ORAL HISTORIES

Gordon Bettles' parents; Edith is raised by her grandmother; Gordon and Billie live in Fernley and Reno, then move south; developing a home on the T&T. Gordon and Billie build a home on the Mecca Road and begin the Mecca Club; Billie completes the home after Gordon's death. The Brockmans move to Beatty; Frank discovers how Nevadans do business; building a motel. An ambulance for Beatty; the brothels in town; a beef roast goes awry; promoting Beatty with a burro; Gordon Bettles as a Mason; the Meander Inn.

Cirac family backgrounds, including a scout for Kit Carson and the builder of the Koster wagons; one of the first settlers in Union Canyon; the first woman doctor in the West?; Great-grandfather Cirac's mill at Berlin; Grandfather Cirac - inventor, prospector, etc.; growing up among Paiutes; Grandfather Cirac meets his wife; turquoise mines; Don Cirac's father and his siblings. The hotel in Grantsville; crossing the Toiyabe Mountains; Charlie Joseph - quite a prospector; gold rushes at Ophir and Orizaba; remembering Sheriff Bill Thomas, including a shooting at Carver's Station; Taxine's brothel and Bobbie Duncan. Tonopah's red-light district; bootlegging; a professional gambler; growing up in Tonopah - a tough but rewarding experience; people's perception of gamblers; a real promoter.

Early days in Fernley and at the Clay Camp at Ash Meadows. Early days in Beatty; the Lisle family trip from Fernley to Ash Meadows; some mimes in the Beatty area. Stories of Dad Fairbanks and Death Valley Scotty. Mining tungsten during World War II; service in the army; returning to Beatty after the war. Fourteen years as Nye County Commissioner; how the hardware store got started. The growth of service organizations in Beatty; Bert Lemons; movie theater; Beatty in the 1930s. Beatty as a supply point; Beatty is a caring town.

Family backgrounds; the elder Metscher's boyhood and youth in Goldfield; work during World War II; the family moves to Tonopah; an early historical society in Tonopah; Pete Peterson and Mizpah Andy; beginnings of a new historical society Central Nevada's Glorious Past; a membership drive. Receiving a grant; creating a museum and museum board; storage facilities; photo files and a library; school tours; a focus on mining; a dedication to Tonopah Army Air Base flyers. The advantages of the museum to tourism; why this love of history?; the stages of history in Tonopah; red-light district; photo collection and library; stock certificates and tokens; railroads; preserving the present for when it is the past.

Returning to Tonopah and a job on the Nevada Test Site and as a Nye County deputy sheriff; Nye County's licensing of Nevada Test Site workers' cars; law enforcement on the Nevada Test Site; taxing the property of businesses on the Test Site; assessing the Nevada Test Site contractors' property; then-District Attorney William Beko's support of the assessment; testing the assessing of Nevada Test Site contractors' property in court - a David-and-Goliath situation; fond memories of Judge William Beko.

Bart's parents, Bartley and Mary Winters O'Toole; Grandfather O'Toole's travels and his arrival in Nye County; Grandfather O'Toole's marriage and family; buying the Welch Ranch; Grandfather O'Toole's sheep business; gardens in the Reese River Valley; ranches in the Reese River Valley before the 1930s; the climate in the valley; an outbreak of rabies; cattle drives. Further discussion of the old-timers' toughness and stoicism; uncles George and Arthur O'Toole; the O'Toole brothers in general; social life in the Reese River Valley in the 1940s and 1950s; food on the O'Tooles' ranch

Childhood, youth and marriage in Pecos, Texas; learning of work in the Pahrump Valley - at much better pay; commuting to work in Las Vegas and on the Test Site; various positions growing cotton on area farms; work for Tim Hafen; illegal workers from Mexico; the start of the community building; a Catholic church for the valley; the difficulties to adjusting to a very isolated area. Good neighbors to the rescue; schooling for the valley's children; raising a large and productive family; farming in the valley and the quality of Pahrump cotton; health problems; more on workers from Mexico.

Discussion of Bobby's parents and of Bobby's early years in Tonopah and Las Vegas; his experiences in the schools in Tonopah and memories of some of Tonopah's residents; Bobby's early experiences with mining and with Louie Meyers and Norman Coombs. More discussion of the Tonopah mines; remembering some of the area's old-timers, including Goldfield's blind miner; Bobby's move to Manhattan; Bobby talks about his wife and son; Bobby's work with mechanics and electronics. Recollections of Bobbie Duncan and the Buckeye in Tonopah; memories of Toni Buffum; Bobby's run-in with a rattlesnake; memories of Beverly Harrell of the Cottontail Ranch; further memories of Louie Meyers and of his death, and of the deaths of several other friends.

Jim's family and the backgrounds of the Bergs and Rogers; a list of the ranches in Smoky Valley; the impact of the Taylor Grazing Act on local ranching; discussing types of horses and the definition of an "ugly" horse; living in Round Mountain as a youngster; attending grade school in Round Mountain and high school in Austin and Fallon; ranch life and chores as a child; on rounding up cattle and how area cattle summer in the mountains; herding cattle with dogs; a discussion of horsemanship; the benefits of having geldings; a definition of a cowboy. more....

Troy's family background and early days in Cripple Creek, Colorado; Troy's education and early years in mining; his move to the Nevada Test Site; the politics of nuclear testing in the late 1950s; working on safety issues for the Test Site and the Atomic Energy Commission; a move to Washington, D.C.; a move to Idaho and a thorough grounding in nuclear energy and nuclear policy; a return to Washington. A discussion of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain; reprocessing nuclear waste; some background on the history and politics behind Yucca Mountain. Troy describes his position on Yucca Mountain; thoughts on the future of spent nuclear fuel in Nevada and worldwide.