Transcript of interview with Eldon Cooper by Kamal Whilelm, March 3, 1975

UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper i An Interview with Eldon G. Cooper An Oral History Conducted by Kamal Wilhelm 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 Eldon Cooper ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 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 Eldon Cooper iv Abstract On March 3, 1975, Kamal Wilhelm interviewed Eldon G. Cooper (born 1922 in Overton, Nevada) about his experiences in Southern Nevada. Also present are Cooper’s wife and several unnamed adults in the background. Cooper first talks about his background and his eventual move to Las Vegas before describing the recreational activities in which he and his family took part. He later describes the atomic testing, environmental changes, modes of transportation, social changes, and tourism in Las Vegas. Cooper also discusses the Stewart Ranch, and his wife describes the setting of multiple photographs taken of properties in the Downtown Las Vegas area. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 1 [Interview begins midsentence] The history class, and today’s the 3rd of March 1975. Would you please tell me what your name is, sir? Eldon Cooper. How old are you, Mr. Cooper? Fifty-two. What is your address, sir? 1213 Stanley, North Las Vegas. And what is your telephone number? 642-1547. Okay, were you born in Southern Nevada? In Clark County, Overton, Nevada. Why did you and your family come here to Las Vegas? Strictly employment. Where are you originally from? Overton, Nevada. Overton, Nevada. How long have you lived there? Well, I was born there, ’22. I lived there until I was nineteen. Since, oh, till you were nineteen, and you moved to Las Vegas when you were nineteen, right? Right. Okay, were you educated in Nevada? I went to high school in Overton, Moapa Valley High School. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 2 Oh, but you didn’t go to college here in Nevada? No. All right, what is your occupation? I’m a route salesman. For what? For Hostess. For Hostess—? Cake products. Cake products? Pastry products. What addresses have you lived in Southern Nevada? What are the different addresses that you had, like, before you moved into this Southern Nevada, Southern Las Vegas—what is it? North Las Vegas. North Las Vegas, right. Well, I lived in Henderson in 1947 to 1950. Probably for about six months prior, that’s the only places I— You lived besides North Las Vegas? Why did you move to North Las Vegas? Well, we bought a home here in ’50. Was there any special reason for moving to North Las Vegas? No. It’s just that you like the house that you’re living in right now? (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 3 Were you married in Las Vegas or Southern Nevada? Married in Las Vegas. Okay, when were you married? In 1945. 1945, and you were married here in North Las Vegas? No, in Las Vegas. Which part of Las Vegas? Down on South Third Street. South Third Street? Yes. Okay, is church activity an important part of your life, like is there church activity an important part of your life in this part of the state? You go to church a lot? No. Prior to that, twenty years prior. (Laughs) Do you remember the visits of any of the presidents or other important people to the Las Vegas area, such as President Roosevelt or Hoover, or spectacular events such as the 1942 crash of Carole Lombard’s plane, important persons, divorces, or marriages, such as Clark Gable? Any of these events that took place? Well, when President F. D. Roosevelt came to dedicate the Hoover Dam and I was still in school, and we all went over to Boulder City to see (unintelligible). I don’t remember the exact year, but I think it was in probably ’33 or ’34, sometime in there. How long was he in the state for? I really don’t know. I think it was probably just a day or two, and (unintelligible). UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 4 Are you ever—like, if you were presently active in politics, like, did you ever have any interest in politics? No, not really. I’ve always had an interest, but active interest. Okay. Which party do you belong to? Democratic. The Democratic Party? Yes. Were you involved in the Democratic Party, or are you involved with the Democratic Party right now? Well, I think that normal, you know activities, you know. Nothing, no specific activity other than just voting and voicing my opinion. Were you or are you a member of a social club or other special interest group right now? No. Any club that you might be a member of, like the Elks Club or (unintelligible) or the Moose Lodge, or? No. Is or gambling and important recreational activity for you and your family? No. You don’t like to gamble at all, do you? Oh— Once in a while? Once in a while, but as you live here (unintelligible) less and less all the time. When you first got here, did you gamble a lot? UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 5 No. Everybody that comes to Las Vegas, they do a certain amount of gambling. It’s never been a— What other kinds of recreation do you seek, alone or with your family, besides gambling? Like, I think that is a recreation—you don’t do it as a full time thing. I like to fish. Where do you go fishing? Lake Mead, Mohave. What is the best time of the year for you when you go fishing? Like, when do you catch the most fish? Oh, in the spring of the year, May—April, May and June. It’s too hot out there. So, what else do you do besides fishing as a recreation? Oh, I hunted for years, but the last fifteen years, why, I have done very little hunting. Where’d you go hunting? Mostly around Caliente, up around Alamo, Ely. What did you hunt? Mostly deer, quail, (unintelligible). What about television, do you watch any television? My wife says I watch it too much. [Background laughter] Okay, what about the radio, do you listen to the radio a lot? Very little in the last ten years. Did you ever do any sightseeing, like probably around Nevada? Yes, we’d drive around a lot, sightseeing. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 6 Did you do any horseback riding? No horseback riding? Not in twenty-five years. Okay, do you remember anything about the early aboveground atomic tests in Nevada? Quite a bit. Do you want to tell me something about them, sir? Well, we were living over on 1624 Princeton (unintelligible) aboveground atomic blast took place—most of them took place, started in January in the early spring of the year, and most of them would take place, say, around five o’clock in the morning, it’d still be awfully dark. And the light would come through the windows and just brighter than daylight and just wake you up right of a dead sleep, and then, say, three or four or five minutes—I don’t remember now what—you would feel the rolling come in, and then you’d have an after-roll come in, and boy, it would just really shake you up. How often did they have those blasts? Once a week? I don’t think once a week, but they had them quite frequently for about a year. We (unintelligible) but other times, they would, on weather conditions, you were able to see the mushrooms away from here, where they’d shoot ‘em off later in the day. Okay, let’s get back to political changes you’ve seen in Southern Nevada since you’ve been here. What do you think have the changes been since the time you’ve [been] here, as compared to what the lifestyle the people live right now? Let’s talk about the economic, number one, you know, like how many economic changes have taken place so far? Well, I think the biggest is the gambling industry that has brought in an awful lot of people, and construction has been just about the backbone of the city and the state here, brought on by gambling explosion. And the people have really—their standard of living has really probably UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 7 been higher than any other place in the United States, per capita, I think. Now maybe that might not be (unintelligible). When you first got here, how much was meat selling for in terms of pounds? Do you remember anything about that? Well, just, I would say probably hamburger’d be three pounds for a dollar, and steak forty-nine, fifty-nine cents a pound, like that. And what about, how much money were you making when you first got here, as compared to now? Like, do you find there’s a lot of difference? For me, there’s a lot of difference. When I first went to work in the grocery store, I made eighteen dollars a week for forty-eight to sixty hours a week, compared to, oh—you mean the pay now? Right. Well, that would be in 1941, and to two-and-a-half a week now, more or less along. Okay, what about the environmental changes that have taken place around here? Could you tell me something about the environmental changes since the time you moved to Vegas and now? Been an awful lot of changes, and I thought most of it was the Henderson area, but I think that we have so many cars here now that you can really tell the difference, even just—‘cause I drive around all day, and I didn’t realize you could smell the smoke from the fires like you can, but you sure can. I get up on the hill—I work real early and get up on the west end of town, and you can just see a layer all over the whole town, unless you have a light breeze to blow it out of the valley. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 8 What about the transportation when you first moved to Vegas? What was the major mode of transportation? Did they have those, like, horses and carriages and stuff like that, or they had the automobile? Well, Vegas has always had quite a few automobiles, I mean per capita, I’d say. Other than recreation—there’s an awful lot of horses in the valley, but I’d say that other than recreation, in the last thirty years, there’s been very little other than cars. Do you remember seeing any of these covered wagons or anything around here in the time when you moved? Just for places like the Helldorado and things like that. Of course, when I was a kid, we never had the car. We always traveled by wagon. Right. Can you tell me some of the social changes that have taken place since the time you moved over here? Las Vegas has always had some of the leading social events, probably, of any place other than some of the big cities. Of course, we never had much opera or anything like that, but they’ve always had some of the leading entertainment of the world, ever since the forties, ever since the first big hotel was built here. So, like, in other words, ever since you moved here, did they have gambling, and did they have all these shows? Who was famous, then? Like, right now, there’s Johnny Carson in the Caesars Palace, and the house full every night just about—who did they have in your days when you moved over here? Well, the only hotel then was the El Rancho—it’s no longer here—it was out on the Strip. Dick Haynes there, Mel Torme was just starting, he was just a kid, and Sally Rand was here. Sophie Packer. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 9 Sophie Packer. Liberace. Liberace started, but I don’t think he started until close to the fifties, and that was another hotel, the Frontier Hotel. But Downtown, mostly they had country western, very little modern Downtown at the gambling places. What about all these junkets, they fly into Vegas right now in these days—did they have junkets and stuff like that way back then? Not that I know of, but it was possible. Then, most of the hotels did cater to the big gamblers more so than they do now, actually. They liked the big-moneyed man in gambling rather than the normal tourist or the everyday working man, but times have changed now. What were the rates like for the shows then? You know, like now, you can see a show for $20. That’s what it costs, like, for one of these shows at the Caesars Palace, for example. I don’t think you could get into any show for $20 now. Then, you could see the late show for around two dollars apiece, but the dinner show, it would cost around five to six dollars by the time you had a meal and a couple of drinks. Was that considered to be pretty high, or was that just normal for those days? I think that was normal for those days. Of course, the places were limited then. I mean, you didn’t have too many places before ’50. Oh. Is there any other thing you would like to mention about your stay here in Las Vegas ever since you stayed here, like anything that might be of importance to these people who listen to your tape? Well, about the first time I ever came to Vegas was in 1937. We’d always come over to the Helldorados—I don’t remember now just what year they started then—but we used to come UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 10 over, and then it was pretty warm and we’d hitch a ride over and stay for a couple of days, and they had the Helldorados out at Twin Lakes in the open fields. Of course, they did have corrals and stuff. But we thought Twin Lakes now is where Lorenzi Park is. And they used to have a racetrack in the rodeo ground right down back of the old federal building, the old post office on North Third Street, and they had the regular old type of racetrack—it had the wooden stands and stuff like that. And then they moved on down to the old Elks Club, place now on North Fifth. It was prominent for years. And it’s been a fun experience to live here through the last thirty years. What about the airport? Was the airport always there, place where it is right now? No, the airport was out at Nellis Air Force Base for years, and I’m not exactly sure what year they did move it, but it was in the early forties. And Nellis, if I’m not mistaken, they had both the Army Air Force out there plus the regular passengers’ terminal out there. And then they moved out to where it is now, out on Paradise Valley. What about the tourist population that comes into Vegas right now as compared to the tourist population way back in 1941? ‘Cause you’re having more tourists come in now, so how do you feel about the tourists coming into Vegas? Well, you mean in comparison to volume? Right, plus like if you like these tourists coming in? Well, if it wasn’t for the tourists, why, Vegas would fold up, actually. The tourists then—they were probably strictly all from Southern California. I mean, the traveling wasn’t that great. Now, they’d probably be in the millions every year, that come into Las Vegas. But if it wasn’t for the tourists, why, we might as well close it down. Okay, let me ask you a few more questions about your family now: how many children do you have? UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 11 I have a wife and three girls. How old are your girls? I have one that’s twenty-five, one’s twenty-two, and one’s fifteen. Did they all finish—except for the one who’s fifteen—did they all finish school here in Vegas? Finished high school, yes. What are they doing now, they go to college, or? Well, the two oldest ones are married; the oldest one is a dental assistant, and the other one is working in a typewriter repair outfit, and her husband’s going to college in Logan, Utah. Oh, Logan, Utah. And your third one is going to high school? Going to high school at Rancho. Rancho, Nevada? Rancho in North Las Vegas. Oh, it’s at North Las Vegas? It’s North Las Vegas now. What do you think—when they were being raised here in Vegas, did they like it here in Vegas, or have they traveled a lot? Well, they traveled more than I have. The oldest one has probably been back—Chicago’s probably as far as she’s been. The second one went on to tour Europe for about six weeks while she was in high school. The youngest one, we keep her at home. Another thing I was going to ask you, would you be willing to participate in a longer interview if you were asked sometime, or you wouldn’t want to be interviewed anymore? Well, I have no objection to it. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 12 Okay. Thank you for your help in this project and the history of Southern Nevada. Now, I’m going to ask you a few more questions about the Old Ranch, if you know anything about that. Do you know anything about the Old Ranch, formerly the Stewart Ranch, now known as the Mormon Fort? Not too much. About the time that I moved here, the ranch was more or less breaking up. I’ve heard a lot of tales about different things that have happened here, where all the travelers more or less stopped there for protection and a resting place. But the Stewart family—I knew them, not real well. I know some of the younger boys fairly well, but that was a little before my time. Okay, what name do you remember the best? Like, it was called the Old Ranch, then it was called the Stewart Ranch. Well, the Stewart Ranch I remember most because the Stewart family lived there. It was a fairly good ranch at one time, I mean, farming ground and all, but other than the Old Fort that still stands there as monument actually. Can you relate a specific incident that happened at the Old Ranch, like you can think of, there must have been a number of numerous things that happened at that place? Can you relate one specific incident? I really can’t. Well, the only thing—I do remember the old road that used to go up through there, and they did have an old swimming pool in the road. The road comes straight down, and the way the wash come down, it kind of dropped of pretty quick there, so the road made a U around it. And the only thing other than the swimming pool that they had there, I do remember one time—I don’t remember now the year, it was in the early forties—had a bunch of cottonwood trees on the crest of the hill,. And in the early forties I do remember one time as we come down there, UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 13 somebody had either hung himself or somebody had hung a guy, and he was still hanging up in the tree there. All right, can you describe an individual who worked at or was associated with the Old Ranch at any time? The only one I can associate with it was one of the Stewarts—Grant Stewart and his dad, Sumner Stewart, they were relatives of the Stewart family that owned it. Did you know any one of them personally? Yes. Okay, you said you only knew one of them personally, who did you know personally? Well, of the old family would be Sumner, the old Sumner Stewart. And I don’t know what relation he would be to Will and the others. What did he look like? Can you describe him? Well, this man was a little more than medium build, probably around five-nine or ten—he had quite a (unintelligible), and in later years, he worked for the city, for Las Vegas, for twenty, twenty-five years. Can you describe any buildings in the Old Ranch property? There’s buildings that aren’t there anymore, most of ‘em anyway. The only ones that I remember—there were some that were partly adobe, and they were built kind of in a, oh, motel-type affair, which would be two or three in a row. I assumed that they would be more or less accommodations for travelers and stuff like that. I don’t remember the Old Ranch house at all. I do remember it, but I couldn’t describe it, it’s been so long ago. Can you describe the location and condition of the adobe walls surrounding the original Mormon settlement, what year approximately, if you can remember any of those? UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 14 Well, this would be in the early forties. Adobe really don’t deteriorate much other than with the weather, and I would say that they were in pretty good shape. They were approximately a foot thick. I think they all had they floors at the time, that I remember. And what about the location? Well, I think it would be right on the crest of the hill on Washington Avenue. Is that what it was called then? No. What was it called? As far as I remember, there was no street there. In fact, Washington, I don’t think, was put through until in the fifties. And the main house was down a little ways away from the Old Fort. Down the road, there’s a bunch of cottonwood trees away from it, say, a hundred yards or approximately that. Can you remember and locate any of the old trees or plantings on the Old Ranch? Do you remember any particular trees? I think some of the old cottonwood trees are still there, the original old cottonwood trees. They’re probably fifty years to seventy-five years old right there. Can you identify them now? Well, most of the old time cottonwoods were huge trees. They didn’t do any trimming at all, and they were (unintelligible). And then up at the water supply, they had a few willows and a few poplar trees on the edge of the hill just before you get to the ranch. [Tape ends, conversation between narrator and others starts midsentence] People that came to spend money in their hotels than they do now by far. Well, now it’s strictly a business. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 15 Well, it was big business today. In those days, it was big business, but, you know. And then when I first moved here (unintelligible), now I had a convertible, and you could go Downtown—I’ll never get over this—you could have the top down and have anything you wanted in that car and stay out there all night, and when you got back to your car, everything would still be in it. Nobody would touch a thing. And you read the paper, you wouldn’t—you need (unintelligible). Bus to work and walk from the bus over here four or five blocks, eight o’clock at night. Hell no, I wouldn’t even let the kids walk to the dumpster in the middle of the day. Well, that’s the same way as it is, it was every place then though. Nobody ever locked their doors. Right, (unintelligible). Let’s get back to that Old Ranch question once more. Do you remember that Old Ranch property being used as a gravel testing laboratory for Boulder Dam? No, I don’t remember. I never even heard of that. Like, they probably made a laboratory there, but it’s not there anymore, I think. They had a laboratory for Boulder Dam. They did, and you know it for sure? Right, for sure, that’s why they asked this question. (Unintelligible) Okay, Mrs. Cooper, would you please tell me, this album that you’ve got in your hand right now, some of the pictures, as compared to what they are today right now, in the same locations and same areas? Well, mainly they were put together around 1944 when I worked at the Boulder Club on Fremont Street, which is no longer there. It’s part of the Golden Nugget, isn’t it? It’s in the middle of the UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 16 block now, and it’s not part of the Golden Nugget. And these were photographed postcards that were sold on the counter there to tourists, and they’re pictures of Las Vegas at that time—The Main Street hotels in the area. And the first one is— What is the first one? It’s a picture of Downtown Las Vegas showing the old Hotel Apache that’s now part of Benny Binion’s Horseshoe, looking back up the street toward the old Union Pacific Depot. Now, do you remember seeing this area just the way it is in this picture right now? Yes, I worked right across the street from it. At that time, Fremont was only five blocks long, really. I mean, at the corner, before you even got to Fifth and Fremont, there were family homes, all from Third Street on down, there were family homes mixed in among businesses. What about this second picture you got down here? It’s a picture of the Pioneer Club, which is still the Pioneer Club—it’s on the opposite side of the street, and up in the next block on the corner of First and Fremont on the south side, near the southwest corner. And it is still now the Pioneer Club. And it’s looking, also, toward the depot, but it’s in the shaded (unintelligible), you can’t see it as clear as the other side. What about the trains, like, in those days? Were there a lot of trains coming into Las Vegas? Well, that was really about the only— Only way that people—? Way to come in, and the depot sat right at the head of Fremont Street, which there are pictures of over here a little farther, and in fact everything came in by train at that time. That was a big thing to ride Fremont and go up and watch the trains come in. Okay, let’s go on to the next picture. What is that? UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 17 That’s the picture of the Last Frontier, which is one of the—I think it’s either the second or third hotel built here, I couldn’t—El Rancho was the first. And then the Frontier. And then the Frontier, was it, and then there was the Biltmore—I can’t remember whether it came in between there, and then there was the— Bingo. Bingo, which is now part of the Sahara. Oh, so this Frontier was part of the Frontier right now? Yes. And it was on the same location, too? Yes. So, like, in other words, they tore it down? I think they built around it. I don’t think they tore down the original building, did they? (Unintelligible) Did they tear the Frontier all the way down? (Unintelligible) Oh, okay. Okay, and what about this other picture? This other’s the El Rancho, and it was there for a long time, and it burned down. Oh, that burned down? But it was really the top club in Vegas where all the celebrities and all the exciting movie stars and etcetera. Okay, let’s go on further. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 18 And these are pictures of the depot. Oh, this one right here is a picture of the depot? Mm-hmm. It doesn’t look like that anymore, does it? No, it isn’t even there now. The Union Plaza Hotel is on the spot of the depot. Oh, so in other words—what about the railroad track? They go behind the hotel. Oh, then it passed through the—what hotel did you say? The Union Plaza’s sitting there now, and the tracks are still there, but they’re in the back of it. The Union Plaza’s sitting on the spot where the depot sat on. Oh, okay. Because there were lawns up to the depot. Now the hotel sits around the front of the street. Right. There was a big circle drive that went up in front of it. Okay. And this one right here. Oh, that’s the courthouse as it was at that time, but now it’s no longer—it’s built all around it. You can’t even recognize it. It’s like a city park with a building in the middle of it. It was really fun to stroll through there on Sunday afternoons. If you happened to walk inside, you just (unintelligible) to get handcuffed, ‘cause they were bored for something better to do. Our dear Deputy Sheriff Searl Stewart—was he deputy there, or is he undersheriff? I don’t know, he used to come out, and if he thought it was cute and thought you was doing something out of line just for irritating him, handcuff you to the bunches in the foyer for an hour or so and interrupt the day’s activity. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 19 What’s this next picture? That’s the Little Church of the West; it’s one of the first—it was build out by the Last Frontier, and it was their wedding chapel that they built. Now that’s still there, though? And it’s still there, and a lot of people married in that. These are the two places: the courthouse or the Little Church of the West that mostly all the weddings that took place at that time. Okay. Do you got any other pictures of, like, you know, desert or anything like that—the newer part of Las Vegas is where the Maryland Parkway area and all those areas, right? Yes. Do you remember seeing all that area completely bare? Oh, yes. In fact, that Old Ranch that he’s talking about, he’s to quail hunt on it all the time—there was nothing there then. And there’s nothing two blocks from us here where we’re at in North Vegas—it was all mesquite bushes for years. How big was the population here when you first moved here? I have no idea. I just thought it was a lot of people, ‘cause I came from a little hick town. (Laughs) It looked like a real big town then, but— Could you give me an approximate figure? (Unintelligible) Five to ten thousand people? Approximately, I guess. I really don’t remember. Like I said, I was fascinated—it was the biggest thing I’d seen in a long time. How did you get around in those days? Did you have a car? No, we rode the bus. UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 20 Oh, there was—? My boyfriend had a car that I later married, and he used to haul myself and half Nellis Air Force around, but— (Laughs) (Laughs) There weren’t every many people that had cars. So how did you get around, like did you—? Bus. Bus? Just the bus service? I worked and rode the bus to work all the time. How much were the bus stops— Except on Sunday morning, I had to take a cab, ‘cause the buses didn’t run on Sunday. How much did the buses cost then? Oh, gee, were they ten or fifteen cents? Ten cents. Ten cents, I think. For as long as you wanted to go on a bus, just one direction, it’d cost you ten cents? Mm-hmm. You don’t have any pictures you want to tell us about, do you? No, the rest of these in here are just about Mt. Charleston, surrounding areas that we drove up to on Sundays and have a good time. Okay, thank you very much, Mrs. Cooper. Mr. Cooper, could you tell me something about the history of the illnesses in your family? UNLV University Libraries Eldon Cooper 21 With my family, or? Right, your family. No, we have really been fortunate. The kids have had probably nothing but the regular childhood diseases such as mumps, measles, chickenpox, and the flus, colds, stuff like that. We consider ourselves real fortunate. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I’m going to turn these over to Bill, and if they’re any interest to the university—they were found on a boon docking trip by ash meadows outside of Shoshone and that area, near Death Valley, and well, for what they are, I mean, you just have to look through them to see. So, if they want to use them, let them go ahead and look through it all. Did you find those yourself? Yes. Did you dig ‘em up? Yes. How did you know they were buried under the ground? Just found an old fifty-gallon drum, and it was turned upside down with the stuff still in and the trash, and we just dug all through it, and that’s what we came up with. Okay, thank you. [Audio cuts out]