Transcript of interview with Louis Evans by Jeannettte Lonpergan, February 17, 1976

UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans i An Interview with Louis F. Evans An Oral History Conducted by Jeannette Lonpergan 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 Louis F. Evans ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 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 Louis F. Evans iv Abstract On February 17, 1976, Jeannette Lonpergan interviewed well driller and dairy worker, Mr. Louis Evans (born on August 8th, 1914 in Jones County, Iowa) in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mrs. Lonpergan’s husband, Mr. Dennis Lonpergan, was present during the interview and joined in on the discussion. Mr. Louis Evans’ wife, Mrs. Evans, was also present during the interview. Mr. Evans relocated to Nevada from Iowa in search of employment. Construction on the Hoover Dam had begun at this point; Mr. and Mrs. Evans recall their earliest recollections of Nellis Air Force Base and McCarran Airport. The interview covers the history of Nevada from Mr. Evans’ perspective. Mr. Evans discusses the paving of roads, employment, religious activities, housing developments, early above ground atomic tests, social and environmental changes and mining in Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 1 Nevada History, Oral Interview Project, Dr. Ralph Roske, teacher. My name is Jeannette Lonpergan, and the date of this interview is the Seventeenth of February, 1976, and I’m interviewing, Mr. Louis Evans and his wife Louise. Mr. Evans age is sixty-one and his address is 2020 Carroll Street, North Las Vegas. Okay, you ready? Yes. Okay. Were you born in Southern Nevada? No? Where were you born? In Jones County, Iowa. Jones County, Iowa? And when did you come to Southern Nevada? Well, you wanna know the first time? Yes. Thirty-one. 1931? August 4th, 1931. And how come? What brought you to Nevada? Just running around the country, out of work. (Laughs) Mm. Searching for work. Looking for work? Yes. Was it easy to find work here, then? Or? Well, it was hard to get in here. ‘Cause this is the only job in the whole country. I mean Hoover Dam was being built. I see. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 2 At that time. So, you came to work on the Dam? No. I didn’t work on the dam. I didn’t really want to, after I seen it. Oh. (Laughs) (Laughs) Were you—did you go to school here at all? No. No? No. And when you did get work here, what was your job? I was (Laughs) well, I worked in a dairy. Which dairy? Do you remember? Was a Gwen Dairy at that time, I don’t know if it’s still here—I don’t know. Gwen? Gwen. Gwen? Gwen, yes. Mm-hmm. Was a dairy. They had about sixteen. They had cows. And they’d deliver milk twice a day. [Mrs. Evans joins the discussion]: How hot it was. And we never cooled the milk. We—I’d run all over town in thirty minutes, every morning and night. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 3 (Laughs) (Unintelligible) Ah, hard work for him. Huh? Where was the dairy? It was right where the Bonanza Village is right now. Okay. On the west side, up in there. Mm-hmm. Was there—was there a lot of people here then? Do you remember? Well, the town wasn’t very big, when I mean, you could run, cover the whole town in thirty minutes with a Model T Ford. (Laughs) (Laughs) Yes. Right. And where were you living then? On this dairy. Oh you lived on the dairy? Yes. They provided housing for the people who worked there? Yes, well, actually, I didn’t hardly get no wages. I worked mostly for my room and board and clothes, at that time. I see. You weren’t married then, were you? No. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 4 Mm-hmm. Did you meet Louise here? No. Back in Iowa. You went back? You left Nevada. Mm-hmm. In ’34. Okay. In the fall and then came back in ’45. With Louise your bride, huh? Uh-huh. (Laughs) Oh. (Laughs) a Bride. (Laughs) Where did you live when you first came here? When you came back the second time, rather? Well, we lived up on, up here in— Vegas Heights at that time. Vegas Height, yes. Vegas Heights? And how long did you live there? Oh. About a month. Mm-hmm. And then we moved down here on Hoover Street, North Las Vegas. What is that now? What’s Hoover Street now? Do you know? (Unintelligible) It’s still Hoover. It’s still Hoover? It’s still Hoover and I don’t know what the number is. The house was torn down. I got pictures, you know. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 5 That’s a bare land out there now. And then we moved from there out here. I see. See. Uh-huh. And you’ve been living here? Ever since. Ever since? From ’47. [Mr. Lonpergan joins the discussion]: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. This is Bonanza Village. (Unintelligible) What—your address here is 2020 Carroll Street and you’ve been here since 1945? Seven. Well, we move right out here in ’47. In ’47. Yes. See, we lived on Hoover Street from ’45 to ’47, I think it was. Uh-huh. Well, really one month after Vegas Heights. I don’t like that house. And so. Louise what did you call this neighborhood when you first moved in here? Arrow Acres—Arrowhead Acres. Arrowhead Acres? Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 6 And Lake Mead was at that time, called what? College. College? Avenue. College Avenue. You want coffee or a beer, would you like something? Coffee’s fine. Coffee. Mr. Evans, when you first moved out here what kind of neighbors did you have, or did you have any or—or what? When you first moved into this house here. Yes. We had the welder right over, he built that house over there, about the same time we was building here. Mm-hmm. And right next door. And (Unintelligible) they were just across the next street from us. Mm-hmm. So you had—? And then there was some (unintelligible) His name was Alehegro. Alehegro, yes. Mm. And then, well, Bucks lived over there, too, for a while. Not (unintelligible) No. Not right away. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 7 And then. Thank you. What do you want in it? Oh. Bob Sellers lived down the street away. There was quite a few people, just scattered out there. So it wasn’t very heavily populated? Oh no, you could see your next door neighbor a mile away. Yes. (Laughs) But you see, when we moved out here—this street wasn’t even cut anyway. Mm-hmm. Barely, the sticks was there. There was a big ditch through here where my shop is. I might’ve filled that all up. We couldn’t get across here. We had to go all the way around. And then they cut the street and this way we could get in. I see. Louise was—mentioned earlier that the reason you moved out this far is so you could be kinda by yourself and see the mountains and everything. (Laughs) And then before you knew it— And the property was cheaper. Oh. We bought— (Laughs) We bought this lot here for two hundred dollars. Wow. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 8 (Laughs) No, kidding. (Unintelligible) paid too much for it. Good. You’re alright. Uh-huh. (Laughs) So. I don’t know. I’m surprised (unintelligible) Your children all went to school here though, I’m sure? Yes. Yes. Yes. Which schools did they go to? I don’t even remember anymore. Jefferson. I took all the girls over there. (Unintelligible) And registered them. They started right down here. Yes. What was this one? What’s the name of that street there? Right across the street from the Motor Mission now. Oh, What was the name of the school? Oh, West College then. Ain’t nothing there now, I mean— Did I say Jefferson? The buildings are still there but they don’t use it. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 9 Was that Jefferson School? Jefferson was on the other side, wasn’t it? Jefferson was on this side of town. Yes. I don’t know what the name of this school. What’s this—I don’t remember that. (Unintelligible) (Laughs) Did they go on to the university or did they—? No. They didn’t. No? They just went through high school. Just went through high school and then they all came here. The oldest one, she went to high school up town on Fifth Street. Elaine went to that university right out here. To UNLV or to Northern Reno? No. Up here. UNLV? Yes. Uh-huh. I have to add that Mr. and Mrs. Evans have five girls, no boys. (Laughs) Well, we got a daughter going out there now. You do? You have a daughter there now? Yes. Joyce is going to school out there now. (Laughs) (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 10 Yes. One of them is going there now. Yes. Yes. And her daughter, too. (Laughs) They both go out there. (Laughs) Cool. Good. Is or was church activity an important part in your life or is it still, church groups and things like that? It was. It was? See. Mm-hmm. Well, I mean we still go to church but we don’t— Yes. Active, too active, with the church or anything. We was in the one down here though when it was first. Oh, which one’s that? Well— Christopher’s. No. No, Christopher’s wasn’t there. Don’t get ahead of yourself. (Laughs) (Laughs) Well, it was. Where did we go to church first? Huh? Where did we go to church first? UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 11 We went to church in a boxcar, and it was— Oh, we went to Joan of Arc uptown first because that was the only church here at that time. Saint Joan of Arc. When they started church down here, first we had, actually— Was it the boxcar? In William’s house. That’s right. Yes. William’s house. Tom—Tom William’s house. Yes. Mm-hmm. I remember. That’s—that’s it, no? What is this church you’re talking about that was in a boxcar? Was a Catholic Church. Saint Christopher’s. It would have been Saint Christopher’s. It’s the same parish that’s down here now but that’s when they started. Yes. But that’s how they started down here. It was in a boxcar? Yes. For a while. Yes. See we went to Joan of Arc when we first come here but that was the only one here. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 12 Somebody gave, donated a lot over on the other side of the highway. I don’t know exactly the address, anymore. And they moved the boxcar there and they had a church in there for a while. Father Vanski was the pastor at that time. And then, the next church we had down here was the old Saint Joan of Arc Church. And they built that, they moved it down here, and we had it. In North Vegas? Yes. Right on— They took it out there, not too long ago. (Unintelligible) It was out—right on the Boulevard where Owens, right close to Owens and the Boulevard. I see. And that’s not there now? No. No. They tore it down and put something else there a couple years ago, maybe longer than that. It was a cleaner’s at one time, after the church. Yes. Then it was. Mm-hmm. And from there it’s where it is now. Yes. When you—do you remember the visits of any presidents or any other important people to the Las Vegas area? Such as President Roosevelt or Hoover or special events such as the—? UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 13 No, nothing very important. You don’t remember any of them coming to town? Uh-uh. No. No? I was a kid then. I didn’t pay much attention. (Laughs) (Laughs) (Laughs) You remember the 1942 crash of Carole Lombard’s plane? (Unintelligible) We wasn’t here. No, we weren’t here yet, see. 1942. Oh, you came in 1945. ’45. Right Right, yes. Uh-huh. I remember the crash, though. (Unintelligible) I remember reading about it. Yes. Mm-hmm. Let’s see. Were you or are you active in politics? No, actually, no, but I gripe about it. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 14 You gripe a lot, huh? (Laughs) And I vote, but I don’t—(Laughs) You vote? Mm. May I ask you, which party? Democrat. Democrat? Yes. Mm-hmm. Alright. I worked elections a lot. He hasn’t but I have. Who did you work for? Do you remember? Oh—what do you mean before? Well, you said you worked the elections, a lot. You mean like through the polling booths or—? Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. Election worker. Oh. Did—election worker? Yes. On the voting days only. Yes. Voting. Oh, voting only. Oh, but you never campaigned for anybody or—? No, no, no. Went door knocking? I just worked for, usually with elections down in North Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 15 I see. Were you or are you a member of any social club or other interest group? No. No? Is there a drillers association? (Laughs) Mm-hmm. Yes. I belong to that. (Laughs) You do, huh? Yes. (Laughs) Have you been in that for a long time? Or? Well, yes, I‘ve been—well, we started—I don’t know when the first one was started. But I was—I’ve been in there as long as it’s been. And it’s just getting active now again, last year, they acted off new officers in there trying to get it going later on again. I see. Is or was gambling an important recreational activity for you and your family? Mm. Not really. You don’t go to the tables, huh? Uh-uh. Well, we have, oh yes, we do. But I mean we don’t (unintelligible) It’s not important. No. No, we could have gotten a divorce the first time I pulled the slot machine handle. (Laughs) Really? No kidding. (Laughs) (Laughs) ‘Said, “Leave them alone, don’t you play them.” (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 16 (Laughs) And there was nickel in one, see. Uh-huh. I was at the store. Uh-huh. And I put that nickel in (Laughs) and I got, might’ve got ten or eighteen—I don’t even know what I got. You see when I got home, (unintelligible) and he thought I’d done something, we could have had a divorce that night. (Laughs) I’m not kidding ya. (Laughs) We couldn’t get it that quick. (Laughs) (Laughs) Well, yes, we could have. (Laughs) He didn’t want me to play ‘em, no way. He always called ‘em, one arm bandits. Yes. But we—you know we— I used to play ‘em more than I do now. Yes. We don’t—also we’ve gotten comfortable, we don’t. I just hate to lose so bad it makes me mad. (Laughs) So I don’t play. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 17 Right. He never has a whole lot, anyway. (Laughs) (Laughs) What other kind of recreations do you like? We (unintelligible) Either alone or with your family, or? Fishing. Fishing? You like to go fishing? And we always run around, a lot around, you know. We like to get out and look around. When the kids were growing, we got out and run around all over here. We’ve been all over. Old ghost town, stuff like that, get out and do whatever. Yes. Uh-huh. Prospecting? You ever prospect? No. We didn’t prospect. No. We just—just like going. I drilled a well for an old mining engineer one time and he’s—I was asking him a lot of questions, you know, he used to give me four, holidays, give me some big timbers. In his old mining town you know. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 18 They got timbers, like that, you know. For the mine? Forty feet long for the mines. In them days they had nothing but mules and horses, to get ‘em out there. Well, how did they get ‘em up there? With mules and horses. Oh I see. (Laughs) From where? Well, they had a long ways to go depending on what it was, you know. They had them wheeled back to an old saw mill, or what’s left of it, (unintelligible) Sheep Mountain here. Sheep Mountain? Mm-hmm. Well, it’s Gass Mountain, really. Okay. This one over here. Went back there one time—and that’s pretty, they used to get a lot of their mining timbers, they got ‘em there for—they hauled them out of there for Pioche and (unintelligible) Tonopah was the worst. ‘Cause Tonopah is no wood and no water. Yes. See, they had a long ways to get water and a long ways for timber. But we liked to get out and you know, that stuff interests me and I like to (unintelligible) (Laughs) Go to the old ghost towns? (Unintelligible) Yes. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 19 Peggy told me that you built the boat. Two of ‘em. Yes, two of ‘em, yes. That’s quite something. Yes, we fish here. You built your own boat? Yes. He built two. Pontoon boats. Pontoons? Yes. It’s the fastest pontoon boat on the lake, too. Yes. You race it? (Laughs) No. We fish. Race any other pontoon. (Laughs) (Laughs) (Laughs) We fish. You’re cheeky. I got a three fifty-one Ford marine motor in it with jet. You’re getting ahead of yourself there. Yes. That’s what I got in it. But it can move. Oh yes. You go out, you take it out to Lake Mead, huh? It’s out there now. That’s where it is. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 20 Mm. We got a cabin at Stewart’s (unintelligible). A cabin? Mm-hmm. So you like to kinda go camping and fishing and that kind of thing? And get away from all this noise once in a while when we can. (Laughs) Mm. No, we’ve always run around. All the time, when we first come here, we—you know, with the kids we did. What was the most interesting thing that you’ve ever kind of discovered here before or found in your explorations? Oh, everything. (Laughs) Yes. I know. (Laughs) Yes. Did you ever go out to Tule Springs, when they were doing the—? Excavations out there? The find, excavations, yes. Yes. We were—had we driven out there at that time? I was drilling there then. You were drilling out there, weren’t you? Yes. Right there. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 21 I didn’t know anyone over there, though. Close, close out there, when you—when they were doing that. Did you ever find any artifacts or any? No. He didn’t have sense enough to look for anything like that or pick up anything worth meaning at that time. (Laughs) Mm-hmm. Well, we found a couple of diamonds. Couple of diamonds!? Yes. Commercial diamonds. Oh. That somebody must a lost you mean? Mm. I dug ‘em. You dug ‘em? He dug ‘em, when he was drilling. Take ‘em out of the hole when I was drilling. Well, what’s that from? Huh? Is that from the—is that? Commercial diamonds. They’re not—they have a lot of carbon in ‘em, they have a lot flaws. We usually cut ‘em. Oh. (Unintelligible) Yes. I thought ‘cause a friend of ours lived in Henderson and he was interested in ‘em. He’d always tell me I was crazy ‘cause I had the best chance of seeing what, you know, how to pan your money, when you’re drilling a hole you can counterfeit any gold or anything UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 22 and diamonds come in blue mud and there’s blue mud in areas down here. And I found some one day in that blue mud, I could see them from a mile away. They weren’t expensive. I gave them to him. I see. (Unintelligible) Oh. But there is quite a bit of blue mud in this area and places. I dug quite a few wells around here in the last twenty-five years, that’s all I’ve been doing. But I ain’t gonna dig very many more. (Laughs) (Laughs) You look like you’re, you work outdoors. Nice and tanned. Do you like to watch TV and listen to the radio or? Certain programs and such. Uh-huh. Maybe one or two a day. (Laughs) One or two a day, and that’s it. Yes. Well, I watch the news, all the time. You watch the news. Do you remember anything about the early aboveground atomic tests? You know the ones where they made those— Yes. I remember it shook this place. It did, huh? Yes. It did. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 23 Yes. We had—you know, like I told you, had all the windows open and— Yes. Did they tell you about it? Oh yes. Oh yes. They did. The first big one, that first time, you’re supposed to open all your windows. Yes. Seen the cloud, too. You did see the cloud? Oh yes. In here, yes. Huh. That first viewing, you know. (Unintelligible) We didn’t see it all, no, but you could see it way up and you could watch it throughout the day. What changes have you noticed in Southern Nevada since you first arrived? You know, like economic or you know? Oh. Has anything stood out in your mind—other than the population growth? That’s about it. (Laughs) That’s about it? (Laughs) (Laughs) Population growth. (Laughs) And we’ve sit right here and watched all this. (Unintelligible) you know, went on around here. (Unintelligible) Not that I know of. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 24 When did this area start developing? Well, it started shortly after we moved out here. I mean slowly and then as the years went by it’s been more. Mm-hmm. When was the big first invasion? Was it when gambling came in? Or when the dam was being built? Or? The first hotel was—I wasn’t here. That was while I was gone. But my brother was here and he build a well for it and that was the El Rancho. It burned, you know, a few years ago. Uh-huh. That was the first one. That was the first one? Yes. And then what—the Flamingo? Bugsy Siegel’s place? No. The Last Frontier was here before that. Now I worked on that when we come in ’45 I worked on the Last Frontier. And then the Thunderbird was going up and (unintelligible) and all before the Flamingo. All pretty close together. Mm-hmm. And I used to wonder, what they gonna do with all them hotels? Oh yes? (Laughs) (Laughs) (Laughs) They kinda set ‘em up, you know. (Laughs) Yes, look at ‘em now. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 25 There was no, nothing over two stories years ago. Yes. The El Rancho was just a bunch of cottages all around. Well, the war stopped that, I guess. I wasn’t here, during the war, I was in the (unintelligible) During the war? Yes. Mm-hmm. Were you here during the De—no. No you weren’t. And after the war was over I got out of there. (Unintelligible) (Laughs) Being back there? Yes. The welding shop, the gas field (unintelligible) well, I dig wells for years, it’s nothing to do it every day. Mm-hmm. So you came to Nevada? Of course. Fresh from the mine. Yep. When I got here I had a wife and five kids and sixty dollars in my pocket. (Laughs) And an old car. Wow. (Laughs) That’s all I had. (Laughs) That’s pretty scary. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 26 (Laughs) No it wasn’t. No, it wasn’t. No? No. Uh-uh. Mm. Did you find a place right away, then? Yes. My brother said he’d have his house empty. Oh, your brother was here first? Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. Uh-uh. And— That’s how come we come out here. His brother got out of the service came back to Iowa. We came to town we got looking for him and he wasn’t over there. He talked us into coming out here. So I got dressed and drove up here on Main Street and he was in there, eating. And he says, “Hey.” He says, “Those people didn’t get out of that house so there’s no place to stay.” (Laughs) Was it hard to find houses, then? Yes. It was, yes. It was, you see, like I told you, that woman came up to me in the car and wanted to know if we wanted a place to rent, see. And I said, “Oh no, we have one.” Then when he heard this they UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 27 come out and he said, “Well, you try to find her.” He said, “Because (unintelligible) hard to find places here.” (Laughs) It only took me thirty dollars. That was half of my— (Laughs) Half of your— (Laughs) Of my pay, you see. Yes. But it wasn’t hard to find work, then, in those years. There was work here, huh? Yes. Yes. And that’s when you went to work— Well, I worked that winter—I worked with the house movers. We moved houses that winter and the next summer I got a job at a brick plant. And I stacked brick for a while, then I finally got into mixing. And I mixed mud for the concrete blocks for about a year. And then after that I got out of there, went to one of these hot plants, where the mixed asphalt. And then I worked with this (unintelligible) I used to work with this welder over here. See, then I finally got in working with him, started then he offered to sell me the rig, so— No. So, I bought a rig. Ali didn’t sell it himself. No. Ali sold our (unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 28 But I worked for Bert. Mm-hmm. And he sold me a rig and so I went and worked on my own, then. Was the population at that point, it was picking up and you had a lot of work? Or was it slow or what? It was always pretty much (unintelligible) around here. Mm. But that time the water was close to the (unintelligible) and a hundred foot well, you could say it was enough. Mm-hmm. So, you see, it wasn’t too expensive. So the only thing to do (unintelligible) sometimes two. In 19—I think it was ’53 or ’54, Bert and I drilled fifty-three wells. You helped, Louise? Oh yes. Sure that I did. She did, too. (Laughs) Yes? And the girls. And the girls, I had—all got out there and drilled wells. Johnny Craig. Johnny Craig. Now Johnny Craig was the only one going around here but he’s dead now. He said, “You got the best looking bunch of roughnecks I ever seen.” UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 29 (Laughs) (Laughs) (Laughs) (Unintelligible) Huh. Well, we all helped him. That’s the way the kids learned to drive, we put ‘em in between us, in the vehicle. (Laughs) That’s the way we taught ‘em to drive. I’d drive with them tucked in between and she’d bring up the (unintelligible) How they got their license, be able to move. We put them in between us. I see. (Laughs) You know, there was nothing out here then. Yes. What do you have to—if you drill a well now—how far down do you have to drill? Two, two fifty feet, sometimes four hundred. Mm-hmm. You know, depends on where you’re at. Well, you don’t hardly go less than two hundred feet anymore. No. Not anymore. At least you can get there is about a hundred and fifty. Well, I’ve re-drilled a lot of those I drilled in the early fifties. I’ve re-drilled them in the last ten years that I’ve re-drilled, a lot of them deeper. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 30 So they can, you run out of water when going down a hundred feet, a hundred and fifty, a lot of them that we’ve drilled, in this area out here. (Unintelligible) all over, as far as that goes. (Unintelligible) Have you noticed any other environmental changes? Like do you think the air is as clean now as when you first came? No. No No? No. (Laughs) The sun don’t shine as brighter. (Laughs) No! (Laughs) She thinks the atomic energy appeared— That’s right. And ruined our weather. (Laughs) She thinks so but I— I do. I don’t believe it. Setting them bombs off. (Laughs) Well, when you first come here— Mm-mm. Out of a state like Iowa. The first winter you run around in short sleeves all winter. ‘Cause it’s not cold to you. Yes. After back there. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 31 And then, then you get to take—then later on when the weather stays miserable, you think, well, it never was like this, you know. (Laughs) Mm-hmm. Wasn’t. But really it was. Mm-mm! I say it was. There never used to be a cloud in the sky. Look out there now, there ain’t no cloud in the sky. The sun was up there shining every day. It’s a big moon up there. (Laughs) What about social changes? Do you—are you aware of any social changes, like the way things are run now, compared to as they used to be, are things tightened up? As far as your government and things? Oh yes. Yes. As far as that goes, yes. I was gonna tell you when the town first mayor, first mayor that run for mayor, C.C. McDaniel, wasn’t it? No. Old Tucker, probably. First one? Yes. He was the first mayor. Wow. Well, wait a minute. ‘Cause I can remember McDaniel’s riding horseback here. Well, yes, she was about the second one. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 32 Getting the people, you know, campaigning out on horseback. He come out doing the same thing, riding horseback. Yes. Right, (unintelligible) Huh. Did you have horses? Or did you—? We had one at one time. Yes. We had one for a while. Yes. Till we got to fussing about him here. Oh. (Laughs) Yes. Then we got too many neighbors. (Laughs) You did? Had to get rid of him. Some were horseflies, huh? (Laughs) Yes. You know I wouldn’t tell you this, you know, some people didn’t like horses, that was all. (Laughs) You lived by one of them, well, you had trouble, which we did. Oh. Do most of the people around here, are they working in the hotel? Do you—are you familiar with your neighbors? No. I don’t know. But there’s a lot of Air Force personnel right in this part of the town. But you know, I wouldn’t even say, back then we knew our neighbors, too many of our neighbors were working in the hotels, wouldn’t you say so? Around here. (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 33 I don’t think so. (Unintelligible) Well, we knew about the mine here, I don’t remember. Well, (unintelligible) other people do. They didn’t work (unintelligible) He was just a (unintelligible) Winford was a bricklayer. Well, I want to say all of them. Were they—? See, I made these blocks. I don’t think that— This house here. You made the bricks for this house? I made the bricks too. Mm. I did. Wow. We got some pictures of them here some place. Yes. I showed her them. Yes. Getting back to—I wanted to ask you—like you were saying that the mayor used to come back by—? That was mainly when they were, you know, campaigning or whatever you want to call it. (Laughs) They used to come by on horseback? UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 34 On horseback. Uh-huh. They rode in. Did you get to meet a lot of the politicians at that time? We knew ‘em all, locally. Yes. Right here in Las Vegas. Yes. Yes. Yes, we knew ‘em all. And do you know ‘em now? No. Well, I know the mayor, but, the police force, I don’t know very many of them guys. I used to know all the police force. Really? Well, years ago, we knew everybody. Yes. ‘Cause there wasn’t very many on the police force. Mm-hm. Do you remember the Old Mormon Fort? There was a— Or the Old Ranch that was known? I don’t remember much about it. I know where it was. Some people call it the Stewart Ranch. Yes, yes. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 35 Yes. I know but I don’t remember much about it. I never was around it much. What name do you remember it best by? The Old Ranch. The Old Ranch? Mm-hmm. Yes. Can you relate a specific incident that happened out there? No. Can you describe an individual who worked at or was associated with the Old Ranch? No. I don’t know. No? No. Can you describe any of the buildings or the property? I really never noticed any when I drove by there. (Unintelligible) used to be Cashman Field, you know, that’s what they called that out there. Uh-huh. There ain’t much else about there anymore. Helldorado Village. Helldorado. Where they had the Helldorado, you know, for quite a few years. Mm-hmm. Good. That was a big thing here then, Helldorado. Yes? Mm-hmm. Oh yes. Jeannette that’s—that ain’t what it used to be either, you know. UNLV University Libraries Louis F. Evans 36 No. Everybody was western and you went all out for that. It was really something, then. But not anymore. Fact I drove that oxen in it (unintelligible) couple years. You drove oxen? Yes. I got a picture of it. Yes. (Laughs) Was that for a contest? Or? It was for the Pioneer Club. That was in the Helldorado Parade for the Pioneer Club that was here. On Fremont Street. Oh yes. That’s cool. You (unintelligible) to take this home, you know. They only got drove about twice a year. (Laughs) (Laughs) You know, and hitch ‘em up about twice before they get in the parade, you k