a little further out in North Las Vegas, I think it was called JD Smith Grammar School and the only high school then was Las Vegas High School still. But it was at the location at 7th and—7th Street and Clark Street Downtown Las Vegas, which still is being used as a high school. And then, in my UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 8 sophomore year in 1955, they built the second high school in Las Vegas, which is Rancho High School. Then came a Catholic High School, which is now Gorman High School. Those are the actually sequence of the construction of those three high schools. And now I don’t know how many high schools and schools are out in Las Vegas. (Laughs) But there’s a tremendous amount. Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, is supposed to be the second largest fastest growing area in the whole United States. Houston, Texas, is the first, Las Vegas the second, then San Jose, California is the third, for prosperous big industry, multi-conglomerate companies moving into the areas and so forth. When Gorman High School was built, that was considered the country, though, wasn’t it? Right. That location was at Oakey and Maryland Parkway. Again, that’s when the town started to grow and started to extend out passed Oakey. I mentioned earlier that Oakey was the furthest street south running east and west. It was the borderline of Las Vegas, Nevada. Do you remember the year—approximately? Gorman High School, I think was built in 1955. Very close to that year, ’54 or ’55. Around the same time that Rancho High School was built. Rancho was the first and then Gorman came second. Do you remember exactly when the town really began to flourish? When it really began to prosper? Yes. For years, it was stalemate a little bit but in 1955, it started to grow. I recall that there used to be a lot of statistics in the paper that Reno was so much larger than Reno, Nevada up north, that northern Nevada was a lot larger than Las Vegas. Approximately like forty thousand people in Reno and twenty-five thousand in Las Vegas. And then, Vegas started to grow and caught up to the forty-five thousand population and from that point on in the middle 1950s it really just UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 9 started growing and that’s just really been the last twenty years, twenty-five years that Vegas has just tremendously grown. Bob, has church activity been important in your life and your family’s life? It was very important—as a small child and growing up, my mother was an extremely avid churchgoer. She belonged to the—my mother and father belonged to the First Methodist Church. It was built in the early forties at Third and Bridger, Downtown Las Vegas. And I was baptized in that church. And from the time I was born till approximately, when I was fifteen or sixteen, I went to church every Sunday and was brought up in Sunday school classes and was the head of the Methodist Youth Fellowship Group, when I was fourteen years old, somewhere around 1954. And then, it seems like I got—television came to Las Vegas, I do remember when the first television appeared in Las Vegas, was around 1954. I got interested in football and quit going to church. I’m still a good Christian, though. (Laughs) (Laughs) Do you remember how the—in some of the first churches around was the Mormon influence heavy in Las Vegas? Yes. It was and the first Mormon Church built in Las Vegas, I don’t know the year it was built but it still stands. It’s called the Latter Day Saints Church, First Ward. It’s at Ninth and Clark by Las—where the present Las Vegas High School’s located. Just across the street from it, still there. And then, the First Methodist Church Downtown again, it’s (unintelligible) Bridger. And then, there is a Catholic Church—I don’t recall the name of it. I think it’s at about Tenth or Eleventh and Ogden. And those are about the only three churches at that point in time in the early forties and early fifties that I recall. Do you remember some of the presidents that came to Las Vegas? Some of the earlier or later presidents that—? UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 10 The first president that I would even—could remember anything about—I don’t recall him actually being here. But he—he had to be here. He dedicated Hoover Dam or Boulder Dam out at the lake and he dedicated that Dam. And then, the next president that I remember in my life was I recall, John F. Kennedy coming here in 1960, and then after that, President Richard Nixon was here. I saw him at the Convention Center. I recall other dignitaries, such as Robert Kennedy. The attorney general at that time did come to Las Vegas. There was heavy controversy at that time and news propaganda that Robert Kennedy as attorney general was looking into the skimming and ways of stealing money and so forth from these hotels. And quite a bit a talk at that time just propaganda is all, is that—I think they tried to even close gambling down here in Las Vegas or in the state of Nevada. I recall him being here and also another brother—there’s a Ted Kennedy, and I recall him being in Las Vegas. And then, more recent times Gerald Ford as a president that was in Las Vegas. Both as vice-president and president of the United States. When the presidents did come to Las Vegas was this a political campaign (unintelligible)? Some of them political, some—mostly all political, I must say. They was here to try to curb folks and so forth, running campaigns. Are you active in politics? Not real active. I’ve been involved in some political things. The longest mayor that we ever had in Las Vegas, was Oran Gragson and the time that I’ve been alive, I did work on his campaign quite vigorously. I helped him get elected three or four times. I was in Las Vegas Junior Chambers of Commerce quite active for approximately twelve years of which the JCs usually did support certain politicians, local and—locally, state and Local Township. Which party are you affiliated with? UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 11 I’m a Republican, though, the party, looks like we might be changing names here from (unintelligible). Are you a member of any social club—clubs or special interest groups? Yes. I—I’m a member of about three organizations again I say, I was a member of the Las Vegas Junior Chamber of Commerce for better than twelve years; was real active in that till I got a little bit older. From the time I was twenty-one till probably thirty-two or three. And then, I’m a charter member of the Paradise (Unintelligible) Club, when that club originated and also I’m a charter member of the Exchange Club, the Seventy-Sixers Exchange Club of Las Vegas. Is or was gaming an important recreational activity for you and your family? The gaming business to my parents, no. My mother was (Unintelligible), she just never cared to really get involved in the gaming. She was a very conservative woman and didn’t care to lose. I do recall a story that my dad told me once that—once the gaming was really highlighted and so forth, he at one time in the early forties lost three hundred dollars in cash, and about broke her heart. As a—how it affected me personally is that—as gaming became such a big entity in the major industry in the state of Nevada as I was growing up, they had laws that you weren’t allowed in any of these gaming establishments until you were twenty-one years of age. And that quite put a mark on my mind. At one time, I recall my dad and I always talked about when I turned twenty-one that I guess I was a man at that point. And he and I were ‘gonna go out and have a few drinks together, I recall, and it’s a true story with no exaggeration— I took a twenty dollar bill and this was at the Stardust Hotel at the time and I took a twenty dollar bill on the crap tables and I did win six dollars. Made a hell of an impression on me for a period of about ten years and I can really understand thoroughly what they mean gamblers sickness or fever that you win that kind of money in a short period of time, that what it does to the American people’s mind UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 12 that you strive and dwell on something like that to make that kind of money so rapidly. That—that’s what keeps this town going. It’s sort of sad that I think gaming has its good entry points. I mean the state collects a lot of taxes and so forth. But I also know that a lot of the people that work in the hotels were really sick people with the gaming fever that came out from back east and so forth as it—when it was all legal out here, that had lost in everything they had worked for. Their homes, they had lost their marriages, went completely broke here in Las Vegas and stayed here to obtain jobs here. That’s what started to bring a lot of people from the east out to the west. They didn’t have the money to go back home and they obtained work here. Did you know any of these people personally? Or? Yes. I do. I would rather at this time not mention any names. Some of these people are still working in the hotels, as I’ve mentioned before. I will say, I’d like to reiterate on a little bit of this, in the old days, Las Vegas, the gaming people amongst themselves were known as mobsters or hoods, slang expression names for the type of people in the gaming business. But they really sincerely amongst themselves had a very strong ethic, or code of ethics amongst themselves. A handshake in the old day was a very important thing. It was an honorable thing amongst men in the gaming business, and it was their bond. And they lived by that. I feel that because of gaming, and it is our major industry, they really should have let or kept the people that knew the gaming business in charge. Because it really did do nothing but help the state of Nevada that in major corporations that have taken over in the last few years and bought the mobsters out, I call them mobsters—they’re not real mobsters, were forced out by the Internal Revenue because of the influx of dollars, revenues that were made by these individuals as owners that—they really just—they didn’t pay their taxes. This was the real main reason that the Hughes Company at the time—in 1967, started purchasing the Desert Inn and the Sands Hotel and that’s—that’s the real UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 13 only reason that the gambling—the gambling people really saw that there was so much tremendous pressure put on them as individuals from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States that they were forced to sell. The reason I know quite a bit about that, I did work in the hotels for six and a half years with the old regimes. The gambling people themselves that originally started this town. And I was there and as an assistant controller, head internal auditor, I used to figure the win-loss of the games for twenty-four hours and do all the gaming reports for the state of Nevada. And also, assist the Internal Revenue Service on backtracking and check into individual personal income tax returns of the old owners of these hotels, at that time. But really the major co-operations have hurt the town, I think considerably. Your high play gambler no longer comes to Las Vegas, used to come in tremendous volume. I get quite a kick out of reading the newspapers about when they say, the state of Nevada has received more revenue in taxes and so forth, than they ever have in their past. And then they—the papers seem to exploit the businesses expanded. Well, it’s not really true. I used to count five hundred thousand dollars a day, at the Sands Hotel, and figure the win or loss. The reason they see it more now, the bigger major co-operations are a little bit more legitimate in reporting and showing all of their earnings rather than in the old days. (Laughs) That kind of money was made every day of the week. You just didn’t get your fair share of it in taxes and revenue. (Laughs) It was called skimming and it’s all known about and all read about a lot of that stuff, I’m sure. How has—you’re insinuating that the cooperation is hurting Las Vegas? I—I feel it’s hurting only for the purposes that they knew nothing about the gaming. It’s a funny education in the gaming business. They brought up self-educated men; they’re very intelligent mathematically and very methodical minds. None of them went past fifth, and sixth, seventh grade of schooling. None of them knew what a college degree was. It was the school of hard UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 14 knocks, they call it. And—they’re, but they’re extremely sharp, intelligent people. They’re extremely good businessmen. In the old days, I recall that you could eat a steak dinner and—I mean, naturally, costs have gone up all throughout the years. But you could eat for a dollar and a quarter at—of which know you pay fifteen or seventeen dollars for the exact same meal. Now a lot of that is due to inflation. But the major (unintelligible) when they took over wanted to make money in all departments. The gamblers philosophy was feed ‘em and—wine ‘em dine really good for nothing, and get ‘em intoxicated, I guess, to the point—for twenty dollars-worth of drinks free. And then, they’d throw their money away on the tables, gambling. All the big money was made on the gambling. They were called hotel casinos but they could care less about their hotels. It was the money that was being made in the casinos. What other activities do you participate in, in the local area? Type of activity Joe, do you mean? Recreational, I mean. Recreation activities. I’m a very avid lake person, Lake Mead. I love to go out. I’ve had couple boats. I’ve had boats for about ten years and I like to water ski—get out on the lake and enjoy the outdoor life. I recall going to—we used to go to the—Mount Charleston, used to have a skating rink and we used to go up there and play in the snow, and sled, and—I never learned to ski but a lot of us used to go up there. This interview will continue on the reverse side of this tape. (Tape one ends) Bob, do you remember anything about the early above ground atomic testing? Yes. I do. I recall before, prior to graduating from high school and still living at home with my parents, the underground tests started approximately, I think—or, not underground, pardon me. UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 15 The atmospheric tests started about 1952. The Department of Defensive moved in tremendous amounts of Army military personnel to Camp Desert Rock, which had a very good size Airfield. This is about sixty-five miles north of Las Vegas on the highway to Reno, Nevada. And the—atmospheric tests were something of very much spectacular. My father and I, at times, would get up, must have done it twenty to thirty times—would get up at four o’clock in the morning, and we would drive out together out on the Reno Highway, and be there at the time that the shot was detonated. And we would see the big mushroom and so forth and that, in the sky. And it would—used to rock Las Vegas pretty good—roll like an earthquake. They were quite large in strength. I don’t know how you measure you know, kilotons. I don’t recall, twenty, thirty thousand kilotons. tom bombs. They would drop ‘em out of the airplanes. They did that for several years. And then, they started building towers detonating the bomb at the top of the tower, other than using an air—rather than use an airplane. They used to actually drop the bombs right out of the aircraft. Did this used to frighten the people? The local people? Yes. A lot of people got stirred up about it. They were really very much concerned and interested in the—the radiation factor from blasts and such like that, bombs such as that. You know, like in World War One and Two. And, it was pretty scary around here for a while. But then the science—science and scientists, scientific people all said that they were well protected and no harm could be done to the families or the town. Again, it was approximately a hundred—the test site is actually sixty-five miles to the main gate from Las Vegas. But the blast was another twenty-five to thirty miles into the test site. And so was like a hundred miles from Las Vegas. There were times, though, in papers and proven facts, that some of the radiation—the atmospheric tests did seep into Utah, and it did kill cattle, and so forth, livestock. Effected some of the milk, dairy products in Utah. And there was a quite major concern over that. But in UNLV University Libraries Robert Howell 16 general there—it was really, they were very much protected and they were doing it very consciously. And no one actually really got hurt by it. They used to think that at times it brought the winds to Los—Southern Cali—or Southern Nevada, and the blasts were—the shots were bringing all the bad weather