Gordon Bettles and two others inspecting the rye in preparation for cutting it on the T & T Ranch in the Amargosa Valley.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Inscription on the back of the original photo, written by Billie Bettles in the 1980s reads: this [picture] was made the day they were cutting rye, 1949. House and outbuildings were constructed by Gordon Bettles on the T & T Ranchk, Amargosa Valley, NV, about 1949. The house pictured on the right was moved to this location from Death Valley Junction, California, by the Bettles. A field of rye is pictured in the foreground. The man on the right is Gordon Bettles and the 2 men on the left are unidentified, though the man on the far left may be M. P. 'Gless' Glessner."
Artesian well used for irrigation on the T & T Ranch.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Water flowing from a well on Gordon and Billie Bettles' farm, T& T Ranch, Amargosa Valley, NV, ca. 1953. The Bettles' home is visible in the background on the right. As of 1990, the house was occupied by Betty-Jo Boyd and her husband. The well and irrigation system were installed ca. 1920 by the T & T's original owners, executives of the Pacific Coast Borax Company."
Artesian Well used for irrigation on the T & T Ranch.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Home of Gordon and Billie Bettles, T & T Ranch, Amargosa Valley, Nevada, ca. 1949. This picture shows what the Bettles' homesite looked like prior to the growth of the many trees and shrubs the Bettles planted. The flagpole was set in place shortly after the house was moved onto the property."
Men irrigating new alfalfa on the T & T Ranch in the Amargosa Valley.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Irrigating land newly planted in alfalfa, T & T Ranch, Amargosa Valley, Nevada, about 1952 or 1954. Gordon Bettles is pictured with the shovel. The child pictured in the foreground is a niece of Bob Fishel and Betty Lou Kemp, daughter of M.P. Gless' Glessner. Note the profile of the sleeping old man silhouetted along the crest of the Funeral Mountains."
Lisle stands at the edge of the reservoir fed by an artesian well on his homestead.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "John Quincy "Jack" Lisle at the edge of the reservoir on his homestead in the Las Vegas Valley, about 1930. The reservoir is located not far from the present intersection of Twain and Eastern streets and was one of the best artesian wells in the Las Vegas Valley. At the time it was necessary to make a winding road off the Boulder Highway to reach the homestead. Most people thought that Lisle was absolutely insane to locate a homestead in such a desolate place, but Lisle, and amateur geologist, staked his claim there because he figured that water would be abundant because the land was near the Flamingo Wash. At one time Lisle raised 40 acres of alfalfa on the property."
A backhoe digging a trench for the installation of an irrigation water line.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Digging a ditch for installation of a 10'' water line to supply a sprinkler system in the Amargosa Valley, Nye County, Nevada, 1980."
View of a water line and pump in the Amargosa Valley looking southwest toward the Funeral Mountains.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Amargosa Valley looking southwest toward the Funeral Mountains, 1980, showing a 10" water line and pump to supply a circle sprinkler system. The pump is a 75 horsepower electric turbine pump that supplies two sprinkler systems with a total of 1,450 gallons per minute. At that capacity, the pump only draws water down 3 inches in the well."
Since the Amargosa Valley did not have electricity until 1964, all pumps were run by combustion engines, like this one on the T & T Ranch.
Transcribed Notes: Transcribed from photo sleeve: "Land on the T & T Ranch, Amargosa Valley, Nye County, Nevada, about 1958 or 1959. Commercial electricity was not available in the Amargosa Valley until 1964. Until then all water pumping was done with combustion engines running at the wells. Pictured here is a butane-operated motor, running a pump on the property belonging to Hank Records."