Transcript of interview with Phyllis Webb Clark by Lorna Suzette Clark, April 7, 1976

UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark i An Interview with Phyllis Webb Clark An Oral History Conducted by Lorna Suzette 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 Phyllis Webb Clark ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2017 UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 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 Phyllis Webb Clark iv Abstract On April 7, 1976, Lorna Suzette Clark interviewed her mother-in-law, Phyllis Webb Clark (born 1928 in Los Angeles, California) about her experiences from living in Las Vegas. The two first discuss education, the various address at which Phyllis lived, and the early development of the Strip and Downtown areas. The interview then covers the visits of important individuals, forms of transportation, the effect of World War II on the economy, and the effects of the growing town on hospitality and courteousness. Phyllis also mentions the Helldorado Parade, her involvement in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and recreational activities. The interview concludes with a discussion on the atomic testing, the Stewart Ranch, and floods in Las Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 1 My name is Lorna Suzette Clark. It’s April 7th, 1976, and I am interviewing my mother-in-law, and her name is Phyllis Webb Clark. She’s forty-seven, she lives at 803 Biljac Street, and her phone number is 878-1217. Were you born in Nevada? No. Where were you born? In Los Angeles. When did you come to Southern Nevada? In June of 1942. Why? Because my father was employed at BMI, Basic Magnesium, Incorporated. He drove a water truck out there because (unintelligible) for airplanes during the war. Were you educated here? Four years of high school. Which school did you go to? Las Vegas High School, the only one. The only school? The only high school in Las Vegas. What kind of occupations have you had since you’ve been here? Well, as a youngster, I worked at Silver State (unintelligible) on South (unintelligible) Street. What did you do there? (Unintelligible) as a soda jerk, and then I worked for the Review Journal one summer as a book finder. Where have you lived in Southern Nevada? UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 2 Well, when we first moved to Las Vegas, there weren’t many houses, and they were mainly dirt roads or a gravel street. And we lived approximately, pretty close to the corner of Twenty-First and Marlin when we first moved here. And my father built a house out on Bonanza Road, which, if it had a number, I don’t recall it, but I doubt if it did. We got our mail at the post office on Third and Stewart. You didn’t have street numbers? At that time, I didn’t. And we moved out on Bonanza Road because my father built a house out there. Then when he sold that house, we moved and rented a little place, a hop, skip, and a holler past what is now Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital. Well, it was the first dirt road past the hospital, going west, and then down about a block. Was the hospital as big then as it was now? Oh, no. Where’d you go from there? Then my father built another house at 1955 Harvard Street in North Las Vegas, so we moved down there. Was building here easy then, what construction materials you think would hold up? No, but houses were, of course, very reasonable, but we didn’t think so at the time. But the prices couldn’t go any higher. It cost my dad about $5,000.00 to build the house on Bonanza Road, and he sold it for $11,000.00, thought that was really the highest you could possibly go, and the last I heard, the house went for $150,000.00. Same house? UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 3 Uh-huh. And it didn’t look to me like there had been any changes on it except aluminum siding on the outside. But it’s what my father called a city acre of land, and so the area was quite large. And there was the garage with a covered patio, a basement— Basements? A basement underneath the house. And it was very nice, but still, at that time, we thought it was a tremendous value. Has everything inflated that much percent since then? I think so. That was (unintelligible)? Wages (unintelligible). Well, let’s see, I was sixteen. So it’s been (unintelligible) thirty years. (Unintelligible) thirty-one years. Anyway, after I left Harvard Street when I turned eighteen and I left home and I moved in with friends, lived on Stanford Street, and I lived there for eight or nine months. Then I moved to Third Street because my job was at Silver State News Stand on South Second, and I moved out on South Third, rented a room so I’d be close to my work, and then I got married and I went to live at 512 North (unintelligible) Street, which was my mother-in-law’s house, but we were waiting for an apartment. And when we finally got an apartment, it was on Marlin Court. Was it hard to get an apartment? At that time, houses were still very, very difficult to obtain, ‘cause there just wasn’t any. More people than houses? UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 4 Oh, yes. When we first came here in 1942, we were very lucky to have a place to live. Many, many people lived out in the desert area, mainly between Las Vegas and Henderson, and they were camped in cars, tracks, tents—anything they could contrive. Why did these people come? Because there was employment, and at that time, the war was just starting, and employment, of course, was very bad until the war started. And when the plant opened up out there, it was really a big boom to the economy here. Had they finished the dam by then? Oh, yes. The dam had been finished a number of years. Okay, then from Marlin Court, we had a little apartment and we bought out first house at 393 North Sixteenth Street and moved there. And then we had three children, and the house only had two bedrooms, so we decided we needed a larger house, and we bought one at 393 Upland Boulevard. That was a larger house? Yes, it had four bedrooms and two baths, which was a very definite improvement. That was a big house for you, was it? Not really, ‘cause by then, there was a lot of houses going on. How many years was that, like, between Bonanza and Upland. It was about thirteen or fourteen years. And how long did you stay in Upland? We lived there nine years. And then they had built the two-story homes past west out on West Charleston, or off of West Charleston, and we found one up here on Biljac that we really liked, and so bought it and sold our other house. And then we also had a cabin at Mt. Charleston which we sold seven years ago. We moved up here nine years ago. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 5 What was Mt. Charleston’s cabins like back then? Was it a paved road out there? Not in front of the cabin. It’s paved road, at that time, when we had our cabin, it was paved. You mentioned that some of these earlier houses you lived on were dirt roads; how big was the town then? At which time? Oh, like, when you first moved here? Well, Fremont Street, I remember, was paved at least to Tenth Street. From where? From Main. And Main was paved all the way. But Stewart and Ogden and all of those streets were, most of them were just gravel streets, and where I lived at Twenty-first and Marlin was just a desert trail, what we always called two ruts to make a road, or two ruts in the desert. That’s how it was. Was there anything out where the Strip is now? Yes, the El Rancho had just been built. And was that the only hotel? Yes. How far was that away from, say, Downtown? It seemed like a long way. What was in between, nothing? Nothing, desert. What did the people think when they started to build out on where our Strip is? They thought they were crazy; they just didn’t think it would go at all. And it was too far removed from the center of town to draw tourists. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 6 Did it? Oh no, it was a big success. That’s good. When the town was small, how many people lived here, do you think? About 8,000 lived here. Do you remember anything in particular about how small the town was or how fast it grew? Well, of course it grew by leaps and bounds with the war, because now it bloomed—there was a lot of servicemen, and it offered a lot of employment for civilians, so they lived here in Las Vegas or the North Las Vegas area, and of course Henderson was booming out there with that building over that mining and the magnesium and the airplanes. So, the high school was having renovations all the time, it seems like, just to make room for more kids, and I’m sure the grade school—there was only one uptown on Fifth Street, and which is the old county courthouse. And where the new federal building is now, the old high school was, but that was before I came. When I came, we went to the school on Seventh Street. Do you remember the locals having any other old buildings? Yes, the library was in a quite small building where the Clark County Courthouse is now. You mentioned you got married, when and where? Well, we married April 5th, 1947 at the Little Church of the West, and at that time, it was on the ground of the Last Frontier Hotel. The Last Frontier? Uh-huh. Is that the current Frontier? Yes. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 7 Is or was church activity an important part of your life? Yes, very definitely. Which church did you attend? Well, when I lived off Harvard Street in North Las Vegas, I started attending Emmanuel Community Church, where Reverend and Mrs. Melton were the minister and his wife, and since then, they have moved and of course it’s now known as First Congregational, and it’s at the corner of Twenty-fifth and Demetrius in Las Vegas. Is that still in the First Congregational? Yes. Do you remember the visits of any of the presidents or other important people to the Las Vegas area, such, like, President Roosevelt? There were a lot of them that came and went here, naturally, same as happens now. But I’m afraid most of the people here are very blasé about dignitaries or well-known people of any kind, and I do remember when Eisenhower came through, and he was a general before he became president. And they had a parade, and there were a lotta jokes and comedy skits written about it because the people of Las Vegas just don’t turn out for dignitaries. They, as I said, are very blasé about it. But some of the entertainers turned out for the parade, and they said they were very self-conscious because they were the only ones standing, waving to him on the street, and he just kinda shrugged his shoulders and put his hands out to the sides like that, and went on. So the people weren’t really too enthusiastic in the big parades or anything like that? No. Do you remember any spectacular events, such as the crash of Carole Lombard’s plane? UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 8 I remember it, but I was quite young at the time, and I know that people were all aghast at it and shocked and horrified or whatever. But at that particular time, there were a lot of planes that couldn’t make it over those mountains, and quite a number of crashes occurred. And we had a particular friend that was in one of the crashes and was killed, and she was only about nineteen or twenty at the time. And so, of course, that affected us, but, like I said, at that time, planes had a hard time getting the elevation they needed over those mountains. At that time, what kind of airfields did they have? We have McCarran Field, which is not the Executive Air Terminal out on the old L.A. Highway. What kind of other transportation was available? Well, there were passenger trains, buses. When did they (unintelligible)? They’ve had a lot of controversy about it in the last few years, and it’s just been the last few years that they either terminated or put them on a special, sort of like a charter train that they had several from here to Los Angeles and Los Angeles back. But when you were younger, this was actually a going train depot— Oh, yes. —where the trains stopped? All the time. Where was the train depot and what was it like? Well, it’s where the Union Plaza is now, and there was a park in front of it, and it was a very small building, but it was used a great deal. There were many, many troop trains, of course, that came through during World War II, and— Were you involved at all in the war project? UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 9 Not in anything really striking, because I was too young, high school student, but they were always (unintelligible) around the girls when they held dances to ask us to be (unintelligible) to show up at the dances and dance with the servicemen, but just like a typical USO-type thing where you’re not allowed to leave with the servicemen or anything like that. It’s just, you strictly show up and dance with them while they’re there. So they can feel at home while they—? Right, and talk. How else did the war affect the economy here? We know that the town grew, and now it’s boomed and (unintelligible) but what else happened? Well, of course, we had stamps for food, cigarettes, tar, shoes, gasoline, all those things, just like all over the nation. And I remember the place that they used to take those stamps after they returned, being used up. And they would take them out in an area in east Las Vegas, and in and around a bunch of Mesquite trees and put ‘em in piles and burn them, and of course they had to make sure that they were completely burned. And we used to get a kick out of, as a youngster, watching them. And they tried to do it on the (unintelligible) when no one was around, but of course we were natural (unintelligible) teenagers, so we did sneak up on it and watch. But other than that, there were of course the war bonds; they had a lot of campaigns for them. And most of even the youngsters that worked always pledged money towards war bonds. Did you buy war bonds? Yes. Well, they had, I don’t know if they still have it or not, but they had, at that time, they had the stamp program where you could purchase stamps even at school in the high school, and then you had a little book and you purchased so many stamps and put them in the book, and when the book was full, you could trade it in for a war bond. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 10 That’s interesting. Other than the town growing and the few things that we have talked about, was there any other major changes that the war brought into Nevada? Well, the town was booming so much and building tremendously, and, like on Fremont Street—[phone rings, audio cuts out] When I first came here, from Main Street, looking east down Fremont, on the right hand corner was the Sal Sagev Hotel. Sal Sagev? Yes, it’s Las Vegas spelled backwards. Oh. And on the right hand side was the Overland Hotel, and these were two-story buildings. And down about a block, I believe it was First and Fremont was the Apache Hotel, and it was a very popular place, and the owner of it—I can’t remember his last name right now, but his first name was Bob—and he used to ride around town on a horse. He even rode the paved streets, and he was very friendly and very sweet, nice to everyone, and I remember my brother coming here at the servicemen on leave, and he invite him into the hotel and gave him a real big dinner, and they treated him royally, very nice. Everybody was very friendly and very nice. The El Cortez Hotel was there and wasn’t near as large, of course, as it is now. But— Downtown, as we know it today, didn’t exist. No. The (unintelligible) or the Fremont or any of those. What was in that area? In what area? In the area of Downtown, now: the Fremont, The Mint, that area there, what was there? Oh, the old Fremont Hotel and there were just other places, but they weren’t near as large, near as gaudy, and there were, like, it was only one or two blocks of Fremont that was mainly UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 11 gambling, and then there, like on Second and Fremont was the White Cross Drugstore, and across the street was the Bank of Nevada. Was that the only bank there? No, but that’s on Fremont Street, it was built (unintelligible). And it was just, the town dwindled after that. There were just, like, two streets: the Main, Fremont Street. Now there’s about five (unintelligible). The old Fifth Street, or Las Vegas Boulevard. You mentioned that people were friendly and there was more hospitality and friendliness; when did the attitude start changing? Now, Las Vegas is known as very commercial, and they’re having campaigns to have people be courteous, and you mentioned people were friendly back then—when did this start changing? When did it lose its small-town homey atmosphere? Well, of course that happens when your town is no longer small, and when it was small, whatever was going on, everyone was concerned with, you knew almost everyone, and the ones that did have money, they never felt they were superior and never acted superior. They were just one of the good ‘ol guys. And everybody like everybody else, it seemed. And it was happy. When we had things at the high school, plays and things like that, the hotels would buy lots of our tickets so that we could have the extra money knowing full well that they wouldn’t make you sell them. And when we had our homecoming game, we had a huge bonfire. We would have a snake, form a snake, you know, holding hands, the whole high school, and they would block of Fremont Street for us. And we’d go down Fremont Street and, starting at seven, and go in and out, weaving back and forth across Fremont Street, like go through the El Cortez Hotel in the lobby, holding these hands and running like crazy. And the whole town was just all for it and everybody would just stand around and laugh and cheer us on. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 12 At that time, were there laws about the age people in casinos? Oh, yes. But this was a special occasion. Well, yes, because we weren’t gambling, we’re not standing around watching the gambling—we were going through fast. (Laughs) You mentioned that the town had activities that everybody turned out for; what kind of activities did the town have? Well, of course, there was Helldorado and all the activities that went with Helldorado: the beard contest and the jail and the rodeo and the carnival and the parade, of course. And everyone just turned out for them because it was a small town. And we did have some celebrities that would come up and being marshals in the parade. But as the town grew, of course, ran into the problems of getting people that live in the town to turn out for the parade. Mainly the people that watch them now are tourists or newcomers to the city because the old timers don’t want to fight the crowd, and it’s not the same atmosphere as we had before. It’s more fun when you have a whole town party and you know a lot of people and you’re out on the street and hollering at ‘em and people that are in the parade that you all know and you’re hollering at ‘em and talking to ‘em, and my children were in the parade at different ages. What did they do in the parades? What kind of things went on in the parades? The same type of things that go on now, but now there’s just so many people, you could walk around town all day or maybe for a week or so and never meet anyone that you know. Well, not to change the subject or anything, but have you ever been involved with politics? Just remotely. What does remotely mean? UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 13 Well, just helping friends that are campaigning for different positions, getting in offices. Is this recently, or this in the past? All in the past. For the candidates, was campaigning in a small town different than campaigning in, like, a large metropolitan area like we are now? [Audio cuts out, second recording begins midsentence] Metropolitan area like it is today? Yes, very definitely, because most of the people that were trying to run for any office were pretty well-known, and so you base your opinion on the facts that you did know. And in a metropolitan area like we are now, there’s so many people that run for office that you never even heard of. And it’s very difficult for you to just go on their promises or what they say they will do or how they say they will be, because you don’t know whether they really are that type of person or now. And you just have to take their word for it. Do you think that this change in the people knowing each other has affected the percentage of turnout, like the voting at the polls? Well, I don’t know that it’s affected the percentage or not. A lot of people I know don’t like to go to vote because they feel that if they vote, they’ll be voting for the wrong person. Of course, I think that’s wrong. I think they are in the wrong, because if they don’t know the person, they should make it their business to know them. Have you ever been a member of a social club or any other kind of special interest group or activity group? Well, the usual that a mother does, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Eagles Auxiliary, and of course, PTA all the time with my children. And I’m joining (unintelligible) shortly. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 14 Have these organizations changed within the town that you’ve noticed? Like (unintelligible), what was (unintelligible) like twenty years ago? Oh, it’s changed tremendously, but of course everything has with the women revolution and all different things that have come about, has changed people’s view on women being in Boy Scouting, their work in it, and makes it much easier, much more pleasant for the women. I know your son has been in twenty years now. Mm-hmm. And you’ve been in twenty-one in Boy Scouting. Twenty years ago, what was the organization like? Was it smaller, were the troops closer? And now there’s 200-and-some troops in Las Vegas, and there’s thousands of boys involved. What is it like then? Well, of course there weren’t near as many, and as far as the key people, we didn’t necessarily know everyone involved in Scouting on the adult level, but we knew all our executives, and they were here for longer periods of time, and we knew all the key Boy Scouts leaders. And now, the way it is, you don’t know probably maybe a fourth of them, and the Boy Scouts executives are here today and gone tomorrow, and you never get a chance for a close rapport with them, or once when you start having a close rapport with them, the next thing you know, they’re gone, they’re transferred elsewhere. Did the community feel different towards organizations like Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts? Was there more support in the smaller cities than there is now? Well, they support in a different way. When you have a small community, if you want to have an outing with your boys and you want ice cream or hot dogs or milk or what have you, all we had to do was go to, like, Anderson’s Dairy or something like that, and they would donate—they’d say, “Sure, how much do you need?” And they give it to us. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 15 Different companies donated whatever they had? Yeah, and it never had to be declared or worried about. And now, the Boy Scouts are asked not to do that because these companies donate a large sum of money each year as the standing members, and they feel that they don’t want to be bothered; and they’re big concerns, as the hotels are. They donate monetarily and they don’t want to be bothered with other things. But before, people felt closer, and so they donate more, not monetarily, other things, because people felt close to them. Yes, well there was more personal contact then, too. Is or was gambling ever an important recreational activity for your family? No. You don’t gamble? No. Have you ever worked in the casinos or been in contact with it? No. My husband worked at the hotel El Rancho Vegas for five years; from January, 1947, he went to work there and worked there five years. But he was a maintenance engineer, and he didn’t have anything at all to do with the gaming. What kind of recreation do you seek with your family and by yourself? Well, we mainly go camping, we play a lotta cards here at home. We like crazy, wild things, like recently we went out to Boulder City to watch the filming of the show Almost Anything Goes. And we just enjoy each other, family activities. Do you think that the general population of Las Vegas is geared towards family activities more than gambling? The population of Las Vegas, yes; not the tourists. UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 16 Is there a difference between the population of Las Vegas, is it raised here and goes to school here, and the people that—transient, as they’re called, just come and go? Oh, yes, definitely. People here are very conscious of their homes and their churches, and their values are very high. And it’s considered by most people that have lived here for any length of time to be a great place to raise children. They have more advantages here than anyplace else in the world. Why? Well, because where else could you live where entertainers would come to your school and entertain your children, and talk to them? We have the Sun—the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, has that big debate every year whether children can participate in it. Our children have had the opportunity to know senators, governors, representatives, all types of people in politics, church, probably every being of life that there is, because this was just a mishmash of people—variety. And you have very, extremely wealthy people here mixing with people that are with modest incomes. And they’re—all belong to the same organizations and get along well, and nobody feels that someone has so much more than them, and everybody’s children are equal. In this way, do you think that the small town feeling is still here, that people aren’t so money-conscious as far as, like, jealousy of the other person? Yes, I (unintelligible). That’s good. Do you think that the fact that there are vices here, and they are out in the open, has caused parents to try to raise their children closer in the family unit or raise them better? Probably it has somewhat of an influence on it. But I think lots of times, when things are out in the open, children who grow up with it, they don’t think anything about it. The people ask me UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 17 about the drinking and the gambling, if this affected my children, and I had to honestly say, “No, it didn’t,” because they saw people that drank too much and saw it wasn’t too great. And their parents didn’t drink, and so they didn’t. They still don’t. And the same with the gambling. They saw people and they heard of people that worked for us that they knew had had a compulsion for gambling, and they would lose, like, all their paycheck or something, and they saw how the families went without, and they realized that that was not a good thing. And their parents did not gamble, so they realized the difference between what their parents had and what the people had that did gamble. Do you think that there’s really a division between the actual population that lives here and the people that work and play out on the gambling, on the Strip? Oh, very definitely. Do you remember anything about the early aboveground atomic tests? Not too much. My husband worked out there for a while, and they were building, at that time, a 500-foot tower, and he, as an electrician, had to get up on top and weld lights to the top of the towers. What were the towers used for? I don’t know exactly because they were technical things, but I believe it’s when they were dropping bombs from the airplanes and the effects that they had on the towers. What else did they do out there in the aboveground testing that they don’t do now? Well, I don’t know that they don’t do it now because I’m not really up what they are doing, but I remember back when the first time, when they built a small town out there. It had everything complete: the streets and the lighting, the houses were complete, all different type of housing and UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 18 construction—I mean, they, either wood or block, just different kinds like that. And they had them completely furnished, and they had food out, and everything just like somebody lived there, only they would have dummies sitting around. And when they set the blast off, then they could tell the effects that it would have on all the things in the house and surrounding area in that little town—the cars, the trucks, everything. They had actual cars and trucks that they blew up? Oh, yes. Yes. What major changes have you noticed in Southern Nevada since you first got here—economic changes? Well, of course gambling has increased with the large hotels and the large gambling casinos Downtown. And I think we’re more dependent on the gambling than we were then because, at that time, we had no (unintelligible) it is not at the same strength that it was during the war years, World War II, nor (unintelligible) BMI or any of that, which really brought the people here and populated this town, started (unintelligible) it was not the gaming. But now, taxes and revenues determine (unintelligible). Right, we don’t have a huge manufacturing-type thing, or anything that’s huge outside of the gaming industry. What kind of environmental changes have there been? Well, of course we didn’t have any smog at all—and water, of course. We’ve had to take water from Lake Mead now in order to have water to furnish for the people of the town. But at that time, we had springs all over that flowed—one that flowed on Main Street, or across Main Street I should say, from west to east. And walking down on Main Street, we always, especially during the summer, we would take our shoes and socks off and wade around in it—that was quite refreshing—and I think that (unintelligible). It’s too bad that it happens in all metropolitan cities, UNLV University Libraries Phyllis Webb Clark 19 but it is a shame about our water situation, and that we had all well water, and it was so good, everybody used to rave about how great the water was. Now, we have this polluted water from Lake Mead, and it tastes terrible, so we have to drink bottled water. Do you remember anything about the Old Ranch, formerly the Stewart Ranch, and now known as the Mormon Fort? Well, when I was in high school, a friend of mine by the name of Patty Bunker lived in the house that they used for a little museum now. And it was the same then as it is now. But people actually lived there then? Yes. She was a relative of the Stewarts; I don’t know exactly what the relationships was, but Mormon, definitely, LDS. Do you remember it as the Mormon Fort or the Stewart Ranch or the Old Ranch—what is the name that you knew it best by? The Old Ranch, or Stewart’s Ranch, either one. They had cows out there (unintelligible) and there was farming on it, and we had an outing at school, and they took us down there and we watched how they cut the hay and what they did with it, and they showed it all to us. That was one of our outings at high school. Do you remember anything else about the Old Ranch? No. Have there been any serious floods or earthquakes or natural disasters since you’ve been here? Oh, yes. We have floods every summer. The first year we were here in July, 1942, we were flooded out; our home was a