Transcript of interview with Betty and Gus Ciliax by Connie Boich, March 2, 1977

UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 1 An Interview with Betty & Gus Ciliax An Oral History Conducted by Connie Boich 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 Betty & Gus Ciliax 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 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 Betty & Gus Ciliax 4 Abstract On March 2, 1977, collector Connie Boich interviewed Betty (born March 31, 1919 in Bisbee, Arizona) and Gus Ciliax (born May 13, 1909 in Michigan) in the Ciliax home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers Southern Nevada and early development of the area. During the interview, they also discussed local recreation, prostitution, Block 16, and various social activities, in addition to local businesses, such as Six Companies, the economy, Boulder Dam, and education in Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 5 (Tape begins midsentence) Boich for Nevada History 117. I’m interviewing Betty & Gus Ciliax. The date is Tuesday, March 2nd, 1977. Mrs. Ciliax, I’ll call you, Betty, okay, when were you born? 1919. And where were you born? Bisbee, Arizona. And who were your parents? Liona Marshall Kelly and James Albert Kelly. When did you come to Las Vegas? Or the Las Vegas area? Mm. August the 12th, 1932. And where did you come to? We went to Goodsprings, Nevada. Why? It was the Depression. Looking for a job. My dad got a job doing the (unintelligible) in Goodsprings How old were you at that time? Fifteen. And did you go to school there? Yes. I went to 9th grade in a one room schoolhouse. How many kids were in your class? Nine. Nine kids. Did you graduate from Goodsprings? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 6 From the 9th grade and then we would come in here to go to high school, staying the week. Stay the week and then drive back up to Goodsprings for the weekend. Did you live out here in Las Vegas? Yes. For five days a week and then we’d live out in Goodsprings, for the other two. Where did you live? Well, we rented rooms from different people or—my mother came in one year and rented a house and had about six kids that were going to high school, all living here. We would go out on weekends. And we had an old Buick car that would run out of gas and we’d (unintelligible) our gasoline truck and they always gave us gas, never charged us for it. And that was financed by your father working out at Goodsprings? Well, that and the county also paid your transportation to go to school. How? When you had to leave your residence, you know, your local town. Mm-hmm. You said the county financed your—? Yes. The state or the county gave us I think sixty cents a day, I think that’s what it was. To go to school? To go to school. Mm-hmm. When you didn’t live in a town where there was high school. How was this financed, just through the taxes? Yes. As far as I know it was taxes. Mm. Course you gotta remember this was during the Depression and we wouldn’t have gone to school, otherwise. About how many people do you think were going to school in those days? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 7 Well, I graduated from high school in 1938, Las Vegas High School and there were ninety-nine kids in the graduating class, and that’s the only high school in town at that time. And they came from all the surrounding areas, as well? Mm-hmm. Boulder City. Henderson wasn’t there at that time. It was Boulder City and Goodsprings and Searchlight and Vegas. I think that’s all because Moapa Valley had their own high school. Okay. What type of employment did you have in your earlier years? Well, when I got out of high school in order to keep from going back to Goodsprings, I did ironing for different people in town. Mm-hmm. Which just killed me, I hated it. And then, I got a job at the town barbeque in 1938, the latter part of ’38, as a waitress, as a carhop for a dollar a day, seven days a week. And that’s the restaurant your husband owned? Yes. (Laughs) Oh yes? What was Las Vegas like in those days? It was fun. It was only about five thousand people. We knew everyone. [Gus Ciliax joins the discussion] There were less than five thousand people in ’32 when we came. I’d say, there was closer to thirty-five hundred. You think it was that number? And just everybody seemed to know each other. If you went to the second show and coming out passing over the line waiting for the patrons for the second show, if you didn’t know eight out of ten of them in line, that were in line, there weren’t a lot of strangers in town. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 8 It was fun we used to go up and park on the Fremont Street and just sit there all evening and watch people go by and say hello, and visit. Well, what was the recreation like? What type of activities did you do in ’32 and ’33 and that? The bigger, the biggest activity was locally sponsored based softball teams. In which, Goodsprings had a team and I recall the Elks Lodge had a team and the firemen had a team and Cashmans had a team and— And they were fun, too, boy they used to be (unintelligible). It used to be. And we had the volunteer fire department at that time too and they used to have a dance or so every once in a while, it was fun. Where was all this held? Like the softball games and the dances? The dances were usually at Lorenzi’s Park. And the softball games were held where the city hall now is. That was a park at that time? Mm-hmm. That was a park at that time. Yes. Wasn’t there a pool you were mentioning earlier, a pool, a mermaid swimming pool, that was just off of Fifth Street off on Fifth Street off of—? Just up the street from the present city hall, just south, on the next block south of the city hall. And that was a public pool? That was a public pool. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 9 Mm-hmm. Everyone used to go? Yes. Except they changed the water, they changed the water on the, in the pool on Mondays. And before they cleaned the pool the prostitutes from Block 16 used to come up and go swimming. They were the only one allowed in it at that time. Was that the only time that they could go swimming was on Mondays? Well, that I don’t know. But they had it exclusively on Monday night, that I know. (Laughs). Why, the prostitutes. What? Do you remember anything specifically about Block 16 and the prostitution at that, in those days? I can say that it never was a problem. No. The girls were always well-behaved and wasn’t, there wasn’t the necessity for calling out the reserves for rowdy-ism or anything of the sort. It was also a, more or less of a dare of all the young kids, if you had a date it was always drive down Block 16 and the girls would all sit down in the car and scream. (Laughs) Think it was real icky. In the days of the dam construction, particularly on pay days it was next to impossible to walk down that sidewalk, it was so crowded. (Laughs) Block 16. (Laughs) And—yes. When did they—? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 10 And. Oh, excuse me, go ahead. Well, as to abolishing it, it was only because the Air Force wouldn’t bring their new air base into the area, as long as we had legalized prostitution. And it was legalized at that time? And. Oh, very much controlled, too. Very much controlled. It was legalized and the girls all had physicals at, once a week. They did have to go to the hospital? No. They went to Dr. Mildred. His personal clinic, up on South Second Street, Dr. Mildred had a clinic. Did they pay taxes of any kind on their profits, you might say? Oh no. No. There was no such thing. No. No. But how was it controlled? You know, you said, it was pretty controlled. Well, it was controlled to the fact on health wise. Mm-hmm. Health wise and its location. It’s a restricted area. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 11 Restricted area. The One area. Restricted to the area. Mm-hmm. And how about the one area of prostitution on Boulder Highway, Four Mile? Yes. Yes. It was called Four Mile but— That just kind of grew. I don’t know anything about its operation. No. But it was abolished when Nellis came here, right? Or when the Army base? Yes. What? But I think that the Four Mile went passed that, illegally, for a while. It didn’t get that (unintelligible). Well, it might have ‘cause they were outside the city limits. Yes. The county would have had to. But it didn’t last too long out there. When did Nellis or the Army base come in to Las Vegas? I don’t know. I would say about 1939 or ’40, I’m not sure. Did it have much effect on the city? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 12 Oh, I think it did because there was over the—brought the economy back up, it was slumping after the dam. But I can’t think of any other impact it had. I know on occasion they used to pay in two dollar bills, to see what, how much of the payroll became circulated in town, from the base. I see. I guess it was a pretty good size. How about the dam? Do you remember anything about the construction of the dam? Any effect that it would have on Las Vegas? Oh it boomed the town, there was no question about it. Well, the good, of course a good portion of the men that worked on the dam, lived in town, and then until Six Companies out there built a lot of houses and dormitories, cheaply. But Six Companies built it. Wasn’t Boulder—? Excuse me. No. There wasn’t no Boulder City. It wasn’t no city, at the time. It was just— It was a government housing area. Unincorporated town. Well, it was a government project. It was built by Six Companies, where they got the name, Six Companies and they put in, they built the dormitories and they built a cafeteria. Was that—that was right down at the dam, though, wasn’t it? No. It wasn’t. Or was that in Boulder? That was in Boulder City. And see there was no place down at the dam to build anything like that. Oh, that’s right. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 13 They built it up on the flat in Boulder City. Did most of the people that worked at the dam live in the Six Companies town? The—well, the biggest portion of the single men did. They lived in the dormitories. Mm-hmm. Well. I think most of them lived in Vegas. And they issued script, Six Companies script, which was spendable with any of the merchants here in town it was just like money. Mm-hmm. Redeemable by Six Companies. Could—and they could spend it in Las Vegas? Oh yes. They didn’t have to restrict it? No. They could spend it in Vegas. ‘Cause Six Companies would redeem it. When did Boulder City finally become incorporated? Or? Just recently. It was in the last ten years, I think. But it’s a—it was always a real powerful town, though. There was always, there’s always a government owned town. Government owned town, which grew into a real pretty town. But it was—I don’t think it’s been very long that it’s been incorporated, in my memory, anyway. When you lived in Goodsprings, Betty, didn’t you say that the population there at one time—or Gus even you would remember, at one time was larger than the population of Las Vegas? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 14 That’s what I’ve—that’s what the Goodsprings people say. Like Betty says, there were eighteen thousand at one time, and at that time would, Vegas, I don’t imagine had but a thousand, fifteen hundred people in comparison. Yes. Well, that was just during the boom and I don’t think that lasted more than two years and the people just left, and they moved a lot of the houses in from Goodsprings over to here, move them to Vegas. Where did they move those houses? Down around the railroad houses between Second and Fourth. Was there any reason why they did do that? The proximity to the railroad. That’s the only area of the town that was really built was—well, from Fifth Street to Main and then on the, on this side of the tracks, and then, some on the Westside, on the opposite side of the tracks. That was the only part of town that was developed. There was nothing from—there was nothing, from Fifth Street east was practically all desert. What was the west side of the tracks like? That’s where most of the people really lived, other than just the ordinary people. Like we had, as I remember, one colored family over there that, they were all redheads, freckles, very nice family. And we had an old lady by the name of Manny Pinkston, who was a character in town; everyone loved her. What did she do? She was a cook someplace in town, I don’t remember where. But the Westside, itself, had a, oh, there must have been, oh, at least a hundred families living over there. And the more socialite people were living on this side. Well, I lived over on Westside for a while. My grandmother lived over there. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 15 Wasn’t then that land more fertile and better land, I had understood at one time? No. I don’t think so. Like where we’re living right now used to be—was it here, up here in Huntridge where the great—? Oh, from Tommy Otsu. He had a great (unintelligible). Place, property with over on the Park Pesaro, Pesaro area was all the great vineyards. Who was this? Tommy Otsu. A Japanese family. They owned a lot of acreage just south of Charleston between, oh, probably between Tenth and Sixth, in through there. And that was all a grape vineyard at one time. Did he use that to make money or did he just have that as a hobby? No. That was his business. Yes. He worked. He raised all the vegetables and everything for the town. After that he bought property in Paradise Valley. And he has a number of his family still here in town. He doesn’t—how, did the grapevines flourish at that time? Oh yes. He was a fantastic farmer and the ground at that, in that area was very, very fertile. But we used to have rabbits out here where we’re living. We used to sit on the running board of a Model T and hunt rabbits, out here where we are. On Franklin, you live right off of Maryland Parkway? Mm-hmm. Ah. I used to ride with Herb Ward. His dad had a grocery store, a cash and carry grocery store, right on the corner of First and Fremont. And we used to take his pick-up at night and drive all UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 16 around the present high school, over on H Street, chasing rabbits in the headlights of the car. There weren’t maybe four houses within four square blocks of that high school at the time. So there was no— There was nothing past it. No traffic. The streets weren’t paved and you could drive just all over the countryside out there, chasing the rabbits, catch and picking ‘em up in the headlights of the car. Wow. And that’s—that was about 19—oh, ’32, ’33. What, was the vegetation in the desert any different than it is today? Not the desert itself. No. The same, Mesquite and a few tumbleweeds and— I think we used to have more wild flowers, closer to town, course it was. But the vegetation itself was— Pretty barren. Was barren. What trees were in town were cottonwoods. There were quite a few of those. A lot of cottonwoods. There were a lot of cottonwoods. Do you remember any walnut trees at the Old Mormon Fort or the Stewart Ranch? Well, there were a number of different kind of trees down there, I don’t know, just what they were. I don’t know, either. Do you remember anything specifically about the Stewart Ranch or the Kyle Ranch? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 17 I know the Kyle Ranch, I don’t remember anything about. The Stewart Ranch, I think he used to go there. I don’t know what the— Course it was never called the Stewart Ranch as far as I can remember. It was Winter—it was all up where Winterwood is now. But I know that the Levitts— The Levitt family ran it. They were up there and some other, and the Stewarts, no, C. D. Stewart, and his family ran it. And of course Earl married into the family. One of the Stewarts. That’s how come the Levitts got into the family. Earl Levitt. I don’t know what they raised. What— I don’t either. Uh-uh. It just doesn’t hit my memory at all when I think about the Stewarts. The Grants, rather. Okay. You said you worked at a sweetshop. Was that the name of it? A—The Sweet Shop? Yes. The Sweet Shop. When you were younger? Yes. That was a gathering place for everyone in town. What’d you serve there? Sundaes and maybe a sandwich every now and then with ice cream, Cokes, or fountains. And everybody used to come into The Sweet Shop? Manny Pinkston used to come in and play the slot machine by the hour. And I guess everyone in town, at one time during the day would come into The Sweet Shop, at one time or another. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 18 In those days, what was the gambling like? What was it like? Nothing plush. The first good club you might say we had was the Boulder Club. Where was that located? It was located between Second and First Street. Where the (unintelligible) is. On the North side of Fremont. Do you know who owned that? And—yes. It was owned by, Mr. Witcher and— I can’t remember. And Mr. Who? Pros Goumond. Goumond? Yes. G-O-U-M-O-N-D I believe he spelled it. What was the Boulder Club like? The Boulder—it had, it had nothing fancy. It was kept clean. It was clean. It had tile, tile flooring and in the front, the front part were the twenty-one games and I believe two crap tables and the (unintelligible) bank table, and a pan game. And then the back half of the building they had keno. Not the racehorse keno as we know today but—and not Bingo. You just do, to win you had to get five numbers straight across on the board. And we played with the numbered ping pong balls, that’s the way the other keno games are played today. And you could play from five, you could play from five cents to a dollar on your card and if a five cent card paid a pot of six dollars a UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 19 dollar card paid twenty times that. And actually, I made more money playing keno than I did working. (Laughs) (Laughs) ‘Cause I was working for fifteen dollars a week and my meals. (Laughs) And if I was lucky enough to hit a fifteen cent winner in keno it was more money than my paycheck. (Laughs) So like supplementary income? It was money from heaven as far as I was concerned. (Laughs) (Laughs) And. Well, was that a big entertainment or thing people did in those days? Do they gamble to the extent that they might today? No. I don’t think so. No. I don’t think so. Oh. And I didn’t really—I didn’t—the gambling then didn’t draw tourists like it does today because it was, in the first place, it wasn’t on a grand scale and we didn’t have nice places, exceptionally nice places for tourists to stay. All our motor courts were, oh, very, very— Rustic or— Comfortable but nothing elaborate. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 20 Mm-hmm. And there weren’t too many of them. They didn’t start, they didn’t spring motor courts didn’t really come into their being until tourism, because of the dam, developed. And then, when, then we had to have them or—because in the first, when tourism was in its beginning there weren’t places for them to stay. There were many, many people that turned around and go back or go on someplace else because there weren’t the, the accommodations were not available. Mm-hmm. And also at that time there was no cooling in town. We had no evaporative coolers I don’t think until about ’37. And they were just honky-tonks. We used to run a fan through a piece of gunny sack dipped in water and stand in front of it. How you used to keep cool during your—going to work? I used to sleep under a wet sheet until it dried out and then get up and take it into the shower with me and wet it again and go back to—get a few more hours until it dried out again. This is when you would sleep during the day? This is when I was sleeping during the day and working nights. And— Well, the nights got darn near as hot as the daytimes did. A lot of us used to get real hot. Stay hot. But it seems to me that, that the weather in those days was hotter than it is now. Because I can recall a lot of hundred and fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen degree days, which the present weather bureau doesn’t seem to report anymore. Mm-hmm. And I know that—I know that for a fact. Well, I think the wind has changed, too. I think the whole weather has changed since the lake filled up. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 21 What—didn’t that stifle the people in the summertime when it was a hundred and fifteen outside and there was no real retreat? Never seemed to stop anyone, we were just, everyone just suffered through it. The only retreat I know of was in the El Portal Theatre. We had carrier refrigeration. And that’s the only refrigerated building that we had in this town for a number of years. When was this? Well, I was, when I recall, the El Portal was always refrigerated. That would have been since we came. And the El Portal was built when I was here in ’32. So it was built a few years before that. Well, I don’t think refrigeration was in then, I don’t know, but I know it was always cool in there. Yes. They had a carrier refrigeration system. Well, how did the cooling system evolve from your gunny sack or your burlap in the window to what it is today? What type of different air-conditioning systems did they use? Well, they only had—as far as I know, we only had fans and that, blowing through wet towels, and then it developed into gunny sack boxes and that eventually, that went next into excelsior pads, with a blower inside instead of a fan, which was what we call a swamp cooler. What was the one with the towel that was, you know, was used to turn the towels? That was a towel on rollers that by turning it to crank you wet the towels as they went through the bottom water container and the fan blew through the wet towels and when they dried out you’d turn the crank and that way you got a little cool air. But unless you were right in front of it, it had no effect on cooling a room. (Laughs) What was the name of the people that everybody would go to their house? UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 22 Oh, this was out in Goodsprings, they got the first swamp cooler. I think it was Frederickson’s. And course we didn’t—no one else in town had the money to buy it. Well, be it to put one in and we used to all go to their house because it was cooler. And just sit and— Mm-hmm. Enjoy the cold air. (Laughs) (Laughs) Right. Do you remember, ah, Gus you’re a member of the Elks, do you remember anything of the first Helldorado and what it was like? Well, the Helldorado was an entertainment boom to the populace at the time, there being very few activities, and it was carried on much the same way that it is today with the kangaroo cops and the whispereno and everybody, all the men, most all the men grew mustaches or beards and the women dressed in old Frontier style dresses. The long flow, pleated, or— Gathered? Gathered dresses, or whatever you call it. And the men wore jeans and cowboy shirts and the town really supported it a hundred percent. As far as I can remember, the first one was held over on the vacant property on the corner of, on the southeast corner of Sixth and Fremont. And there was a small carnival in connection with it and—though at that time there was no rodeo, as I recall. But— They had a singing group at that time, The Drunkard, wasn’t that the one that Mike (Unintelligible) was in? Yes, they put on a, yes. The Drunkard. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 23 Yes. They put on as the Drunkard. Stage played it someplace over there. And, anyway, it was— Everyone in town was there it was just a lot of entertainment. Was there any reason why they started up Helldorado? Well, I’m assuming it was to raise money. It always has been as far as I know. (Laughs) Yes. (Laughs) But there was no other types of entertainment in the city, really? Not unless you—of course the younger people all went up to Lorenzi’s. We had fireworks out at Lorenzi Park. We had dancers out there a swimming pool. Every Saturday night there was a dance at Lorenzi Park. You might call it a dance. Mm. It was a drunken brawl. (Laughs) (Laughs) There were more fights than you’d see in a ring, anyplace. Somebody was always getting dragged out of there. And but it, aside from the rowdy-ism and the booze that flowed, course it was prohibition but there was plenty of, always seemed to be plenty of liquor available. And then, but sports wise, we had a local based softball league that attracted as much attention as anything. The Elks had a team, Cashmans had a team, Goodsprings always had a real good ball club, and the competition was strong. They had a volunteer firemen department, had a team, and it drew big crowds. Helldorado, did it ever get any type of conflict or criticism from the townspeople? Did they ever do anything that the townspeople didn’t like? No. I don’t recall—I don’t recall that they did. I think there was far more enthusiasm then there would’ve been criticism. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 24 Yes. Yes. Do you remember anything about the first radio station? Keno. Max Scott started it in about ’36, wasn’t it? Yes. Was down by the meadows were the old meadows—down by Twenty-Ninth or Twenty-Eight Street, wasn’t it? Yes. It was over the other side of Twenty-Fifth Street. Yes. On the Boulder Highway, over in that area. Another thing we used to do, too, we used to go up to Charleston ‘cause Bobby Griffith’s father owned most of Charleston, and there was a dirt road up there just a single dirt road. We used to go up there quite a bit. We used to go up to Saint Thomas before it was covered with water and the lake. Saint Thomas, that’s a town that was buried by the water, lakes, water of the lake. Lake Mead? Uh-huh. What was that like? I had always heard of that but I never—I figured it was a myth or a legend. Oh no. No. It was here. No. There was a drought. I don’t know how many people ever lived there. But it was a— (Tape one ends) (Tape begins midsentence) –My stepdad, who came here in 1909, cross the Colorado River in a twenty horse, twenty mule team. And he used to leave Goodsprings and go up to Saint Thomas UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 25 for a dance on a weekend. But he would have to leave Friday because it took him all day Friday, all day back Friday night, and Saturday morning. And they’d get there about Saturday, ain’t that what he used to say? Yes. And they dance, they’d have a dance up at Saint Thomas and dance all— But it was on—Saint Thomas, was on the original route from Las Vegas to Salt Lake. The highway used to go. I don’t think so. I think—it may have, I’m not sure. I think so. Grandpa would know. And then they’d come, they’d come back without any sleep and get back to Goodsprings. Hm. It’d take ‘em two days to get there. Did he ever say the size of the city or the town? Oh, I think Saint Thomas was about the size of Bunkerville now. And what’s the Bunker that has the mortuary? Berkeley? Berkeley Bunker. He was born there, I’m almost sure, his family lived there. In Saint Thomas? Mm-hmm. And It was, I guess right where the dam, or the lake, right? So—? Yes. Just below Overton. Yes. It’s close to where the lake comes in. Through the Valley of Fire. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 26 Lake comes right up through there. Oh. And it was uncovered once, I think, just once, since the lake’s been there. We went up to see it when it was uncovered and there was still a foundation to— Some of the buildings. Some of the buildings. There. But that’s all it was. Concrete foundations. But it’s covered again now. And your stepfather came over the Colorado in a twenty mule team? Took him five days to cross the Colorado River. Where did he cross at, do you know? Down by Searchlight. And Needles? They crossed on a raft and transported all the horses and cattle and everything they had in this caravan that he was travelling with. And they took everything across on rafts. I’ll think of the name of that crossing. I don’t think it had a name at that time. It might now. I should talk to him, get that down too. Where was he coming from and why was he coming here? Ah, he was coming here looking for work, in 1909, and he had heard the town had opened, and mining was going in Goodsprings and he also had an opportunity at that time and he had some money, to buy the lot where the Apache Hotel used to be on, which is where the Mint is, on the corner—for five hundred dollars. And he had the money and he didn’t buy it. He didn’t think it was gonna be any good. UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 27 Uh-huh. But he lived at Goodsprings for—oh, he’s lived in Goodsprings from 1909 on. He joined—he went in the First World War in 1918 from here. And then, (unintelligible). This is from Arizona, your father when he came from there? No. No. That was just my stepdad. Right. He came from Idaho. Oh, what a trip. My dad was a sheriff in (unintelligible) county in Arizona. You had said that there were hills and valleys, of the growth of the Las Vegas area, Southern Nevada area. That at times something like the construction of the dam would bring in people and then after the dam the population would drop, is that right? Yes. The economy would drop. Well, they were actually—I would say the economy never dropped from the dam because from the day the dam was built, it was always a—it became a tourist attraction. And then, in fact, it brought in, as I said before, more tourists than we had accommodations for. And they, it was a boom to the—the tourism became the boom to the town. Mm-hmm. Well, I know that we thought— And with it, then with the tourism, developed the resort, the El Rancho Hotel. And— Well, I remember at the time when the Basic opened and we figured that after the war was over that would all close and it would deplete again but it came back again and— UNLV University Libraries Betty & Gus Ciliax 28 But the tourism continued and became heavier all, year after year. The dam had, you know, it had, would get a million some odd visitors every year and— I don’t remember if we had any gaming control at that time, either, did we? In ’32? Didn’t that start after the Flamingo mess with Bugsy? Well, I don’t know when the—when the Control Boards were established, I don’t know. Oh, and we had an old guy out in Goodsprings by the name of Frank Williams who was one of the—one of the regents at the University of Nevada. Mm-hmm. When it was up in Reno. Was a real oddball. And he was gonna stop gaming in Nevada. He was? Yes. And he walked all the way from Goodsprings to Carson City one year. He walked? Walked. Wait. What time of the year? Ah, I don’t remember. I can remember (unintelligible) his two daughters telling me about it. And then, my stepdad talking about it. He was gonna stop gaming and he walked all the way up there to get to the assembly up here. Why did he want to stop gaming? Well, he thought it was sinful. He was a fanatic. He was a real odd character. But needless to say he didn’t stop it. He was sure a fanatic on it. Was this after the El Rancho Vegas? Oh no. This was way before that. This was when gaming was—just started here. When th