Nevada pioneer, engineer, and surveyor John Thomas (J.T.) McWilliams was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, on December 10, 1863. In 1879, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, before settling in Chicago, Illinois in 1883. While in Chicago, McWilliams studied civil engineering at the University of Chicago, and in 1884 he began surveying for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
On March 1, 1979, John L. Bennett interviewed Dan Hill (born May 20, 1914 in Illinois) in his home at 2130 Walnut Road, Las Vegas, Nevada, about his memory of Southern Nevada. In addition to the collector and informant, there is an unidentified woman present during the interview. Hill explains that he originally came to Nevada in search of work. He briefly moved to Europe during the First World War where he served in the Army; at the end of the war, Hill returns to Las Vegas to work at the Nevada Test Site. Hill then goes in-depth about his experience as a worker at the Nevada Test Site and different mining sites that he had also worked at. The two briefly discuss the different sheriffs that had been in charge of Las Vegas, and how many people came to Las Vegas to work at the Henderson Magnesium Plant and Hoover Dam in addition to the Nevada Test Site.