Ruby C. Leavitt interview, November 30, 1986: transcript

UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 1 An Interview with Ruby Canonic Leavitt An Oral History Conducted by Alberti Patton 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 Ruby Canonic Leavitt 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2020 UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 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 Ruby Canonic Leavitt 4 Abstract On November 30, 1986, collector Patton Alberti interviewed Ruby Canonic Leavitt (born 1907 in Genoa, Nevada) at her home in Reno, Nevada. Mrs. Leavitt discusses her time as a teacher in Verdi, Nevada, as well as other places in Northern Nevada. She also discusses the changes she has seen in teaching and in the towns she has lived in over time. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 5 So, I’m just gonna go and I’m just gonna read this right here. This is Patton Alberti and I’m at my sister’s and my brother-in-law (unintelligible) in Reno, Nevada. This is November the 30th, 1986. I’m gonna be speaking with my maternal grandmother, whose name is Ruby Canonic Leavitt, and we’re gonna go over a few things for this oral interview for (unintelligible) Nevada History class, and we’re gonna talk a little bit about Nevada history and the Northern part of the country here. And we’re gonna talk a little bit about Genoa and go from there. Now maybe you could give us a little stuff about, you know, let’s go over your parents first. Let’s just talk about them, maybe you know, where they were born and then go from there. Well, my mother came from—my mother was born in Genoa from a family who came from Switzerland in the early 50’s, 1850’s. And they came to—my grandmother came to Calaveras County, California and eventually settled in Genoa where she married my grandfather, who was (unintelligible) Conzali. And a few years after that, they had a way station where people came to spend the night from travelling from the mountains, especially from Tahoe and up in the (unintelligible) areas. They stayed there at their hotel. A few years later, the hotel was burned down, and later on my mother married again, but they did not go back into the way station business. They just had their own home there, which is still there. And we’re talking about the way station—it was in the front of that home? Oh yes. Which is in Genoa? The way station, well I said they settled in Genoa. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 6 It’s right near the fort? Yes. It’s where the fort is. The home is just a block or two away from the fort that is in town. And at one time, the building the town was burned, practically, most of it was burned where the Mormon Station was. And then later on, many years later on, they built up a new fort, which now is a museum, and a recreational area. (Unintelligible) (Unintelligible) I believe it burned in—I was born in 1907, so I think I was ten years old, so it must have been in 1917 or thereabouts. I’m not positive about the date, but about that time. So September 30th, 1907 you were born? Yes. And you were born in Genoa? I was born in Genoa. My mother was born in Genoa, however my father was born in Switzerland. And he came here. Was all your family born in Genoa? All your brothers and sisters? All my brothers and sisters except one was born in Genoa. And one was born in Colorado when my mother and father went there, where my father worked in the lead mills for a few years. And my brother was born there and died there. So you said (unintelligible) And then they came back to Genoa, and then all in all mother had eleven children. Nine boys and two girls. And you were the second? UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 7 I was the seventh child. (Unintelligible) Did you know—maybe what was the childhood like in a town like that or the West in general? Well, it was a great experience. We didn’t have electricity. We had a big tank for our water, which came from the mountains. It was a nice tank, big tank, cool. And we had a big orchard where we spent most of our time, because we couldn’t travel around. We had a horse and buggy. We had to go to Minden, Garnerville, or Carson for all of our shopping, so it was a make your own fun in life, and that was all we did. We did—the families were very close—all of the families in town were very closely associated with each other. They made, we made our own fun. We had parties, we had dinners and all, and everyone took part in them. Yes? And it was finally about when I was eleven years old, the town people gave a dance, which they called Candy Dance, which (unintelligible). The following day, the following years and that was what brought our electricity in. That was used as a fundraiser to bring electricity into Genoa? Yes. And it is still. And it pays for the town. It started about 1918, you were eleven then? I was about eleven, yes. Somewhere around there. I don’t know if these dates are perfect. But that’s the area which they were in. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 8 And our old home is still there, and it is now occupied by my mother’s sister’s family. And they have a room and breakfast. Bed and breakfast? Bed and breakfast. (Unintelligible) right? Yes, their name was (unintelligible) But the lady that lived there before was your Aunt Mina? That’s right. Aunt Mina was—? Falk. Last name was? Mina Giardelli Falk. Giardelli Falk? G-i-a-r-d-e-l-l-i. Tell me just a little bit more about maybe your school there. Well, we went to a one room school up on the hill. And it was right up on the hill and it was down what we call Snowshoe—Snow Slide Canyon. And above the Snow Slide Canyon was a hill called a mountain which were hill whatever, it’s quite high—it was called Barometer Hill. And all of the natives of Genoa swore that it was a weather prophet, because whenever it got terribly stormy, it showed first on the top of that hill. And our school was beyond, just down to UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 9 the bottom of that hill. One room school. And very often it was necessary for us to hear someone say in the wintertime here, where someone says “Snow slide” and we’d hear ‘em, and then we’d run towards town. And one time, the snow slide came in and split right in the back of our school because there was a big rock there. And then the following year, the courthouse had been moved to Minden, and so the following year they opened two rooms down at the courthouse, and that’s where we had school. I was in the third grade at the time. We went to school there for the rest of the time because they couldn’t trust the school house— The slides? The slides up in the canyon. And we had a school there in the courthouse, the old courthouse, which was quite a interesting place, and it is now a museum. Tell me something about, maybe something about people that lived in Genoa at the time, maybe some names that you remember? Well, I remember the Christasson’s who were very, they were Norwegian people. And Mrs. Christasson was quite a lady. She always made donuts for the kids around the neighborhood. And then the Powess family, or Poiree. It’s P-o-i-r-e-e. Poiree I think is the way it was spelled. Anyhow, the Poiree family had the first house, actually the first large house that was built in (unintelligible) or Genoa. And it was across the street from us. And our house was only one block up from the Mormon Station at the time. Later on, my folks sold that house and recently new houses had been built on it. And (unintelligible) now has a population, quite a large population. Genoa now has a large population where the new homes are being built. So any other people that you remember from Genoa, or any specific old timers? UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 10 Well, I remember Judge Virgin, he was one of the—he was a judge there before Nevada became a territory, I mean a state. I better make—not make these mistakes or (unintelligible) ‘cause we’re gonna erase this and put ‘em back on, aren’t we? (Unintelligible) So Judge Virgin, was that his first name, Virgin? His last name. Last name. Judge Virgin. And then I remember the hotel, the Grey Craft Hotel there. It was the biggest hotel in town. And it was quite a famous hotel. Many people came there. They used to serve large dinners there for many things that were held there. And they had—it was there for many years. And then they had the grocery store and the lodge hall. Oh, (unintelligible) was quite a place for socializing. People went there to have social one thing or another. It was a second story, overlooked the store and barber shop. And then Old Saloon, one of the first saloons that was ever in Genoa, is still there open, and people visit that all the time because it is an old, old one. It had a old wooden bar and a lot of old pictures and things that are hanging around that are artifacts of all kinds. Uh-huh. So after you got out of school there, you went to—? After I graduated from the eighth grade there— It went through eighth and not—? One through eighth I went to the one room school, until we moved to the courthouse, then we had the two rooms. But then I went to Carson High School for four years. I did go to university for a year. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 11 Carson City had a high school that you went to for four years? Yes. I couldn’t—we couldn’t, that was the closest high school. And my brother was living in Carson at the time so I lived with him to go to school, and shortly after and during my senior year, my mother and father moved to Carson. My mother and father moved to Carson. And then later on I went to the university. So you went to University of Nevada, Reno? Uh-huh. Reno. Where you met—did you meet—? No. And then I went out to teach and I taught at Basques Ranch. I had eight children, and four of those—four of ‘em didn’t speak any English at all. I had through the first through the eighth grade minus the fifth grade. Didn’t have (unintelligible) I didn’t have any children that were in the fifth grade at the time that year. I spent a year there. That was where? South of? South of Winnemucca. In town or? In Paradise Valley. Paradise Valley? UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 12 And then I went to—from there I moved to Ludwig, which was a gypsum mill plant. And I taught there for five years, and at that time my husband was principal—superintendent of the schools in Smith Valley, and that’s where I met him. And we were married in 1931. So, Ludwig was (unintelligible) Yes. It was a part of Smith Valley. So you taught there and met him there? Yes. Met him there. (Unintelligible) Randall Leavitt. Randall Maurice Leavitt? Irvine. Irvine? Randall Irvine? So you got married in 19—? We got married in 1931, and shortly after that, we moved to Wells and taught there for until—that’s where our daughter was born. And we went to—taught there until Randall went into the army. Yes. And Nancy Leavitt (unintelligible) She was born in Genoa. She was? I thought she was born in Reno, but that’s (unintelligible) Yes. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 13 Why all the moving around to these different towns? Was it the, you know, these small towns, were they mining towns that were closing down? What was the reason for that? Well, Ludwig closed down. The Ludwig School closed down, and after I was married— Why did that close down? I don’t really know why it was closed down except that I understood that the gypsum, there were better mines in other places, and so they closed that one down. What was the school district like then? It was a one room school in Ludwig. I mean, you know, were they like much different than they were, I mean as far as administration? Oh yes. We had a superintendent who came to visit us every year, twice a year. And we had—we didn’t have very many things to work with, you know. We had very few. No libraries or things like that that were built up so that we could use them. And then there were close enough so that we could, so that we had to do a lot of improvising, you know. So why did you teach? I mean, you were a teacher a while. I was teaching—I taught for thirty-three years. Thirty-three years in Nevada, basically Nevada schools? Ten years out of, or six years out of the United States. South Korea and Vienna, or Austria. Vienna, Austria. But I’m just curious the insight into how teaching has changed? I mean, it’s quite a bit different than it is now. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 14 Well our class—yes, because we taught more than one class. Most of the schools when I was teaching, the early part of teaching, in my very earliest years, we had more classes than one. There was enough kids for one class? No. And our classes were not nearly as big, you know, as they are now in classes. And we had to teach all the subjects. We didn’t have any—we had all subjects to teach that were taught. Basic teachers. You think different things than kids learn now? Well yes. They are a lot more advanced. They had their athletics now. We didn’t have that. We had no music taught to us. We didn’t have computers or anything like that that they have nowadays that are so new and they have many more advantages than we had. We taught with the best we could with what we had to teach with. But we certainly didn’t have the advantages that they have now for teaching, which has changed. And, of course, the textbooks have all changed. They have more textbooks, more access to supplementary books and all that, that they have (unintelligible) and then they have all these tests that they can get in. We didn’t have those. We made our own. And it was a challenge. So let’s say, you moved to somewhere along here you went from Wells, you went to Verdi? No. From Wells we went into the army, and we were in the army for ten years traveling, spending a little time overseas and a little in the states. When we came back in 1954 from Europe, and then I went into Verdi as principal of the school there. And I had two teachers to begin with and then later on, they built a school in—a new school—in Verdi, and I became the vice principal and taught there for the rest of my teaching. I taught nineteen years in Verdi. What—maybe a little insight into that town? What was the difference between—? UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 15 Well, Verdi was more advanced at the time I moved in there than Genoa was at any time. (Unintelligible) And I had lived there. But Verdi was a town that was, it was a closely knit town too. They had a lot of good community affairs there at the time. They have—it was basically an Italian settlement, and it was—and people seemed to be interested in all that was going on. There was not much contention of any kind there. People got along well. Why do you think all the Italians were in that town? Well, I don’t really know why they settled there. However, it might have been because of the box factory and the mills there. The lumber mills. And I don’t know any other reason. There was quite a bit of ranching around, close to Verdi. What do you mean box factory? What was that like? They made boxes and carts and crates and things like that. Not like cardboard boxes? (Laughs) No, no. It was wood. They were all crates and things like that. I don’t know (unintelligible) they made the box parts. I know they— Did any of your family work (unintelligible) No. None of my family worked there because that was before we moved there, before mother and dad moved there. But we had, then we had a good school there. It was much bigger, because we had finally from the two teachers to begin with, we had finally ended up with all: a principal, vice principal of all the grades, you know, separate grades, and a teacher for each grade, which made it very much easier and better to teach, because we had more advantages there. I still have UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 16 relatives there in Verdi and one of my relatives was, on her side, on my sister’s side, was a Judge Pining who lived there many, many years. And he was one of the first, one of the older people who moved there and built a home, which was one of the first ones in Verdi. And luckily it was up on a hill more so, because the lower part of town from the box factory on burned down. The whole town burned. The whole street side burned down. But I don’t know what year that was, because— I’m really familiar with Verdi (unintelligible) You know where your grandmother’s house, your great grandmother’s house was? That whole street was burned down. By the Verdi Inn? Yes. All clear down the whole length of that street and on the other side as far as the store. So we’re talking right, this line of houses (unintelligible) next to Highway 40? Right. On the right side of the Highway 40. And then across the railroad tracks, there were several big stores over there, and at one time the school was there. The first one room school was across the tracks. But now it’s on what’s the—the north side? It’s on the north side of town. North side of the tracks. However, we went to school in the old schoolhouse they called it, which is the new firehouse now. Right. That brick building there. Looks just like a schoolhouse. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 17 Yes it does. It’s perfect. You were a principal in that school? Yes. For eight years. So did a lot of the people in Verdi power company or (unintelligible) how did that— Yes. Most of the people in Verdi now are working for the power company because they have no other—they commute for working in the powerhouse for the telephone companies or things, you know, bigger places here in Reno. Some of them work at some of the plants and they commute. (Unintelligible) question about the school, we talk a lot about nowadays the funding for schools and the lack of funding, what was it like to be a principal and get money? Was that a problem? Was there the conflict then that there is now? No. I don’t think so. Because I don’t think we demanded as much then as we have now. I don’t think we had that much money given to us, or put out for the school, because we didn’t have—we didn’t require the things then that we have now. You didn’t need the funding that you need now. And that was a very low fund. Now they need more because— Did the community give a lot of money? Was that why they didn’t need more money? No. How about school lunches? Did the kids brings their lunch? Up until the schools were consolidated, when all the Washoe County schools were consolidated. Yes, they were brown bagging their lunches. Then, we had a kitchen built and we cooked meals there then. But up until that time, the children had to bring their lunch in, other than if they lived UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 18 within a very short distance, they could go home for their lunches. But they—most of them, their parents brought them to school or they walked to school. Well, when we were consolidated then the busses drove, and then there was more—the new building was built and they of course had to be more funds to work with. Verdi and Reno and Genoa and Douglas County and all that has changed quite a bit ever since, a major growth. Yes. Definitely. It’s a major growth in the whole area. I think at one time, probably when I was living in Genoa, there might have been 500 to 600 people there. And now I understand it’s quite a bit more because there’s quite a few more homes, and a lot of the new homes have been built there. And the same way in Verdi. At one time, it was just a small valley hole, town, just a little compact town. And now it’s—there’s building goes on all over the mountains there, and many people are in there, and there’s quite a population there now. They had to build a new post office and they have a postmaster and two assistants now. And that’s quite a big town for to—it’s expanding all the time. More and more everyday they’re building more and more there. I know that you didn’t work in the casinos or anything like that, but maybe, do you know anything about the, maybe, (unintelligible) or? I wasn’t acquainted with any of those because I never did—I never was interested in gambling of any kind, and the only time I ever went to Harrah’s was for dinners or something like that. I never was interested in gambling. How did Downtown—you were there occasionally (unintelligible) in Verdi, how is that so much different than it was now? UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 19 Oh yes. Even when we were going to college, it was a lot different. You know, it was these big tall buildings—you didn’t see any. They were all low buildings, and anyone could walk down the street in night or day and it was just, you were perfectly safe and didn’t think about anything like that. We didn’t think that there was anything going on that would be hindering us from going around where we wanted to go. There wasn’t—you don’t think there was any danger as much as—? Oh no. There’s not. No, there wasn’t. Even when I was a child, I can’t ever remember when I was living in any of the town in Verdi—in Reno—or Reno, Verdi, or Genoa that we even locked our doors. And nowadays of course, you have to be more careful. More people in the area. That’s right. There’s so many people now that you are more alert, you know. Tell me a little about—the University of Nevada, Reno has been around for a long time. What was the college like when you went? I know you were there for a year, but what was the (unintelligible) like in the—? Well, it wasn’t as big as it is now. It wasn’t as crowded as it was. It didn’t seem to be crowded. And, of course, it was a much smaller campus at that time too. The campus has enlarged so much. And there’s been new facilities there, such as the medical building. That was never there when I was in school. You went to school there (unintelligible) And I finished my schooling in a normal school. I took normal studies at the university and that’s how I got my certificate. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 20 You called it normal studies? A normal certificate, a normal school certificate in those days. So you didn’t have the (unintelligible) and the grades we have now? No, but I have a (unintelligible) diploma. How would you get through the—? The state— School district? School district. Your husband, my grandfather, went to university there? Graduated from university in 1926. No, I’m sorry, ’28. Tell me a little bit about— No, wait a minute, 1928. But, I always remember the story about the athletics. He’d talk about pole vaulting, (unintelligible) football? Yes. Dr. Marty was the athlete director at that time. Granville had the pole vaulting—Western Division pole vaulting there. He has (unintelligible) Do you remember how high that was? And what—? I think the highest was— I thought I remember seeing it, it was eleven feet. But remember we had the (unintelligible) I think that it was eleven feet when he won the far western conference. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 21 He had that medal. Mm-hmm. (Unintelligible) it wasn’t sawdust? Yes. And (unintelligible) poles. (Laughs) (Unintelligible) poles. I can remember one time when the (unintelligible) pole broke. And luckily no one was hurt, but Dr. Marty then was the, he’s not living, but his wife is still living. We talk quite often. Talking about you know, we all get a little older, maybe after you retired from the school district, what does a person do? How do you stay active? Maybe (unintelligible) Well I stay active in volunteer work mostly. And I am interested in all community affairs. I work with the AARP, which is (unintelligible), and the retired teacher’s organizations. I belong to the Washoe Medical League and I do all my volunteer work at the hospitals. Which hospital? Washoe Med. And the Lung Association, Cancer Association, we volunteer for all of that. And I volunteered for the multiple sclerosis people for six years. So do they have a large amount of volunteers in (unintelligible) Yes. Most all of them are. We get—some of the time we get students who are studying for medical profession from the University of Nevada. We get classes that come down and volunteer for a while so that they can get themselves you know, to understand what’s going on, and what the hospital’s doing. We take them on tours and things like that. But I think the older group is more prevalent as volunteers than the younger ones. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 22 We’re all still working. (Laughs) And then I have—we have, we go to luncheons, and I keep busy. I keep busy doing a lot of things because that’s the only way you can keep going. Maybe some of, you know, there’s always historic events that go on in our area, in this area. (Unintelligible) some things that stand out in your mind that have happened in the last fifty years that, things have popped up that you might be able to elaborate on. I remember something that someone told us. I remember it was told. There was things that you were at, you know, the time the president came to town. Maybe if you were privy to some information about the flood situation Downtown. Anything. I was not here during the time of the big flood here. We were in Europe at the time. What was it like to live in this area during World War II? Well, it was rather hard to do because of the—we were teaching during the time of the bank fairs of 1939. You know, the (unintelligible). And I remember that I was not teaching at the time, but my husband was and we were paid most all our money you know, we were paid just in certain amounts each time. It was just very little of it, so we all had to get along best we could. We had ration stamps and things like that. That was probably the hardest part of my life because we were very—everybody was suffering from the same thing. And of course, we were rationed with gas and all food within certain foods and everything. And that was the hardest part of all. But other than that, and my daughter was born during that time, 1939, but— You just had one child? UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 23 Yes. I just had the one daughter, and three grandchildren. And we’re all living close together. (Unintelligible) I was out, I was gone for ten years and some of the things, the floods and earthquake and things that they had so severely here, I was not at home at the time. So I really don’t remember too many severe things that happened. I guess I haven’t had a really hard life that way, you know. Yes, but you’ve seen a lot of changes so? Well, there’s many, many changes of course, and if a person just sat down and began from the very beginning and wrote everything that you could remember, even though it was—you went back and forth from it, you know, often just back and forth, why, it might be quite a big book if you put it into that form. Sure. But I think we’re all too much apt to forget those things when you get a little older. And I think a lot of them happen—some of the things that do happen are from hearsay, and if you don’t stop and think, you don’t know where you’re talking hearsay or whether you actually experienced those, those experiences. Right. We had a Halley’s Comet come through last summer. Yes. So you saw it or? The first time the Halley’s Comet went through was in 1910. (Unintelligible) and I was three years old then. And somehow or other, I remember we had a big porch on our house, and somehow or other I remember, whether it’s because of speaking association or whether I actually remember my father holding me up and showing me something in the sky. Now I—whether my UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 24 mother told me that he did that or whether I remember it, I can’t say for sure ‘cause I was only just a little past three years old. And then of course this time if I did see it, it would have been that I had seen it twice. But I did live through the time where it was twice, and it was—had gone through. Maybe speak about— (Tape one ends) Hello. This is Patton Alberti. I’m still at my sister’s house in Reno and it’s still November the 30th, 1986. I’m talking to my grandmother Ruby Canonic Leavitt and we’re doing this oral interview for Nevada history class. We’ll start talking, going over some of the things we went over before on the other side, elaborating on that, adding some things, making it a little more descriptive, more information. Grandma, why don’t you go into—let’s start with your parents. Tell how they came to America and maybe some dates that you remember, and how they came to Nevada. Well, my grandmother came to Nevada, to California first, she came to Calaveras County and in the early 1850s. And then my grandfather, she met my grandfather in Calaveras, and then they came to—he was working at the time in Genoa, I believe, and then went to—she met him there and they were married, and they moved to Genoa. And they had a— They were from? My father, my grandfather was Barnabus Conzali and my mother, grandmother came from Switzerland. They finally settled in Genoa, having a waystation where people came there to spend the night and have meals, and mostly from the areas around Lake Tahoe and Marcoville, California and a few places that were—they had, was necessary for them to spend the night. UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 25 Do you remember that waystation? I don’t remember the waystation myself because it burned down at one time later on, several years later. And after my grandmother— Her name was? My grandmother’s name was Martina Scarza before she was married, and she married my grandfather and she had five children, then, they were all born in Genoa. My mother was born there also in the old home that still is there. Years later, after my grandfather died, my grandmother married again, however they did not have the waystation after that. I don’t recall what work he went into other than wood selling. Chopping wood and selling the wood there they got from the mountains above the town. That’s the only thing that I did know that he did, other than they had their own, they raised their own garden produce (unintelligible) Most people were farmers in the town like that (unintelligible) Because, yes, they just a small garden area. Some little cutting to supplement their income. That’s right. And they had just a small place, a small—it was not called a ranch, it was a small area that they had at the home, and used it for mostly like everybody else in town did. They raised their own—practically all their own food. (Unintelligible) Because we didn’t have the transportation to go daily. We had horse and buggy and we had to go to Minden or Garnerville or Carson for shopping, and most of the time when we went to shop, it was for large amounts that were stored to put in. Most everybody had store icehouses where they UNLV University Libraries Ruby Canonic Leavitt 26 went to Boca, California to get their ice every winter. And they would go up there in the large wagons and bring the ice down and put them in the icehouse, covered it with sawdust, and then that’s the way we kept our products all cold enough so that we could use them. Refrigerators? Yes. They were kind of outmoded or whatever, but they served a purpose is what they were for. I mean, how was it growing up as a kid like that? You didn’t hav