ORAL HISTORIES

Early days in the midwest and Los Angeles; a move to Las Vegas; Helldorado Queen; memories of Pahrump; life in Ash Meadows

Information on Homer's family background, including Chief Kawich; Shoshone camps and native plants in the 1920s and 1930s; Art Hooper's cowboying on Monitor Valley ranches; Stewart Indian School; the Hooper family moves to the Reese River Valley; discussion of the Shoshone language.Haying in the Reese River Valley; ranchers leaving the valley during the Depression; some ranchers who stayed, and working for some of those ranchers; working with horses; renting horses to deer hunters in the 1940s; further discussion of ranch, work; working for mines in Grantsville and Ophir Canyon; working for Basic Magnesium at Gabbs and for the Mercury Mine at Ione. A return to work at Gabbs; an accident and subsequent health problems; some of the present-day residents of the Yomba Shoshone Reservation; diversion dams in the Reese River Valley; area health care and schooling; Western Shoshone land rights; running over the mountains and running down deer

Childhood in California; the Ruuds meet and marry; deciding to move to Pahrump Valley; experimenting with alfalfa seed; Basin Ranch; the Pahrump Valley and its residents in the 1960s; the family adjusts. School for the children; social activities in the valley; early churches; the cotton gin is built; work in the gin - from weightmaster to manager; the decline of cotton in the Pahrump Valley; Bob Ruud's service to Nye County as a county commissioner. The Harvest Festival; trail rides and riding clubs; Bob Ruud's pleasures; bringing up children in the valley; snakes!; the problems of farming in the early days; the future of Pahrump Valley; Bob Ruud's participation in University-sponsored agricultural efforts. Ron Floyd's contributions to the community; changes in children's attitudes. Work with the Extension Service and with the 4-H Clubs promoting an understanding of agriculture.

Childhood in California; the Ruuds meet and marry; deciding to move to Pahrump Valley; experimenting with alfalfa seed; Basin Ranch; the Pahrump Valley and its residents in the 1960s; the family adjusts. School for the children; social activities in the valley; early churches; the cotton gin is built; work in the gin - from weightmaster to manager; the decline of cotton in the Pahrump Valley; Bob Ruud's service to Nye County as a county commissioner. The Harvest Festival; trail rides and riding clubs; Bob Ruud's pleasures; bringing up children in the valley; snakes!; the problems of farming in the early days; the future of Pahrump Valley; Bob Ruud's participation in University-sponsored agricultural efforts. Ron Floyd's contributions to the community; changes in children's attitudes. Work with the Extension Service and with the 4-H Clubs promoting an understanding of agriculture.

A pioneer Nevada family; the Locke Ranch; early days in the Reveille Valley; Duckwater and Currant Creek; life on a ranch. Social life at Currant Creek; away to college; a move to Arizona; the ranching live; memories of Jim and Florence Butler; the Sarcobatus Flats. The ranching life again; medical care; the new Beatty Library -how it was built; the Beatty librarian; Nye County libraries; gardening at Currant Creek. Food preservation at Currant Creek; range cattle; higher education.

The clay pits in Depression times; Ash Meadows and the Clay Camp; the Pacific Coast Borax Company; bootleggers and outlaws; the Ash Meadows Lodge; the T&T Ranch; delivering mail to Death Valley. Elizalde tries to re-start Carrara; tourism in Death Valley; Lear Jets near Lathrop Wells.

Family backgrounds; life in Fernley, Ely and Fallon; a distinguished great-grandmother; the Cirac family; a Depression childhood; arriving in Tonopah; lost in a blizzard; Tonopah's ethnic mix; stores in town; the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad; World War II. Early jobs; marriage; work for Bill Beko; a harsh school superintendant; high school memories.