Transcript of interview with Fred B. Houghton by Philip Partridge, February 9, 1975

UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton i An Interview with Fred B. Houghton An Oral History Conducted by Philip Partridge 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 Fred B. Houghton ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019 UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 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 Fred B. Houghton iv Abstract On February 9, 1975, Philip Partridge interviewed former attorney, Fred B. Houghton (born August 27th, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois) in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two discuss how Houghton first moved to Las Vegas and how he came to practice law. The interview concludes with Houghton’s thoughts of Southern Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 1 My name is Philip Partridge. This interview is taking place on Sunday, February 9th, 1975. The informant’s name is Mr. Fred B. Houghton. His address is 5446 Smoke Ranch Road in Las Vegas, Nevada. His telephone numbers are 648-2641, 648-5391. This is an oral interview project for Nevada History under Doctor Roske. Okay. And whereabouts were you born Mr. Houghton? I was born in Chicago, Illinois. Is this about the right voice? Yes sir. I was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 27, 1894. Whereabouts were you educated? I began school in kindergarten in El Paso, Texas. I had four years of grammar school in Oakland, California. And eight more in Chicago, Illinois. And your occupation was what? After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, I took the Illinois State Bar examination and became admitted to the Bar in May of 1920. I practiced law there for twenty-three years before moving to California, in the Los Angeles area in 1943. And I served in various public door offices over there from 1943-1951. And I moved to Las Vegas and moved under the Blue Chip Branch, where I now reside, on April 17th, 1951. And were you married here in Southern Nevada? I have never been married. Has church activity been an important part of your life here? No. UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 2 Do you remember the visits of any of the presidents or other VIPs to the Las Vegas area such as Roosevelt or Hoover? Or maybe Carole Lombarde’s plane crash or important people’s divorces or marriages—anything like that? No, I have no particular recollection of a celebrity visiting here. What about politics? Have you ever gotten into politics? If you could call it that, I once ran for Water District director of the (unintelligible). When was that? It’s been about 1960. Were you a member of any social clubs? I belonged to the Elk’s. I’m actually there and I’ve also gone to the Masonic (Unintelligible) over here. Hmm. Is gambling a recreational activity for you or your family? I don’t know how to operate a slot machine. Oh boy. How about TV, games, (unintelligible)? On TV, I normally—the fact is, I only listen to the World Series Baseball. Hmm. How about the early atomic tests? Do you remember any of those? Yes. I remember early atomic tests when I was moving over here. I was in Claremont, California, and they were blowing off these atomic bombs like firecrackers at that time. It was early 1951. And I saw the flash, or cloud, over the Test Site. But I didn’t realize that if I had been attentive, and waited thirty minute later, I could’ve heard the explosion. Because it takes that long to go three hundred miles. Also, there was considerable damage to property. Or at least, there was considerable number of claims against the government for damages to structures. And they UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 3 usually paid them, unless they were absolutely fantastic because they wanted to get data. That’s about all I can remember about the atomic tests. Here comes where you’re the expert. What changes have you noticed in Southern Nevada since you arrived in the economic field? Get into the— Well, this used to be a strong railroad, mining, and cattle town. The—what brought about the Las Vegas Valley Water District, was that the wells ceased to flow. And they had to pump the water out then. The idea was conceived that they would bring in the Lake Mead water that the rays would preserve and even augment the underground water resources. Senator McCarran said the wells might even flow again. Wow. However, about that time, the resort hotel and gambling area grew enormously in a terrific loom of construction up to the collapse year of 1955. When I came here, it was 1951, the Desert Inn was the new hotel was the new hotel and was getting most of the building. The Thunderbird and the (Unintelligible) in town, they had that reputation. In this boom period, they financed these hotels. A man would put in say, fifty thousand dollars, and they’d get him to put up the building, and they’d give him a job at a good salary, even though he knew nothing about gambling in the casinos and in the hotels. A notable one is the Moulin Rouge. It’s a very good social experiment. I remember it very well—I still got my credit card. And Joey Lewis and (Unintelligible) and Jimmy Gay and Bob Bailey, who is still active in the community where—and it lasted from May to October, 1955. And then there were several hotels like that. I think it was called the International out on the Salt Lake High Way and there was one on the east where the freeway passes through. That got up into the air, but never completed it. Another casualty of that time was a place called the Desert Spa. And of course, the Royal Nevada, you could have a good time UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 4 there. A (Unintelligible) of the others, you know. There was a play called “Guys and Dolls.” And I came here, they had the Club Bingo Down on Sahara. And of course, the—Rancho, the old El Rancho Hotel where they rebuilt it was very prominent, recognized largely by show people. So the town has completely changed it’s, what we call, “service industries.” Probably as high as ninety-five percent. So there’s some real estate then, taxi drivers, restaurants, entertainment, practically all of it. There have been attempts here to put in the businesses like the New Forum and of course, there are other examples of failure. And then they tried the North Las Vegas Nellis, Industrial Park—it’s a one railroad town. Of course it’s shown in my articles and peer reviewed papers, through an oversight, Las Vegas has had no water department, which is, with the impotent growth, it’s—Water District went into effect and in my article, it gives a history of that. I used to take a number of Jeep trips out over there, across Vegas. And it is a very good place to reside for the purpose travel throughout the Southwest. I have invested in real-estate here and I think I’m doing alright. It’s—has a wonderful location. I used to call it hub of the west because some other—I think it was Salt Lake City—beat us to the slogan, “Crossroads of the West.” (Unintelligible) Can you—Have you noticed any environmental change? Changes in the weather, or smog or whatever? Since there have been, I remember one time right down at Five Points there on the border of North Las Vegas and Las Vegas, I got as good a smog attack as I ever got on Main Street in Los Angeles. We do have it. Automobiles, airplanes, and the railroad all pass through the lower portion of the valley because the concentration there. And sometimes the smog is sucked up as far as (Unintelligible) Ranch. And even Tule Springs. Some people say we don’t have the trouble UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 5 with smog here because we don’t have manufacturing. But we do have considerable wind here at some times which blows the smog away. And we do get relief naturally. Do you have any (unintelligible) or observations, do you remember anything about the Old Ranch? How do you remember it—by what name? You know, Stewart, the Old Ranch, Mormon Fort—? I don’t have any distinct recollection on that, except I know of the buildings there because they’re right next to the Elk’s Lodge. Do you have any other recollections or comments or—? Well, I’ve always been active in the development of—I’ve always said if it wasn’t for this delightful Northwest District, I never would have located Las Vegas and in cooperation with such wonderful men as Colonel (Unintelligible) or Jones or have vast holdings out this way. We named the streets, we acquired the rights of way, and we had an Improvement Association. And we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in way of guiding the growth out this way. Alright. And I remember when I came here, there was some artesian, some artesian flow. But the number of the early Elk’s Helldorado Celebration. Which were very well supported. I’ve always continued that separate histories should be written. The Elk’s Helldorado, I think it’s forty or forty-first, or forty-second celebration. I think it’s the grandest thing that’s ever happened of that time. And it never was suspended or (unintelligible) What’s something else—would you be willing to participate in a possibly longer interview getting more in depth? UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 6 Yes, I’m historically minded and a member of several of the societies and charter members of the Southern Nevada Historical Society and I’m a member of the State Society and Western History Society and Kansas State Historical Society, I’m very much interested in them. It’s possible to get going here, and expand on this in the future. Maybe get a good history going. Do you have anything or any comments or anything like that? That’s all I have except I’ve kept a—I started keeping a diary in California around 1943 and I kept up and elaborated on it, large society books and illustrated it—it contains local, national news, pictures—it’s kind of a complete history of the country. I had a picture, I thought I could find in the diary, of a young lady who was a great queen for Las Vegas Valley in 1948. It shows the extent that agriculture was there. There was a Curtis Ranch, a hundred and sixty acres south of me. And then there were grape orchards, apricot orchards, and great alfalfa ranches and Garden Ranch. (Unintelligible) Ranch, Ivory Springs, Spring Ranch, and very vast changes. (Unintelligible) off the Tonopah Highway and Anne Road. We used to call it Jones’ Greenery that got closed six or seven years ago. Hmm. And then another favorite recollection was what we used to call (Unintelligible) Trail Boulevard. It ran from an oil mill from (Unintelligible) College, and it ran down from a frog farm. And there were these two wells, Big Daddy and Little Daddy, and the waters came together and ran all five miles down to the east of the old frog farm. And from there, an unpaved road wound up to (unintelligible) horsey in Vegas Heights. They sometimes called it Bradley Boulevard because Bernard Bradley used to run his equipment over there. Yes, there were many pleasant recollections. Had one or two good floods. And of course the famous earthquake which was UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 7 caused by lowering water table and resulted in the land collapsing, and it broke the water and sewer mains at Holmes Avenue and where there’s a freeway now. You don’t remember what year that was, do you? No, I don’t. I don’t remember. Middle fifties, late fifties? Oh, I’d say about it was 1960. Alright. It seems like I remember something about that. I think I went over there along A Street on the Westside. Yes, it was first noticed when North Las Vegas had a (Unintelligible) Doctor Street, and electric pump on the well was about ten feet up in the air. It broke through the concrete foundation. So electric pump up in the air. There were a great, great many things. Unbelievable. I’d better flip this tape over before we run out on this first side. Okay. False alarm, probably pulled out all the tape. Maybe we can start from this side. Another recollection was Las Vegas’ the airplanes a long way from McCarran Field—we didn’t know much about that, but there was a small airport out here along the Tonopah Highway which was (unintelligible) and pieced the land alongside of it. It was owned by (Unintelligible) and a chap by the name Dwayne (Unintelligible) who took it over and they had an airplane instruction school there. And then it disassembled into ownership and control of West Durston, which in turn was succeeded by this Howard Hughes, North Las Vegas combination. And of course, another thing here, there were two—invasions, you might call ‘em—by Howard Hughes. The first one, shortly after I came here. And I heard from—oh we had all kinds of news. He was going to take the Lake Mead water out to the top of Sunrise Mountain and run it across the UNLV University Libraries Fred B. Houghton 8 Valley onto this Hughes Site they had purchased. Also (unintelligible) and the equipment for starting this factory, whatever it was, was on (Unintelligible) and Union Pacific Yards. But nothing ever came of that. Then he went away, and I’m not clear when they began this spree of buying this last time. It might’ve been 1971 he bought up this fabulous pile of land all over town, and hotels, along with the Tonopah Highway. And I guess other than that, everybody’s more or less okay with that. It (unintelligible) recent advantage. Of course there was a good deal about Boulder City and governed population and how it was passed over to President Thorn. Though we know that the growth of Henderson, North Las Vegas, and what they call Tonopah, what they’d call the Widow Maker, was just one lane. And also, the Salt Lake Highway, out to the air bridge, was also just a bunch of one lane highways. And then of course the fine present, highways are put in due to the expansion of government activities, like the Test Site and the Nellis Air Force Base, has greatly expanded. The Los Angeles Highway, it ran down through houses on Sloan and Jane and the Boulder Highway, it of course is vastly grown too. The cat’s back again. (Laughs) Mount Charleston activities, and Lee’s Canyon activities expanded. You don’t remember anything about early days (unintelligible) Mount Charleston or Lee Canyon? Well I know they’re an attraction, but that’s one of the first places I (unintelligible) and I met Banker Stewart up there, and we’ve been friends ever since. And we’ve discussed the merits and place in town— (Audio ends)