ORAL HISTORIES

Claudia's parents-their arrival and meeting in Nevada; Claudia's first memories of Beatty; Claudia's marriage and her daughter; Beatty as a close-knit community; various types of local entertainment; old-timers and characters in Beatty; birthdays in Beatty. A discussion of religion in Beatty; Beatty's brothels; prospecting in the hills around Beatty; early memories of Rhyolite and of Westmoreland. Talk about the Bullfrog Mine, Bullfrog, and other area mining and the competition between Bullfrog-Rhyolite and Beatty; a discussion of the Montgomery Shoshone and Senator Stewart mines and of recent mining activity. A story about Diamond Jim; what dust devils "really" are; the Amargosa River; movies filmed in Rhyolite and Death Valley; memories of communications (radio, phones, newspapers); discussion of some social attitudes in Beatty; recalling Beatty school teachers; further recollections of old-time Rhyolite and Beatty and some of their citizens. Recollections of Carrara and of other area communities-Ash Meadows, Lathrop Wells, the Amargosa Valley, Springdale, Pioneer, Furnace Creek, Las Vegas, and Indian Springs.

Leonard's extraordinary gifts as a salesman; thoughts on the immigrant mentality; new ways to sell land; Cape Coral, Florida - a top town in the U.S.; the importance of education; finding the Pahrump Valley; changes and losses; never give up.

Family beginnings; biking from Beatty, Nevada, to Petaluma, California; early days in Washington and California; moving to Tonopah; enterprising youth; ethnic variety in Tonopah; the burros of Tonopah. Early jobs; the Weepah boom; Solan's first car; Tonopah mines; boarding houses; working at Weepah. Desert solitude continued; the Eden Creek area; the Reveille mill; a tungsten property. Rebuilding homes; a Justice of the Peace; renting property; memories of bomb tests; thoughts on inflation. A Nye County Commissioner; thoughts on the State of Nevada; why Sandia stayed in Tonopah. Thoughts on Tonopah as a place to live; Tonopah's future; Sheriff Bill Thomas; politicians; Nevada characters; present-day mining.

Bill and Dutch are married in and settle in Las Vegas; an early trip to the Pahrump Valley and memories of that; the Brooks' trading post; the Manse and Raycraft Ranches; the Turners move to the Pahrump Valley; building a tie house. The little red schoolhouse; working on the Pahrump Ranch and raising crops; postmaster to the valley; early churches and social life; memories of Pop Buol; commuting to Las Vegas. Predicting population growth; business establishments in the valley; memories of the post office; school teachers; problems farmers must deal with; growth and a changing lifestyle; the value of honesty; medical care in Pahrump; government jobs for the Turner family. The life of a full-time, part-time deputy sheriff; recollections of Sheriff Thomas and Judge Beko; a new dentist may come to Pahrump.

Moving to Nevada; recalling ranches in the Pahrump Valley in the 1950s; growing cotton and rotating crops; getting the land in shape on the Pahrump Ranch. The labor situation in Pahrump in the 1950s and the Braceros Program; Johnson grass - hoes and geese; travels around the state by road and air; donating land to the valley; bringing a cotton gin to Pahrump; alfalfa cubes; selling the land. Thoughts on growing cotton; the advent of electricity in Pahrump, and how electricity was generated prior to that; starting the Harvest Festival; thought on California farming; the Pahrump Ranch in the early days; the coming of Preferred Equities; the Williams family and Rick Williams.

Early days in the east; the Diemels of the Pahrump Ranch; a trip from Virginia to Nevada; the Pahrump Ranch itself; a dude ranch; ranch work and well-digging. Ed returns to the Pahrump Valley as a school teacher; life with Pop Buol; early valley residents. More early residents; moves to Goodsprings and Nelson; mining; a move to Oregon, then back to the desert and teaching; on Lois Kellogg; hot tempers in the area. Frontier justice; funding for schools.

Early Beatty deputies; enforcing the law in southern Nye County; representing southern Nye County in the Assembly -getting a phone exchange and working for roads for the county; observations on today's law enforcement; law enforcement on the Test Site; Nye County's lawsuit with the Test Site. Work on the Test Site; how the Assembly operates; views on Bullfrog County; Esmeralda County; the Verdi Lumber Company -fire!; Albert and Henrietta Revert. Sidewinders in the bar!; law enforcement in Amargosa Valley; recollections of Sheriff Bill Thomas; the structure of Nye County offices; old-time Socialists in Nye County; observations on the Nevada State Legislature; water and St. Joe.

Marriage to Byron O'Dell and life near Death Valley at the Ruth Mine; World War II and a move to Gabbs; working for the Smith brothers, then for the government's magnesium operation at Gabbs; Byron O'Dell's struggle with silicosis; background on Basic Magnesium and its brucite camp; the town of Gabbs; finding housing in Gabbs and coping with rationing during World War II; adopting a son. The government operation in Gabbs ends following World War II and Basic Magnesium takes over again; uses for the operation's products; Marge Crabill's responsibilities at the plant; shipping material out of Gabbs; the hot, mineralized groundwater of the area; utilities in Gabbs; memories of Basic Magnesium Works Manager Norman Hanson. Health care, shops and services in Gabbs through the years; long-time Gabbs residents; social life and recreation in Gabbs in the town's first days and at present.