Part of an interview with Michael Saltman on December 16, 2014. In this clip, Saltman talks about his business partner, Larry Larkin, and their development of shopping centers and apartment complexes in Las Vegas.
On November 13, 1979, Anne Du Barton interviewed her mother, Hazel F. Du Barton (born Hazel F. Wingebach on July 13th, 1926 in Floral Park, New York) in their home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mrs. Du Barton relocated to Las Vegas in 1955. This interview covers Las Vegas history, including local politics, nuclear testing, and the Helldorado Parade. Occupations Mrs. Du Barton has held include dress designer, dressmaker, clerical worker, bookkeeper, and hotel manager. She recalls her first experience camping at Mount Charleston and she was also an arts and crafts camp instructor for Campfire Girls, who used the campsite at Lee Canyon.
Detailed discussion of the UP divesting itself of water production facilities to the Las Vegas Land and Water Company. Written in red pencil at the top of the page: "4705-11-22" and "80-Gen."
From the Syphus-Bunker Papers (MS-00169). The folder contains an original handwritten letter, an envelope, a typed transcription of the same letter, and a copy of original letter attached.
On February 21, 1972, James Hanson interviewed Mrs. Lucille Down (born December 14th, 1911 in Wellington, Kansas) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The interview covers the lives of Union Pacific Railroad workers, and local education at schools such as the Las Vegas Grammar School and Las Vegas High School. Lucille discusses her first job, which was at the Southern Nevada Telephone Company. She also mentions having a swamp cooler attached to her family home. She concludes this interview with recollections on the social, recreational, religious and economic, changes that contributed to the development and growth of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Minnesotan Don Laughlin landed far from the land of (more than) 10,000 lakes. His office 90 miles south of Las Vegas in the eponymous town of Laughlin commands an unimpeded view of a very different landscape from that of his youth. Here, where the Colorado River flows south through one of its narrowest channels, Laughlin arrived in about 1966 and purchased what would become the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino. The endeavor was so successful that the then-settlement of 10 to 15 people at that tiny spot on the river grew to be an unincorporated town housing more than 7,000 people in 2010. Today, Laughlin the man continues to promote and support Laughlin the town via flood control projects and infrastructure development. In this interview, Laughlin sits amid the antique slot machines in his office and enjoys the view as he recalls his childhood on the family farm in southern Minnesota, and talks about leaving the farm in the late 1940s for nearby Owatonna to do watchmaking and watch repairing while simultaneously running a slot machine and pinball parlor. After visiting Las Vegas on vacation, he arrived permanently in 1952 and bartended at the Thunderbird Hotel until he bought his own bar and restaurant in Downtown Las Vegas, which he named Laughlin’s Made Right Café. After selling the café, he bought the 101 Club in North Las Vegas. He began searching for a casino for a casino to buy, seeking only those located on the border of a state that did not allow gambling. When he found the small hotel/casino on the Colorado River he purchased it. He talks of building an airstrip across the street and making daily trips to Las Vegas to buy groceries, beer, and toilet paper-essentially, everything one would need to run a hotel, restaurant, and casino-sometimes making three trips in one day. He continues to own and manage his hotel/casino at the age of 85, and he is in his office every day, all day, seven days a week. He gave up flying last year because he claims he’s too old to pilot his own aircraft. So is especially advantageous that the town that bears his name can now supply almost everything that he and the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino need.