Jean Sherman McColl interview, March 1, 1977: transcript

UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 1 An Interview with Jean McColl An Oral History Conducted by Sam C. Melchiome Jr. 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 Jean McColl 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2020 UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 3 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 Jean McColl 4 Abstract On March 1, 1977, collector Sam C. Melchiome Jr. interviewed Jean McColl (born May 24th, 1931 in California) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. In this interview, Jean McColl discusses growing up in Searchlight and then Las Vegas, Nevada. She discusses how her family came here as well as the many changes she has seen through the decades living in Las Vegas, Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 5 Sam Melchiome. The date is March 1st, 1977. This is a report for Nevada History. I’m in the house of Jean McColl. Jean, would you like to give a background on your family? How you got here? Okay. My family has been in Nevada, roughly speaking, since 19—my grandfather would’ve first come to Nevada in about 1907. He came from Colorado and was in the northern part of the state. He then came down to Searchlight, Nevada where he, I would say, was a resident from the year 1914 until his death in 1952. My mother and her younger sisters were raised in Reno, Nevada, but would visit my grandfather, whose name by the way was Willett Barton, in Searchlight. While I was born in California, I feel like a native of Nevada because I’ve lived here say from the age of two until my ancient age of almost forty-six at this point. And I intend to live here till the year 2000. So okay, take it from there Sammy. (Laughs) Alright. Now what prompted you to—your family to come here? My grandfather came here because of gold mining. He was a professor at the University—not the University of Colorado, but the Agricultural State College in Colorado. And he was probably taught music—chemistry was what he was more interested in, and the milling of the gold in mining. And so he was employed by a company out of San Francisco, and they sent him into Nevada, and he helped established milling processes of getting gold—getting the gold out of the ore. And he—this was primarily in Goldfield, Nevada. And was superintendent of mills there. And then he came to Searchlight and— What year was this? UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 6 This would have been originally—I think he started living there about 1914. He would’ve come there before, but then in 1914, I’d say that’s when he established his home in Searchlight. And there he then was able to have his own gold mines, which he had a number of them. And that basically was the beginning of our roots, pardon the expression, in Searchlight, or in Nevada. And so it was actually gold mining that brought him to Nevada and kept him here. What was the population of Searchlight when you started growing up? When I started growing up there I have—you know, to say, to give you a figure, I couldn’t. It was—and Searchlight has gone up and down depending on what was going on. You know, maybe as few as 200 and then up to you know, in the thousands. Though, I do want to say that at one time Searchlight had a larger population than Las Vegas. What year was this around? Well this would have been in the late 1800’s, because Las Vegas being more or less established, I think they say 1905 is kind of the beginning of the city of Las Vegas. Certainly there were a lot of people here before then. But Searchlight was a gold mining town. There was a railroad into Searchlight long before there was a railroad into Las Vegas. Now of course, by the time I was growing up in Searchlight, the railroad had already been taken out of there. But it was, you know, great fun to go and play on what had been the railroad track. No tracks, but where the railroad tracks had been. That was, you know, something, big deal for us there. Do you know how Searchlight got named? Yes. There is a story about how—if it’s factual, I don’t know, but this has been in the paper. But as a child, we always said that there was one of the mines there, and this comes into one of our UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 7 local personalities here in town now, (unintelligible) his last name is Coleman, but I can’t think of his first name right now. (Unintelligible) anyway, his father, I guess it would be his grandfather, and another person, another man had staked a mining claim there. And there was gold there, but something came up about well, if there’s gold there you would need a searchlight to find it, and that’s—so the mine was called The Searchlight for a while, and then the town—so the town became Searchlight, and then after that the mining claim became it too. I don’t know. I don’t remember. It’s not important—well, it is important to them, but not to me I guess. You went to school in Searchlight when you were—? Grammar school in Searchlight, but Searchlight did not have a high school. But how was grammar school? I mean, compared to nowadays that you—? Oh. It was one school, two rooms. And the, you know like the lower classes in one room and the upper classes in another room. Do you mean higher grades? Yes. The higher grades, yes, right. What did I say? (Laughs) Upper class. (Laughs) Yes. How was the building structure? How was it built out of, what was (unintelligible)? It was a wooden frame, and can you believe this, outdoor johns. (Laughs) And a bell that—a real old bell that came off the one of the railroads that had, off the train that had come in there. And my grandfather was instrumental in getting that bell off of the train and put in the school. Then—UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 8 now, Murl Emery, who has kind of a little, mini museum let’s say in Nelson, Nevada has the bell out there that was in that original school. Do you know how old this bell is? Okay. No. Now that the building is another—that, my mother was on the—and her name by the way is Roberta Barton, that was her maiden name—she was on the school board. And so like in about 1941, she was instrumental in getting a new school built in Searchlight. Now still, only two rooms (laughs) you know, but indoor plumbing. (Laughs) And the old school was actually sold and moved to another location, and it became a notorious bar (laughs) and whatever, whatever Searchlight is. Go on about that now. Yes. Well, okay the entire school was—the building was moved, but, and the new school was built right on the same premises there. A little hill, same playground. Our playground equipment consisted of what the average kid has in his backyard today of swings and a slide and teeter totter bars, you know. That was our big playground. We had a ball field, you know, rocks, and so on and so forth, but— So whatever became of the old schoolhouse? Well it burned down finally, but it had been a bar and, as I say, a notorious bar and whatever, you know (laughs), whatever Searchlight’s famous for. And it burned down and this could’ve been ten years ago or, between, I’d say within the last ten to fifteen years that it burned down. It was called the Searchlight Casino. So that was like all through my grammar school days. UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 9 Right. How was the town situated? I mean, what—did it look like an old town in the West, where you could see building? Well, probably, it would depend upon who was looking at it. Growing up there, to me, it looked very normal, very average. If someone were to come into town, you know, drive through and see it, it probably would look like shanty town. I mean really, I would be offended if someone said, well, they’re nothing but a bunch of shacks. But, they were. How far apart were the houses spaced? Well, it would vary. I mean, you might— I mean were there like neighborhoods or? Right. You know, the town was clustered, and it’s kind of when you come into Searchlight you kind of come up, arise, and then drop down into—you know, in the hills all around it. In the basin or? Yes. Right, a little basin. And then, you know, you go to the east and that’s the river, or now, you know, down to the lake. Lake Mojave. Could you walk to the river almost? No. Uh-uh. How far away? It’s, I think, about fifteen—about fifteen or twenty miles to the lake, which today would not seem like much. Then, it was, you know, as a child it was you know, really— UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 10 Has the weather changed much since then compared to now? I don’t think so, but controlling—not controlling the weather, but controlling the weather within the houses have. Because when I grew up there, we had—we didn’t even have coolers, you know. You didn’t—your heating was by a wood stove, coal and wood, and cooking also. And you know, back then it was you’re getting outdoor plumbing. You know, you just did not have inside johns. And the—I can remember we didn’t even have refrigerators really. My first—we had what was called, I can’t remember what it was called, like a cooler. And it would be like you kept your food and things and then there was a burlap covering, and you kept water over ‘em in the summer. You kept pouring water over that, and that’s like—your coolers were also the old fashioned coolers. You would have like a fan in the window and water pouring over that, and that made it cool air. And I can remember when all of us started getting—the family started getting refrigerators. Frigidaire was the brand. And this was really—these old kinda ramshackle places with this big, shiny, white refrigerator in it (laughs) and I mean it was, like, I don’t know who came through town selling them or who, why we all had the money to get them, but that was really—that stands out in my mind as a big, a big thing. You know, that’s kind of a milestone in my childhood memory. Could you describe your house? How many rooms it had in it? (Laughs) How it was built? The structure? Well, going back to my grandfather, in addition to having gold mines, he also was a property person, and he had a lot of property. And so his house was kind of like one of the better homes in UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 11 town. And I’m thinking of it now though, as when I was older and looking back at it, and yes, there would be the kitchen and front porch and the back porch, a living room, and just one bedroom. Where did the family mainly gather in the house or? Well, in his case it would be the living room, ‘cause the kitchen was too small. You didn’t have TV’s, so what did you do for entertainment mostly? Oh, entertainment was super. You know, we just—because my grandfather had a junk yard, in addition to the gold mines and property, he owns (unintelligible) full of cars. He had all these old cars that were, you know, just sitting out there. Now, why he had them? And so, it was the best fun to play in my grandfather’s yard, because we could play in cars. And there was, you know, a car for everyone, so we all had our own car. And just we—they were all up on blocks and things like that. I mean this was, this was like a playground. Then I’m thinking too during the war years, I mean World War II, we had a victory bicycle club (laughs) and we would go and collect scrap iron that was, you know, turned into a particular spot in town, and that was—I really had no idea what they did in the scrap plant but it was throughout the whole country people collected scrap iron and it was processed or something, and made into (unintelligible) I have no idea. But that was a big one summer recreation, just collecting all this scrap iron. So after you got out of grammar school, since there was no high school in Searchlight, was—you went to high school starting 1944, so where’d you go? Las Vegas. And my grandmother lived in Las Vegas so I lived with her at that time and attended Las Vegas High School. And at that time we had one high school in Las Vegas, the original Las UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 12 Vegas High School on Seventh Street. And Las Vegas, at that time, was like almost as different as Searchlight is from Las Vegas. Las Vegas, at that time, is as different as Las Vegas now. And to me, it was a better. Was Searchlight better? No, no. Uh-uh. I mean Las Vegas I would say was better or I think that it was a more pleasant town than it could be today. Why was it more pleasant? Because it was so simple. And you know, the one high school, you knew basically everyone in school. You could walk anywhere in town, you didn’t have to worry about dark corners and the town was small enough that you could walk across it, as far as that goes. Transportation was certainly simplified and it was just a—to me it was growing up in the best of times. And it could never be repeated. It can’t, you know, progress (unintelligible) you can’t go back again. But I wish that my son could’ve grown up under the same circumstances. How was your high school years? How did you feel about—how did you like your high school? Great. Absolutely great. I—my big regret is that I didn’t take advantage of them and I didn’t enjoy school more. What did you do, just? I spent too much time having fun and games and didn’t really apply myself to school, or to education. UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 13 Same old story? (Laughs) Yes. Same old story. Right. Yes. That—but we really had—I don’t have one complaint about the way, you know, (unintelligible) high school was. How was it run and how many teachers, how was the faculty set up or whatever? Well, you know, when you don’t really pay that much attention to it when you’re right there, I have to say the teachers were all very generous. (Laughs) lenient—not lenient. I don’t mean lenient in the sense of what they—but it was, you know, and looking back now I can see that there were great, absolutely no complaints about school, and the activities. What were the—what were the classes offered? Can you remember the ones, unusual ones? Well actually, I would say that it’s quite—things are a little more far out now. I mean, there are more, perhaps more to choose from. It was very basic, and you had your, you had to take certain things. Your electives were less than, let’s say, then what you have to take. So as far as—there was a lot of school spirit at that time. You know, you really (unintelligible) our Wildcats were super. Everybody got out and cheered and there was a lot of school spirit. How was your graduation? Can you believe that, this was ’49, I think ’49 the year I graduated, and I think that there were two hundred and forty others graduating the same year. What are there today? You know, about a thousand at each high school at graduation or something like that? It’s around five hundred. Oh, is that all? Hm. But when you consider the total of how many high schools we have. UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 14 It’s a lot. Yes. And the one thing that I, like I said before, I regret that I didn’t spend more time on my education. It was just a matter of taking what you had to take. Oh, I’m sure there were many students that were, you know, super students that went after the grades and things, but in my case it was only learning, you know, only doing what I had to do. I don’t do more than you have to do to graduate. But that’s not a put down of the school. That’s my own fault that I didn’t— So what did you do for fun when you were in high school? What were the kids doing then? Well, of course one of our big things was Helldorado. Now, today it’s just practically pushed. I don’t think kids even consider what Helldorado—but the parade would be down Fremont Street. And this was where they had time to just, you know, you didn’t miss a parade and you didn’t miss the Helldorado Village. It was just (laughs) a big thing in our life. Now there were a lot of school activities, the different clubs, in addition to the sports activities where if you didn’t participate, at least you were there to cheer on from the sidelines. And I just—I think perhaps that we didn’t think a lot. We just kind of followed in those days. Because life was maybe a little simpler than it is today for kids. How fast has Las Vegas grown since you were, since you came here? Okay. I— What were the outer streets you can remember, like? Oh, okay. I lived in what is considered the Huntridge addition in my high school years. And the Strip consisted of the El Rancho and the Last Frontier. Now there isn’t even a Last Frontier now. It’s the New Frontier. Now during my high school years, the Flamingo was built and Desert—no, UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 15 I think the Desert Inn came after my high school years, on that side of town. Coming west, the hospital, which was you know, compared Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital what it today compared to what it is then is, you just can’t compare a single occasion. But that was kind of the end of Charleston. There were houses on out, but it was just a sprinkle few here and there. And looking east, there was the Sunrise Addition of houses. But there would be like, a space, there would be Sunrise, but then there would’ve been a space or an empty area between there and (unintelligible) Fifteenth Street even. How wide was the city? Could you remember? Now, I’m thinking south and north. Even Huntridge, what is Huntridge now, was the end really. It was after Huntridge that now like, then you’d go to Paradise Valley and there were homes out there, but nothing. It would be like— Sparsely? Yes. Right. There’d be one here and there, but that would be it. Like this, there was the Strip, and then to go east of the Strip would be blank, you know, open spaces. And then north of course, North Las Vegas was there, but there was, it was more of a separation, whereas now they just blend in. After high school, what was some of the entertainment you went to see or some of the things you did? Let me think. (Laughs) How were the shows? UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 16 You don’t really want to know. (Laughs) That’s when your mother and I were living together. Well that is one thing, we could—anyone could go, and the hotels were beginning to build up at that time, and you could go to the floor shows, even kids. You know, no cover charge or any—and you know, maybe have a fifty cent Coke, and see. (Unintelligible) Tremendous entertainment. Okay. I remember the first time I saw Martin Lewis, being Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as a pair, and that would’ve been 1949. And that was about, I guess, the greatest thing to hit for our age group, you know. They were just hilarious. So after they broke up and we were going out one night to see Frank Sinatra, and this happens to be your mother and another friend, let’s give some names here. Your mother Laura and another friend of ours, Joan, and we were going out to see Frank Sinatra and someone went in and they said, “well he was sick that night” and Dean Martin was filling in for him. We thought “Oh God, he’s not gonna be good without Jerry Lewis.” (Laughs) And it was, you know, such a shock to see what a tremendous personality and singer he was on his own. And this goes back, let’s see here, 1955, ’56, right in there. What were some of the luxury items you remember in 1959 to ‘49 that people had? Well, I don’t know. There weren’t—because actually even television was not—this is what is difficult for me to even think of 1976 and how many years have passed. To me it’s just like yesterday. And yet, you know, that’s over twenty years and the change that has taken place just in what we consider accepted, not luxuries, but just routine, because there wasn’t television and, of course, we really had something special with the special entertainment that we have in Las UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 17 Vegas. And that it was, anyone could go and see it. That it didn’t require money. So that was—we had something very special which we didn’t appreciate at that time. How many churches did you have in Las Vegas at the time of your high school years and—? Well, that I have no idea, because I wasn’t interested in counting churches. (Laughs) Did you go to church? Yes. I did go to church. What was the church? Well, depending on who I was dating. (Laughs) No, I actually, in my beginning of my high school days, I attended Methodist church because that’s what my friends attended. And then I— And where was this located? Third and—that Methodist church right Downtown. The old one. I think it’s been torn down. And they built (unintelligible) across from the courthouse. Third and what would it be? Bridger? (Unintelligible) and then I converted to the Catholic Church. So I originally started going—well, we went—St. Anne’s was my parish for Huntridge, Huntridge Theater. We didn’t have a church. And we attended mass in the Huntridge Theater. What was the price of a movie then? Under a dollar. (Unintelligible) thirty-five cents or sixty-five cents, something like that. Do you know how much it cost to feed a family for a week? UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 18 I have no idea what it would cost at that time. Because that wasn’t, you know, wasn’t my concern. I ate but I didn’t pay, so I have no idea. When you got out of high school, what kind of a job did you get? Well, the first—my first year out of high school, I was fortunate to be able to travel back east and visit friends. And so, let’s see, I went back east in 1950, I came back in ’51, ’49, I came back in 1950. And my first job after I was back in Las Vegas was with the Las Vegas Review Journal. What did you do there? I was the teleprompt operator. And I worked there for about two years. Two and a half years. And at that time, I was married, and went to, I was in San Diego then a year. My husband was in the navy. And then when I came back to Las Vegas, when we, wasn’t really sure, maybe we came back in ’53, and I was a cocktail waitress then. Where did you work? The Las Vegas Club. And how was that as it is compared to today? Well, it’s a totally different. I haven’t even been near it. Is there still a Las Vegas Club? I don’t know. How has it been? It was a job. (Laughs) And I took that employment simply for money. I thought this, you know, was a great way to make a lot of money, and it was. We didn’t need to go into why it didn’t work UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 19 out, but it—that was, you know, the thing, the waiting (unintelligible) as far as being a job, it was a good job. (Unintelligible) What was it like bringing up a—? Son in Las Vegas? Yes. Son in Las Vegas? I really don’t think it was any different than it would be in any other town. I kept telling my son, and I still feel that way, that I don’t think he had as much fun growing up as I did. But I think that that’s, you know, relative of your thinking. I’m sure that he didn’t—you know, I kept telling him it can’t be as good to grow up in Las Vegas as it was when I did. But I don’t think he really suffered. Not (unintelligible) Was there any—? You’re looking for something notorious, is that what this is? (Laughs) Yes. In Las Vegas that you can remember? Well, remember strictly, I can remember this by, not by association, but by word of mouth. (Laughs) Let me clarify that. There was always the comment of Block 16. And I’m sure that will be throughout on Nevada or Las Vegas history. And that would be down in the area by the post office, and people would refer to Block 16, which, that was the, where the girls (unintelligible) then, as they cleared that up, there was a place called Four Mile, which would be located today, I’m trying to think, let’s say Montgomery Ward’s, let’s say East and—. Charleston or? UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 20 Yes. Yes. Yes. Farther on out that way. It would be, let’s say, what is it, four miles? I suppose it was four miles from the city limits of Las Vegas, but the city limits being at about Fifteenth Street at that time. And so that was kind of a notorious, where you could say “Four Mile” and people automatically associated it with prostitution. What about Searchlight? Was there? Yes. Now that, unfortunately, I would say, in the 40s, late 40s, 50s, you’d say “Searchlight” and people would automatically think the same thing. It was Willie Martello who had a place called the El Rey, and I think that that would be the outstanding name associated with that. And this would have—I think the reason this occurred was because they were building Davis Dam and perhaps there were more restrictions at that time here, and so it kind of chased or pushed that element to Searchlight. And so that—when I would have—I would have to defend myself and to “Where are you from?” “I’m from Searchlight.” And then I would have to explain that my family had lived there you know, for a long time. My mother was the postmaster. And—. What was the post office like then? Well, there were many post offices. Mother, but my mother had to provide her own post office as such, like the federal government didn’t come in and built a building and say “Here. Here’s your post office.” And so she—built in various little buildings and very, you know, build little post office boxes and, with the combinations and—there was no home delivery in Searchlight ever. You had the post office and—. Can you recall any (unintelligible) mail? Or how much mail came through? UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 21 No. I have no idea. I would—at different times, would help her in post office in the sorting of mail and such, but no, and hand cancelling, you know, nothing automatic. You had your stamp that you had to change every day the date and stamp it. And such, and at Christmastime, it got to be quite a—quite a chore for mother. But Searchlight, unfortunately, did get that notorious reputation, and it was in fact true. But it gave the town kind of an ugly name, as opposed to having been you know, let’s say a booming town long before Las Vegas. Did you see Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam) being built or? No. Because that was—. (Tape one ends) We’re talking about Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam) now, right? Yes. Okay. Now I’m not sure of when it was completed, but it—I can remember when they were building the power line from the dam into Los Angeles. So my grandfather had a beer garden at that time, and the construction workers who were building of this were quartered in Searchlight. And so that was kind of a mild story or point in my life (unintelligible) and I would’ve only been about let’s see, five, six, seven at that point. Do you remember anything about the test site, or did you see any explosions? Yes. Okay, yes. That—definitely. I vividly remember the first bomb they set off at the test site, which was in January. You’ve seen the first one they set off? UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 22 Well, I heard it. You heard it? (Laughs) And now, I don’t think that they even gave the city any—I could be wrong on this, but I’m sure that they did not give—the city knew what was going on. There was something going on up there, but it was in—had to be late January, 1951. And because I can remember hearing the explosion early in the morning, and the whole town was buzzing about it. You know, what was it? You know, and I thought, I remember saying to myself it couldn’t have been a bomb. Anything we could’ve heard would have destroyed the city. That was my thought. And as it turned out, it was. So I went to work for the Las Vegas Review Journal shortly after that. And they did—now what the sequence was of how soon it would—you know, it kept setting off the bombs, and then (unintelligible), well, I can’t really remember, but okay. My husband worked for the paper also. He was not my husband at the time. Anyway, well, there was quite a period of time—I really don’t have a sequence in my mind of how often they set these off. But I think this must have been after we came back from San Diego that we did go up to Angel’s Peak. This was a place that you—Angel’s Peak and Mount Charleston, and then you could look across, and over to the test site and see these bombs exploded. How far away was this? Well, I have no idea what the mileage would be, but these were the bombs that were set off above ground. And you saw the whole bit, with the mushroom and everything. And we would go, I don’t know if we had to have special permission to get up there at that time or not, but as a newspaper man, he was covering it, you know, as a story. We were able to go up, and we went up with photographers and other newspaper people. And it was, at the time, looking back on it, I UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 23 thought it was a great thing to be able, to be privileged to see. But I know I didn’t appreciate how privileged or what a—I think youth, or at least in my youth, I simply saw things and said “Gee, isn’t that great?” You know (laughs), and I really didn’t realize how devastating it was. After this, were there many things, like family outings going out to watch the bombs go off? I don’t think so. I don’t think so. But maybe. I really have no idea. People were—maybe, to see it, maybe you had to be up there. I really have no idea. I do remember at one time in, this would be in the 50s, say ’55 or so, Jeff was covering these explosions for UP, now it’s UPI, at that time it was UP, United Press. He was with Paula Stringer, and he had actually to go up, drive up to the test site and see it and then get on the phone and call UP in Los Angeles and give a verbal description of it. Well there was always a fight to get on which, you know, INS or UP, or AP, who got on the phone first. So I would have to get up early in the morning and watch out my big picture in North Las Vegas, and you would see a flash from Las Vegas. You wouldn’t—you would just see a flash. And that meant it went. So then I would have to get on the phone and call them and say it went. Then they could start their presses right away. And in the meantime, Jeff would be trying to get through to ‘em, to give ‘em “oh, it was orange and blue” and you know. When you’ve seen it go off, could you describe the colors or anything after the white light? Well, no. Because they all—even as being from Angel’s Peak looking across, you don’t look directly at it. So I mean, like, you were looking but you weren’t looking. But in my mind, I can see that mushroom that you always see in all the television screens and everything, that enormous. And it was, in addition to that vivid mushroom that you saw, there was also that flash. It really kind of just blinded. UNLV University Libraries Jean McColl 24 Blinded? Yes. Right. Just boom. And I’m thinking, I’m seeing blue right now, but am I seeing blue because I’ve seen so many pictures of it? Did I really see it then, or am I just seeing pictures that I saw back then? I don’t even know. How was Mount Charleston in those days? That was the great place to go for—it was undeveloped. There was a lodge there, but in a different place then what it is now. Do you remember (unintelligible)? Well, it would’ve—it’s, I think that place is still there, but kind of burned out. Like when you, you know where the lodge is now, but you go up and then turn to your left and come down back to that lodge, okay. The other lodge maybe would be about across from where the ranger station is. You know, something like that. Is there still a building there? Yes. Sort of, a shed. Yes. What about skiing? No. I don’t—there was no skiing. There was Lee’s Canyon, nothing, I mean