Transcript of interview with Walter Dane by Ann Clark, March 11, 1978

UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane i An Interview with Walter Dane An Oral History Conducted by Ann Clark 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 Walter Dane ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 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 Walter Dane iv Abstract On March 11, 1978, Ann K. Clark interviewed her step grandfather, tire repairman Walter Dane, (born August 10th, 1914 in West Barnett, Vermont) in her, the interviewer’s, home in North Las Vegas. Also present during the interview is the interviewer’s mother, Marie Dane. Walter relocated to Indian Springs in 1930 before settling in Las Vegas in 1943. In 1968 he moved to Utah, where he resided at the time of this interview. Well-traveled, Walter discusses his many moves over the years. Ultimately, this interview covers the growth and development of the Las Vegas and Indian Springs areas. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 1 May I have your name? Walter Dane. And your present address? Box 254, Escalante, Utah. Would you tell me your place of birth and the date? Yes. West Barnett, Vermont. August 10th, 1914. And the members of your immediate family? Children? Well, I, my wife is named Virginia and I have three children: Leland, Maureen, and Tim. What would you say is your ethnic ancestry? Well, I believe, English, Scottish, and French. Would you tell me your education, possibly? Well, I, naturally had elementary school and high school. That’s about it. Okay. Rest is self-educated. (Laughs) (Laughs) When did you, and what made you, decide to come to this area for the first time? Well, I came West with my father in 1930 and we spent oh, three months at Indian Springs and just liked the country and the freedom, the climate, and I never intended to settle here. But my folks went to Southern California and I stayed on at Indian Springs for the—supposedly for the summer and continued the rest of my life. How old were you then about? Sixteen. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 2 Sixteen? Uh-huh. And they left you and you just stayed here? Uh-huh. Oh wow. So what did you do in Indian Springs? I worked for my future wife’s father. And—doing what? Well, in the service stations. They had store service stations and tourists supplies, catered to a few Indians that used to go back and forth and prospectors and miners and tourists. Mm-hmm. And his name was? Timothy Harnadi. Timothy Harnadi? Uh-huh. Could you give me a description of the area when you first got there? Well, there wasn’t very much there in those days. The Indian Springs service station that my wife’s father had and I think at that time, probably he had about six different, they called ‘em cabins in those days, (Laughs) that they rented overnight. And, like I say, a few groceries and supplies for prospectors and miners and tourists on one side of the highway and the Indian Springs Ranch, which was a mile from the highway, was the source of the water and the name of the community and it was a ranch. Well, I guess in those days, probably, entailed, oh 120 acres or so that I’d say about two thirds of it was under cultivation. Who was in charge? UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 3 An old couple that—by the name of McFarlane, Ira and Alice McFarlane. And Mr. McFarlane came out from the state of New York. He was employed by the (Unintelligible) Rand Company and he was in the Goldfield and Tonopah area representing the firm there. Mrs. McFarlane’s health was not very good and the dry desert climate agreed with her so they purchased this Indian Springs Ranch and they— Farmed it and? Farmed it, yes, uh-huh. Do you know who they bought it from or was it the government or? No, no, there was a, I’m quite sure the man’s name was Townsend, and originally the Indian Springs were settled by the Indians and then later they, it was homesteaded, and it changed hands several times. McFarlanes owned it from the time that I went there in 1930 until they sold it to a man by the name of Carl Peterson, who was with a Chinese custom service and retired and came out there and fell in love with country and bought the ranch. And he had it for several years and sold it to Mrs. Robert Caples. Shirley was her name and she had the ranch for several years. Her husband was an artist and she created an artist colony there. Oh, they had a Dutchman by the name of Vanderhorse who was her pathologist. They had a Greek there by the name of Varda, who was a sculptor. They had Walter Clark who was an author, who wrote several stories, “Ox Bow Incident,” and “The Mark of the Cat.” Oh! And various things and—anyhow, he wrote “The City of Trebling Leaves,” while he was there at the ranch, and Mr. Caples was an artist. It was quite a— Quite a clan of artists, then. A colony of artists. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 4 Yes. Uh-huh. Then they lived there and did their work and? Mm-hmm. Oh. And she, they were, Mrs. Caples sponsored them or furnished the tab for their creative work and so forth. It’s a very interesting bunch of people and— Quite famous. (Laughs) Oh yes. Mm-hmm. She’s—she was a fairly well to-do woman from the east and she had several of her friends visiting her at different times, among one of them was— (Laughs) Benny Goodman. Oh really! Uh-huh. Oh wow. Whose sister was married to Benny Goodman. Oh wow. And he was at the ranch there and Tex Ritter, the movie star, and all. Quite a few. It was quite an interesting colony. My goodness, I see. And she got divorced from her husband and sold the ranch and it’s changed hands several times since then. Kind a deteriorated, you might say. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 5 Is—could you give me some background history on your wife’s family, possibly? And what—how, and when they came and what—? Well, my wife’s father was born in Ireland and— His name was? Timothy Harnadi. Mm-hmm. And he migrated to the United States, I think he was about twenty-one years old. And worked for a while in Indianapolis and he had rheumatism real bad. It was suggested that he come west, which he did and he settled in the—in that area. Did he have a family, his family yet or? No. his family were still in Ireland. I see. And two or three of his brothers had come over to this country and he followed suit; was the ambition of every Irish man to—(Laughs) (Laughs) Come to the United States and— Make it big. Make it big. Or bigger than what it was at, in Ireland. And he worked around old mines like the Breyfogle Mine and the Johnnie Mine and he met his future wife at Indian Springs and they were married and moved to the northern part of the state of Fallon, and ranched up there for a while and that didn’t agree with him. He had malaria from the mosquitoes that were up there. So he moved back to the Vegas area and got the idea of starting this business out there at Indian Springs. And— UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 6 Do you know about what year would you say this was, approximately? Ah, approximately about 1921. I see. Along in there. And he pioneered the whole thing. He didn’t have a lot of money; hand-dug the original well where the water came from. Mm. And gradually built the business up. There was very few people living there at this time? There was nobody at the time. At one time when the railroad went through, they had a railroad station there and the Breyfogle Mine and some of the other mines used to bring their ore in. There was a kind of a railroad siding and so forth. But then when the railroad was torn up and I think it was abandoned in 1918, the town more or less, the small community disappeared, except for the ranch. Mm-hmm. Then the—after the railroad was torn up, abandoned, they tore up the ties and the rails off of it and made a state highway out of it and that was the main road from Las Vegas to Reno. And this (unintelligible) brought his business in, right? Yes. Uh-huh. I see. And when he originally went there he sold gasoline out of a drum; mounted up on railroad ties. Oh. I mean he pioneered it and build it up into quite a thriving little business. And ill-health and so forth forced him to sell in 19—the latter part of 1948. Till Joe Warrick bought the business. And UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 7 at that time they depended on just the tourist going through. Well, shortly after that they started the Nevada Test Site out there and it’s, business went— Increased. (Laughs) To a booming, booming state in a short time. And then the community has developed since then. At one time, I don’t know the present population, but at one time, there was some over two thousand people living there. Mm-hmm. It’s somewhat less than that now. But I’d say probably in the neighborhood of—oh there could be twelve hundred to fifteen hundred people there. And so then did the Harnadis stay out there and—or did they move to Las Vegas? No. Harnadis, in part of the—part of the sale of the place they took over a house that belonged to Warrick in Inglewood, California, and they lived down there for, oh, a year or two, and they didn’t care for that country and had to come back to the desert—which they did. Mm. Where did they? Well, they finally settled in Boulder City and lived there until Mr. Harnadi died first and then his wife. I see. How many children did they have? Just the one daughter. Oh, your wife? (Laughs) Yes. And when was she born? Do you know? Now I gotta do a little thinking. (Laughs) Well, I think I have it written. I can write it down here. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 8 She was, born—October 13th, 1917. And where was she born at? Why, in Indian Springs? No. My wife was born in Stillwater. Stillwater? Well, that’s near Fallon. Oh. It’s a little farming community near Fallon. Oh, oh yes, that you mentioned earlier. So when did you decide, what did you do after you stopped working at Indian Springs? Well, I moved to Las Vegas. At that time there was no school at Indian Springs and our children had to go to school, so, well, by necessity we had to move to Las Vegas, so the children could be educated. What was this date, do you know? Beg you pardon? What was the date—about? About 1943. And then where did you reside at in Las Vegas? Well, at first we lived out on North Fifth Street in North Las Vegas, for about ten years. And then, we moved to West Charleston Boulevard and lived there till we left Las Vegas. When you first moved here, what do you remember, the city, what the Downtown area, how was it? Well, in 1930, the business district of Las Vegas was from what is now the Union Plaza Hotel to approximately Fourth and Fremont. The El Portal Theatre was the last business on one side of UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 9 the street and the—there was a hotel on the other corner of Fourth and Fremont. At Fifth and Fremont were private residencies on all corners. And that was about the end of the business district of Las Vegas. Were there very many people in the—how, can you give a rough estimate? Oh, I’d say at that time there were probably about five—the population of Las Vegas was about five thousand people. About five thousand? Mm-hmm. Do you remember anything of the old ranch or were there many ranches in the area or? Well, there were in the valley there. I wasn’t too familiar with the Old Ranch. We used to go down and picnic, once in a while, and there was a stream that flowed from the Union Pacific yards across Main Street and eventually wound up across from where the Elks building is now. Mm-hmm. Flowed down through there and there used to be a big middle there and we used to have picnics there and— Awe. There were frogs and crawdads in the creek. (Laughs) (Laughs) Do you remember anything—was the Mormon Fort anything left of that? Well, there was a building there that was—I don’t know it belonged to the Stewarts. There is was the old Mormon Fort, yes. I can remember that. Mm-hmm. I see. But North Las Vegas at that time wasn’t— (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 10 Didn’t exist and there were a few, down near the cemetery. There were a few old cardboard shacks and so forth that indigent people trying to get work on the dam made a little colony down there. Mm-hmm. That was actually the start of North Las Vegas. I see. And in 1943, when we moved to what is now would be Lake Mead Boulevard and North Fifth Street, there wasn’t anything from there to Nellis Air Force Base. When you moved there? Yes. In 1943. So— Across the street was Mesquite trees— Quite different from now I must say. (Laughs) And it was—desert. It was desert. There was nothing. Las Vegas and North Las Vegas was a very, very small place. Well, how did you get a house out there? Well, we bought a house that a plumbing contractor had built, who worked during the war years, I believe out at Stafford Chemical when they were making the magnesium plant there. Mm-hmm. And he was from Utah and wanted to move back there and we bought the home. It was, oh, I’d say, two or three years old when we bought it. And what were you doing at this time as an occupation? UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 11 Working for Ted Werner Tire Company. We were recapping and repairing tires on North Main Street. Mm-hmm. And your children where did they go to school? In North Las Vegas. Uh-huh. What school was this? I couldn’t tell you the names of the school now. They’re abandoned. Uh-huh. I mean they’ve been obsolete, or whatever. And then high school? High school they went to Las Vegas High. And so did your wife—did she, or? Yes. My wife was educated in Las Vegas (unintelligible) When it was new I suppose. (Laughs) Oh yes, yes. Yes, when she went to school there, there weren’t any even paved streets and every time it rained, why, it was just a muddy soggy mess. Oh, this is when her family was living in Indian Springs? Yes. So— Because she went to school in Las Vegas. What, how, I don’t understand how she got from Indian Springs, did she stay? She would come in on Monday morning and stay the week and then come home on the weekends. For how many years did she do this? UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 12 Oh. Her complete high school. All through high school? Yes. Oh, I see. For the four years. And then, what did she do after, she met, she married you, and then you came to Las Vegas? Yes. She helped with—she helped with her parents and the business out there and after we got married we both worked. I see. At the station. So when the dam was being built, did you notice some changes to the city and—? Oh yes. It’s, it was booming at that time. The rest of the United States was in the midst of a bad Depression. And where the wages weren’t that terrific, everybody enjoyed prosperity. Mm-hmm. And there were always a waiting list of several hundred people tryna get work on the dam. As hazardous and dangerous as the work was, why—and after the dam was constructed, why, there was a little, oh, sort of a lull in the prosperity and then a few of the old timers, Jim Cashman and Bob Kaltenborn, and various ones promoted the area and tried to get tourists, which they accomplished in doing. And the dam being one of the—well, almost the, one of the wonders of the world brought a lot of tourists into the area and that made for prosperity. And then, the fact that gambling was legal, legalized, oh, just slightly before that, that brought in a lot of people. And how was the city changing? Stretching out and was the Strip here—? UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 13 No. the Strip came after, well, quite a bit after that. It started progressing further out, like on south Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, down in that area. Mm-hmm. And North to a certain amount. But was that mainly residential around? Residential yes, uh-huh, and then the businesses expanded somewhat, too. They started going further out on Fremont Street and then South Lake Mead Boulevard, I mean Las Vegas Boulevard now. South, where businesses and motels and so forth started flourishing and building up then. I see. Then there was, the World War II came along and they built the Basic Magnesium Plant out there. Nellis Air Force Base was started and that brought in a lot of people. Mm-hmm. And they started what is now the Strip. The El Rancho Hotel was the first one that went out there. These engineers and flying officers and so forth, was a popular spot within. Then they built the Last Frontier out there, further out. And then, Bugsy Siegel built the Flamingo further out. Mm. And they thought that was a foolish— (Laughs) Move. Out in the real boonies. (Laughs) Oh boy, oh yes. This was, wouldn’t, nothing could ever happen that big, you know, well. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 14 Mm-hmm. It was successful and then the various other ones started in. Yes. Thunderbird and the—well, the various hotels that are there now. Did you go into, like the old El Rancho and frequent these places very often or? Whenever possible, yes. When possible? Yes. And in those days it was a real intimate atmosphere and fairly inexpensive in main entertainment. Oh. Really? All righty. Oh yes. And the Last Frontier had main entertainment there. Mm-hmm. And it seemed like each one that went in prospered and the Desert Inn, the various resorts there now. It just keeps on going. Were you a member of any of the churches in the area? Or your children? Yes. We went to a community church in North Las Vegas. So, what was the name of that church, Lee? Was it Grace (Unintelligible)? (Unintelligible) Okay, what do you remember about major celebrations like the Helldorado, how did this originate and get everybody involved in—? Well, it started out, I’m not sure of the year. I think it was 1935. The Elks started the thing. It was a, turned out to be an annual celebration, and the whole town went—went for it, in a big way. To the men all grew beards, dressed in western clothes and the ladies all dressed in western UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 15 finery and this thing went on for about a week and the whole town entered into it wholeheartedly. It was a real, a real fun time for everybody. Everybody got into the spirit of the thing. Mm-hmm. You know and I think it’s a shame that they let it kinda lapse into the background. Die out. Kinda die out. The whole town went wholeheartedly for it. What kind of festivities were included? Oh, they had the rodeos naturally, three or four days of that. And they had the carnival atmosphere, rides, western village, they’d have street dances on Fremont Street. And the whole town entered into it. Everybody was involved and excited and? Everybody was involved and it was a fun time. Sounds really good. I think it’s a shame that they’ve kind of let it go by. Just really ‘cause that’s part of the real, real heritage. Right, right on. The culmination of the whole affair was the—what they call the beauty parade, that would be the last day, I believe on a Sunday, and they had lavish floats, and personalities from all over the country; movie stars, and celebrities would come in to look. It was a parade? A parade. A very big parade. Down Fremont Street? UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 16 Well, originally it would go down the, from the Strip from approximately where the Last Frontier Hotel was down to Fremont Street and then go up Fremont Street and disband at—on Main Street. And some of these floats were fantastic. They— I bet some money was put into town. Oh very much so. Yes. You bet. It was a—actually almost a small rose tournament deal. I bet, was it quite widely known? Oh yes, it was, you bet. All across the United States? You bet. And a lot of people would come? Right. And they would have bands from Southern California and different schools. Oh, I imagine it was really, got you going. (Laughs) Really, really, really nice. And the hotels would almost vie with each other to put the more elaborate float on. Mm-hmm. And they would give away meals and all the rest. The whole atmosphere of the community was so relaxed that you didn’t have these high pressure sales like you have now (unintelligible) And did everybody feel kind of chummy with each other? Oh. Absolutely! Absolutely. It was really a lot closer atmosphere. Absolutely, yes. The true western feeling was here then. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 17 The true western feeling and everybody entered into it, practically everybody in town. The older people, the young folks, there was something for everybody. And like I say they would have these dances on the street. Mm-hmm. And everybody wholehearted—they didn’t have to be prompted into it. It was just a community spirit and a community affair that everybody enjoyed real much. And this went on for a week? This went on for a week, yes. Oh, I imagine that was really something. It was almost a Mardi Gras atmosphere. Everybody— The real west. (Laughs) Right. (Laughs) How about the railroad, did it do much for the—to bring people, tourists in? Or was it mainly, you know, just for supplies and stuff? Well, they’ve disbanded the passenger service now but at one time the, a lot of people came through on these trains back and forth. Mm-hmm. Of course, primarily Union Pacific was a freight road. Can you describe the depot area for me? Just before you get to that, well, how ‘bout the, in thinking about what it took to drive to LA or to Reno, in other words, this was an isolated community. So the train and people would take trains. Oh, yes. In the—when I first came here like in the 1930s it was a real trip to go from Las Vegas to Reno. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 18 Well— We—in 1932, with a practically new automobile that had two spares on it, the roads were so rough and rocky and—that we had to buy a tire to make it on into Reno. Yes, yes. Blew that many tires out. It was the—the railroad was very, very important. There was very, very little pavement. There was one stretch of pavement up near Carrera, just this side of Beatty of about eight miles, because the sand was so heavy there that they couldn’t, the only way they could cope it was to put down some pavement. Yes. And then there was a little pavement leading into Reno. And the rest of the way was just a dirt and gravel road. I know, it’s about the same thing on down to LA, wasn’t it? Very much so, yes. Yes. How long did it take? Like Mont senior Delvin told about coming through here in ’32. Who is Mont senior Delvin? Monsignor Delvin, who is kind of like the head of the Diocese here in Southern Nevada, for quite a while. But he was just a greeny out of Ireland at the time. And he tells about what a trip and what an ordeal it was to drive down to LA. Right. It was—it was an ordeal and tires were the big hazard. I forget—James Cashman, was noted for a wild and reckless driver and I forget—he held the record driving from Las Vegas to UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 19 Los Angeles. And I can’t remember the exact hours now but he was known to be a very rough driver. And then, there was another fella, Andy Drum, who was a contractor in Fallon, Nevada, that used to be wild when it came to driving, and he had the record from Reno to Las Vegas (Laughs) for speed, you know. But it was really a hazardous deal, and tires at that time weren’t what they are now. Are they, and the cars themselves, my golly, that was— Oh yes, and the—on this old railroad grade, if you, you had to either drive about ten miles an hour or you had to drive fifty or so, to not— Skim the bumps. To not bounce off of the highway. They were so corduroy and rough. Yes. Yes. I’m gonna to have to turn this over. Excuse me for a minute. (Tape one ends) Okay, back to the—when you were working in Indian Springs. Did very many famous people pass through or stop or? Yes. There were quite a few people that came through at different times. In those days the people had money, used to go out and (unintelligible) weekend in Death Valley. And a lot of them had their chauffer driven limousines. Mm. And quite (unintelligible) And then they came through Indian Springs and then went up to Beatty? Yes. It would—well, either go to Beatty and in to Death Valley or turn off at the (Unintelligible) Wells and go down to Death Valley junction and on into Death Valley. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 20 Mm-hmm. And when I first came there, it was the little town of Death Valley Junction was quite active they mined clay over there and they also had a railroad division you might call it. Going in? The trains would come up from Baker, California up through Shoshone and through Death Valley Junction and all up to Beatty, there was still some mining and a little bit of freight that went back and forth. In Rhyolite (unintelligible)? Yes. Uh-huh. Did you go down into that area very much? Yes. What was the Scotty’s Junction like? Well, Scotty’s Castle was up in the northern part of Death Valley. Mm-hmm. And that was quite a tourist attraction and it still is and Death Valley Scotty was alive then and he used to make trips into Las Vegas Mountain then and usually stopped at the station there, sometimes stay overnight, and the man that backed him in these castle deal was an insurance man by the name of Johnson from Chicago and he used to accompany him sometimes on these trips. He was Scotty’s goldmine. (Laughs) (Laughs) And they stayed with you and? Yes. Uh-huh. What kind if a man was Scotty? Well he’s just boisterous, flamboyant, kind of a show me. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 21 Mm-hmm. Very, very nice person, really. About what—? Eccentric for eccentric. Yes. About what—can you give me an approximately date, you know, that all these people were going and that Scotty would come by and see you? That was in the 1930s. Thirties? Uh-huh. 1930s and oh, various other people, Will Rogers came through there one time with Death Valley Scotty. And the doctors, males, I forgot their first names, stayed overnight with us at one time. Death Valley, I’m sure, still attracts a lot of people but in those days, it was quite a weekend trip to come to Las Vegas, take in Boulder Dam and then return through Death Valley, back to Southern California. California. Yes, staying there. So most people were from California? Well, either that or the originator on the trip from Southern California. Mm-hmm. Quite a stopping place. Yes. It was, really, of course there (Laughs) there wasn’t much choice in those days either. Yes. You came—you went from Las Vegas to Indian Springs, they’ve shortened the road some since then, it was forty-five miles. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 22 But then you left there and Death Valley Junction was your next stop. That was sixty-eight miles, (unintelligible) was ninety-eight miles, and the stops were few and far between. About how long did it take you to get from Indian Springs to Las Vegas and back that? Well, on the old dirt road, if you made it in our hour and a half why that was considered good timing. Mm-hmm. Now you could make it without the fifty-five mile an hour speed limit, you could make it easily in a half an hour. Mm-hmm. But in those days it took about an hour and a half. And then, coming through you passed ranches and stuff going—coming in to Las Vegas or? No. They were off the road. There was the Corn Creek Ranch, that is now, the Fish and Wildlife Service have it as a desert game preserve. How did that start? Well, when I first came, why it was called a Cork Creek Ranch. Actually it was a glorified moonshine operation, is what it was. (Laughs) Oh yes? (Laughs) Must’ve been some water up there. And then, there was a writer by the name of George Worpes that had claimed the ranch. He lived there for several years and developed it and build, put in some nice buildings and spent quite a bit of money, and he got disenchanted and sold the ranch to the federal government. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 23 And they’ve since made this game preserve or whatever you want to call it. And then, closer in to Las Vegas was Tule Springs, one of the ranches now, and that again was a glorified moonshine operation. Mm-hmm. Who owned that? Do you know? I’m not familiar with their names now. Probably changed hands several times. It’s changed hands quite a few times. And then, a little further on toward Las Vegas and off to the left of the highway was the Gilcrease Bridge and it was Mrs. Gilcrease and her two sons that lived there and successfully ranched it. They raised chickens and turkeys and they used to sell their eggs to orchids there in Las Vegas, and she grew Alfalfa. And I think they, I’m quite sure they, at least one of the boys still lives there and operates that. Mm-hmm. And then, a little closer into town, you have, you don’t see it anymore but there was an artesian well that was cased, that flowed quite a good stream of water, that just ran down, there was a little creek there and of course the water table lowering like it has, why, those wells, are all past now. Mm-hmm. And then you move out, came into town and what is now Lorenzi Park was operated by Mr. Lorenzi and then they used to hold weekly dances there. They had a pavilion out over the pond. Oh. I bet that was nice. And they had dances there and then people would picnic and they had their swimming. That’s pretty (unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 24 Yes, yes. And it was quite an attractive spot. It was quite a popular gathering place for social events and Fourth of Julys and picnics and so forth. Mm-hmm. And then as you left there and came in, why, you were in Las Vegas. (Laughs) Yes. Back to Tule Springs, how, what decided, made people attracted to that area? Well, there was water there mostly. Any place that was a spring or water, why, people settled and like I say in the 1930s before Prohibition was repealed, every place that had a, any supply of water, (Laughs) a moonshiner set up. Yes. And Las Vegas supplied quite an area, including Las Vegas, with illegal moonshine. I bet. And when I first came to Las Vegas, the state or the city had no laws against alcohol, and the bars flourished as openly as they do now, except for an occasional raid by the federal prohi’s would come in. This is during Prohibition? Oh yes. Uh-huh. Before it was legalized. Mm. And they’d padlock the front door of the place and— Just snuck in the back! (Laughs) When they left town why they’d use the back entrance until another raid and then they’d open the front door. But there was no state laws or city laws against alcohol. And this was all over, right? Yes. Uh-huh. UNLV University Libraries Walter Dane 25 Mm-hmm. Well, all over the state really. It wasn’t confided just to Las Vegas. Were there prehistoric findings in Tule Springs? Yes, yes, those clay beds down there—there were several different expeditions or parties. I think it was the American Museum of Natural History, I’m quite sure, had an expedition there and they uncovered bison and elephant remains. Mm. Did you ever see any of the Indians or were there many Indians in the area, you know? We’ve got all kinds of (unintelligible) Yes, there were quite a few Indians. My father-in-law used to sort of trade with the Indians. They would