Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1994

Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1994

Newlands Irrigation Project, Lahontan Dam, Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID), ranching, and agriculture.

February 24, 1994

Analog Cassette Tape

1:03:23

44100/128kbs

Churchill County Oral History Project
an interview with
ANNE GIBBS BERLIN
Fallon, Nevada
conducted by
Sylvia Arden
February 25, 1994

This interview is part of the socioeconomic studies for Churchill County's Yucca Mountain Planning and Oversight Program. © 1994

This is Sylvia Arden, interviewer for the Churchill County Oral History Project. Anne Gibbs Berlin was interviewed for the Churchill County Museum Oral History Project, on January 18, 1991, by Marian LaVoy. This interview, February 25, 1994, at her home at 1800 Union Lane, Fallon, Nevada, is a second interview concentrating on the Newlands Irrigation Project, Lahontan Dam, TCID [Truckee-Carson Irrigation District], ranching, and agriculture.


SYLVIA ARDEN: Good afternoon, Anne. Thank you so much for allowing me to come to interview you, actually a second interview. First I want you to tell us your full name.
ANNE BERLIN: My name is Anne Gibbs Berlin.
SA: And where and when were you born?
AB: I was born in Fallon, Nevada, on May 19, 1915.
SA: Anne, I was reading your first interview, and I read where your maternal grandfather, who was a stonemason, came to Fallon in about 1904 or 1905, and, quote, "filed on a farm," unquote. Does that mean he homesteaded?
AB: Yes, it does.
SA: And where was that homestead?
AB: This spot where we are talking right now.
SA: Okay, tell us what "this spot," means.
AB: Well, "this spot," means home to me, because I've never lived anywhere else.
SA: The location of it, for those who aren't here with me today.
AB: It's in Churchill County on Union Lane.
SA: I want to know the name of your grandfather who came to Fallon.
AB: J.C. Whipp.
SA: What does the J.C. stand for, do you know?
AB: Yes, James Carr.

ARDEN: Now, was the construction--because I read he did a lot of construction--was that due to the heavy influx of settlers who were also coming after the Newlands Project started?
BERLIN: Well, the construction work my grandfather did was as a stonemason. Apparently he was one of the few stonemasons in Fallon. He worked, for instance, on the I.H. Kent Company Store, which is still standing.
SA: That was such an early period, that I'm wondering if the people who moved here, who hired him to build these buildings, if those early settlers came here because of the publicity of the Newlands Project. Do you know?
AB: Oh yes! And the reason my grandfather came, I and think the reason that a good many other people came, is that he had a business that had failed in Oregon, and he was looking for a place to start over again.
SA: Did he ever tell you what he heard about this and what drew him here?
AB: No. If he did, I've forgotten.
SA: That's okay. Now, the land and the building here where you live, and you've lived for a long time, what date did they build the house?
AB: In 1910.
SA: Is this the original construction?
AB: Oh yes. And before they built the house, they lived in the cabin out back that we now call the bunkhouse.
SA: We'll get some pictures of that. This is such a beautifully-constructed house for such an early period. Who built it?
AB: Oh, my grandfather hired various workmen in the community.
SA: Did you know your grandfather and grandmother?

BERLIN: Oh yes, we lived with my grandmother and grandfather. I thought all children lived with their grandparents! (laughter)
ARDEN: Did they ever talk to you about what it was like when they first came?
AB: Oh yes.
SA: Can you remember anything to share?
AB: Especially my mother would talk about it, because at one time we were surrounded by fields of sagebrush, and she would show me where a construction camp used to be, when the young men were here working on the ditches.
SA: Was that the CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps]?
AB: Oh no.
SA: TCID?
AB: No, this is the first people who put in the first ditches.
SA: Oh. Do you know who that was?
AB: Oh, well, lots of the names are gone, but one I always remembered, the Post boys. But she talked about various. . . She was a young girl, and I imagine that all the young girls in the community were interested in the young engineers who were working around.
SA: Was that part of the Newlands Project?
AB: Oh yes! They were putting in the ditches, yes.
SA: Did your mother or your grandfather ever tell you what it looked like before the irrigation ditches were finished, what it looked like then, before they started to grow things?
AB: I think not. But of course I could well imagine, because in spots we're still surrounded by the sagebrush.
SA: Was it just open fields and sagebrush?

BERLIN: Yes. And my uncle always said that he and Grandpa, when they were looking for the place, chose the place where the sagebrush
grew well, because that was supposedly good ground.
ARDEN: How many acres did they homestead?
AB: Eighty.
SA: Only eighty?
AB: Only eighty, yes.
SA: Was that the limit then?
AB: Oh, I think not. I imagine it depended on how much money you had.
SA: What did you have to pay?
AB: I do not know.
SA: When they first came, were there any neighbors nearby?
AB: Yes, yes. Now, one of the things my mother always talked about was the Cushmans--they were early settlers who lived about two miles south. And the first weekend my mother and uncle were here, the Cushmans invited them to a party for young people. So I've heard about the kind Cushmans most all my life.
SA: Was your mother born here, or was she already born when your grandparents came?
AB: My mother and her brother, Vern, were born in Jacksonville, Oregon.
SA: And how old was she when she came here?
AB: Fifteen.
SA: Oh, so she was. . . .
AB: Oh yes.

ARDEN: So she had strong memories.
BERLIN: Oh yes.
SA: Did she tell you much about when they first got this property, the first things they started to do to start raising any crops or putting in trees? Did she talk about that?
AB: We talked several times. Most of the trees here grew from cottonwood fence posts.
SA: What do you mean by that?
AB: Well, they put in cottonwood limbs as fenceposts, and then the cottonwoods grew into trees. You'll notice as you drive around,
very often the cottonwoods are in a row, and that's why.
SA: Oh, you're the first one to tell us that! That's wonderful!
I understand when the dam was built in 1912, the generator there brought electricity early to Fallon. Are you within that district, or are you unincorporated?
AB: We didn't have electricity until I was in college.
SA: You're kidding!
AB: No, I remember coming home from college and here was an electric light, and it was very exciting.
SA: (laughs) Because Fallon got it so early.
AB: Oh yes, yes. No, we were late.
SA: What did you use for refrigeration?
AB: We had a desert cooler out on the porch. It was a cupboard with burlap sides, and then on top was a receptacle for water. Then you used cloth--old socks, because they were wool--and you would run the sock from the water in the reservoir down the sides and dampen the burlap.
SA: Did that keep it cold in summer?
BERLIN: Oh yes!
ARDEN: Of course in winter, you didn't need it.
AB: No, we didn't need it.
SA: Of course winter days like today, you would have. AB: Right.
SA: Did she tell you how they started to develop your homestead here? In other words, did they start to get animals?
AB: Oh yeah. I think at first, I know my grandfather worked on leveling this field, so that they could raise a crop. And one of the letters on file down in the TCID office tells a story about his planting the field and a bad windstorm came up and blew all the seed out of the ground, so he couldn't make his payment that year on the ranch.
SA: So these letters are at the TCID office?
AB: It's a wonderful, wonderful repository. They are there, yes.
SA: I'll get some copies there. Then moving along, did they then begin to get some animals?
AB: Yes. I imagine first you had to have some alfalfa before you'd buy a cow. But then I'm sure they'd buy a cow. And of course they had to have a team, if you were going to do any plowing, which they had to do.
SA: How many of you were living here in this house?
AB: Originally there was my grandfather and grandmother and my mother and uncle. And then my mother and father were married, and then my brother Jim and I came along. So there were six of us.
SA: Alright, so they just all lived here together?
AB: Yes.
SA: Were there enough rooms? It's a big house.
BERLIN: Oh yes.
ARDEN: And who helped with the ranching?
AB: As my grandfather grew older, we've always hired neighbors to help. My father worked in construction, so he wasn't [available].
SA: What were the kinds of chores that your grandmother and mother did? Did they tell you, do you remember?
AB: Well, as I remember, one of the things they did, that I still marvel at, they kept the fire going in the house, a fire going in the kitchen stove, and we thought we were very modern because we had a pump in the kitchen. There was constantly bringing in wood, carrying out ashes. And my grandmother used to say, "When you went to the privy, you should bring back a load of wood." So you saved steps that way.
SA: Did your father have time to help with the ranching?
AB: Well, yes, when he was here, but very often he was somewhere on a road construction job.
SA: Oh, so he wasn't always home every night.
AB: No. And for many years my mother milked the cow, because everybody had a cow--otherwise you wouldn't have had milk.
SA: In your first interview--I don't know how old you were, you'll tell me--you said what fun it was swimming in the drain ditches.
AB: We did that all our lives.
SA: From the time you were real little?
AB: We were real little, until after college years. And the strange thing is, it never, ever once occurred to us that the water might be dirty. Never, never!
SA: I was just going to ask you that! (laughter)
AB: No, we never even thought about that.
ARDEN: I want some more details, because I want to get a real picture for anyone reading this, because this is unusual.
BERLIN: For instance, the drain ditch that runs north and south, down here at the corner where I pick up my mail, the current had washed a nice hole, so it was deep enough to dive. That was our chief place.
SA: Do you have any pictures of that?
AB: 1 think somewhere. I don't have them right now, I'm sorry.
SA: If you find them, that's really important.
AB: Yes, I will.
SA: Now, was there always water in it?
AB: As I remember, there was water always.
SA: Was it pretty dirty?
AB: We didn't know! I suppose it was, but nobody knew the difference. (laughter)
SA: Did they ever cement that? Did you ever swim in cemented ditches?
AB: Later on, some of the boxes were cement. But as I remember it, they were all redwood.
SA: And about how many kids would be swimming in these ditches?
AB: Well, there were the four Jones kids and then kids from all around the neighborhood.
SA: That sounds like fun.
AB: Oh, it was wonderful, yes!
SA: Yesterday Mr. Woodliff told me about ice skating on the ditch. Did you ever do that?
BERLIN: Yes, and it seems strange, but we used to have ice. We don't have any more.
ARDEN: It doesn't get that cold any more?
AB: Apparently not.
SA: How old were the kids when they started ice skating, and what were the ice skates like in that early period?
AB: I can't remember. I remember my dad had skates from his youth, and he put them on and skated beautifully, and we were so amazed that an old man could skate! (laughter)
SA: He seemed old, and he was probably young.
AB: Yeah.
SA: That sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I could see pictures of that. Also in your first interview, you talk of the quails and pheasants. I wanted to know if the irrigation project, bringing water, had anything to do with the increase in the pheasants and quails.
AB: Oh, I'm sure it must have, yes. And another advantage we had here, our neighbors across the ditch, the Kallenbachs, had a forty-acre patch that they left in sagebrush until, oh, the last twenty years or so. And of course that was marvelous for game. George and Mrs. Kallenbach were original settlers. Their daughter, Margaret, married Tommy Ormachea. The Ormacheas' daughter, Marie Sherman, is now the owner of the property, now known as the Ormachea Ranch.
SA: Wonderful! I know what a good teacher you are, and I know that I like everything spelled correctly! (laughs)
I was intrigued when you mentioned in your first interview about the Ito and Kito--is that how you pronounce it?--families.
AB: Yes.
SA: I wanted to ask some more about them on Allen Road. I know from your interview that they were Japanese. Do you know anything about when they came here and what brought them here?
BERLIN: I'm sure that they came here because it was a good place to raise vegetables.
ARDEN: Do you know what year?
AB: I can't tell you what year.
SA: Were there any other Japanese in the community?
AB: Yes, there were two or three other families that came and went. The Kajakamis were one. I can't think right now of other names, but the ltos and Kitos were the big families.
SA: Do you know how long they lived here, about?
AB: No, I don't, but Masa's term paper is at the museum.
SA: Who's Masa?
AB: One of the Kito girls. And in it she writes about the Japanese in Churchill County, and it is the basis of an article that's going to appear in our museum quarterly.
SA: Wonderful! I was very intrigued by that. Do you know how many were in the family?
AB: I think there were probably five Itos and six Kitos. But I'm not sure. They were large families.
SA: Were they related, do you know?
AB: No, they were not.
SA: Okay. And did they have a pretty big produce ranch?
AB: I think probably eighty acres.
SA: And what was some of the produce?
AB: Their chief produce was cantaloupe, the Hearts-O-Gold.
ARDEN: Did they have a stand to sell this produce?
BERLIN: Yes, we went to the ranch and bought the vegetables. And Mrs. Ito and Mrs. Kito would sell, and either one of them would say, after you paid a dollar for a week's worth of groceries, "I give," and then she would give you as much as you bought.
SA: Oh my goodness! Besides the cantaloupe, what other produce?
AB: Oh, tomatoes and cukes [cucumbers] and turnips, lettuce-everything that you might think of.
SA: Now did they only sell locally like that? Or did they sell to stores?
AB: I think toward the end they were probably exporting cantaloupe through the Kent Company.
SA: Oh! And did they supply the Kents with produce?
AB: Oh yes! Masa talks about that in her term paper.
SA: Wonderful. I'm going to read that. And that's at the museum?
AB: Yes.
SA: And I'll also make a note in the interview, so people can look at that if they want more information.
Because I know the Hearts-O-Gold melon culture was a very big thing here in the twenties and thirties.
AB: Yes.
SA: Do you remember anything about the sugar beets that were grown, and the sugar factory?
AB: I remember that, because my father was interested. He and the Nevada Contracting Company, of which my father was a partner, at one time purchased a part share in the sugar beet factory.
SA: Oh!
AB: The thing I remember most about it was that the sugar beet factory went broke. And I can remember their dismantling the factory.
ARDEN: Did you ever understand, or did anyone ever tell you, why it went broke?
BERLIN: No, I never did quite understand that.
SA: Did your family raise any of the sugar beets?
AB: No, we did not.
SA: Did the Ito and Kito families?
AB: No, this was before.
SA: Oh, this was much earlier.
AB: This is earlier. I'd say in the late twenties.
SA: I know that Fallon has the only cattle auction, the Stockyard [Gallagher Livestock, Inc.], in the state. That interested me when I read that.
AB: Yeah, that's interesting.
SA: Do you know anything about that?
AB: No, I feel very close to it, because my neighbors, the Mickie Lacas, worked there.
SA: Now tell me, you said one of them worked there?
AB: Yes, he works there every week, and Lanie--Elaine--works sometimes.
SA: Oh, they work there now.
AB: Yeah.
SA: How long has that been there, do you have any idea?
AB: No.
SA: Have you observed, because there's an awful lot of trucks and cattle coming in, have you observed on Wednesdays in town over the years, a lot of activity?
BERLIN: Oh yes. Of course I always ask Mickie, "How was the sale?" And he almost always says it was a good sale. (laughter) So I think business is good.
ARDEN: And does that bring business to Fallon? People stay over?
AB: Oh yes. And the young man you met the other night, Sam Guazzini, is an auctioneer. He's Tony Testalin's nephew.
SA: Oh, I didn't know that! What fun! Yesterday in the interview, Mr. Woodliff said they do fill up the motels, that they come from far and wide.
AB: I'm sure they would, yes.
SA: Now what I want to ask you, in as much detail as you can give me, because you've been here a long time in this area where there are a lot of ranches, just kind of think about and tell me of the changes, as people were settling their homestead more and the water was in, were there more crops, were there more ranches, dairies? What did you observe in the area over. . .
AB: Over a lifetime! (laughs) I remember one thing: My grandfather and grandmother used to talk about how they would love to hear the sound of hammers in the distance, and that meant that somebody was building a home.
SA: Oh, how interesting!
AB: Of course when things happen gradually, I think we're not aware of it. But one thing I've noticed as the years have gone by, there are no more patches of sagebrush.
SA: It's all developed?
AB: Yes, more developed.
SA: Are most of the ranches the same, with the alfalfa hay?
AB: Well, in the Stillwater area, I think they raise grain. Then within the last few years, I've noticed more fields of corn.
SA: Is that corn for animals or people?

BERLIN: For the cattle.
ARDEN: What were some of the things on this homestead? Did you have any fruit trees?
AB: Oh yes, we used to have lots of fruit trees.
SA: What kind?
AB: Oh, apples and peaches and plums and cherries. I remember reading in a 1906 Churchill Standard, a gentleman named Kaiser said, "I do not advise that anybody plant fruit trees in this valley. Too many times you're disappointed." And of course very frequently we get a frost that kills the crop.
SA: And you said you used to have fruit trees?
AB: Yes, fruit trees die as the years go by, and we just failed to replant.
SA: What were some of the other things on this farm?
AB: We always had chiefly alfalfa.
SA: Did you have dairy cows or beef?
AB: No, we didn't ever have dairy cows. Well, I'm wrong about that, because I remember my grandfather--we used to have a cream separator out there on the porch, and so for a while we must have had at least one or two cows.
SA: For your home consumption, probably.
AB: I imagine. And then of course we always kept a pig, because you'd need your bacon and your nice salt pork for winter. And the skim milk went to the pig.
SA: Uh-huh, when you made the cream, you gave the skim milk to the pig?
AB: Right.
SA: Did you grow any of the produce? Or did you buy it all from Ito and Kito? Or did you grow your own vegetables?

BERLIN: No, we've always had gardens. My grandfather was a gardener, my husband was a gardener, and so almost always we've had our own. But we always supplemented it with Ito and Kito melons.
ARDEN: Now, I want to get to the irrigation. Just from your earliest, either from what you heard or from what you observed, did you always have enough water from the irrigation?
AB: As my memory serves me, we always did. And one of the things I often think about is how my grandfather, my mother, and my father would call the ditch tender and say, "I need a garden head." And they'd say, "Well, look in the ditch. If there's any water, take it."
SA: What is a. . . .
AB: A garden head is a small head of water, just enough to water your garden.
SA: Oh! And tell me a little more about these ditch riders.
AB: Each district has somebody in charge of the water going from the big canal to the various farms. And when you wanted to irrigate, you called your ditch tender and tell him, and then as the water becomes available, he gets it to you.
SA: Was it rationed at different times?
AB: Yes, there were good years and bad years, but as I remember it, the rationing wasn't too serious.
SA: Could you ask for water whenever you needed it?
AB: Oh yes. We have sandy soil, and I can remember both my dad and my granddad would get extra water because of the sandy soil, for those checks.
SA: I learned, that of course the water wasn't exactly free. How did they charge?
AB: I don't remember specifics, but I know that we've always paid, and we call it "maintenance and operation." And that money goes to pay for your water. And in later years, a good share of that money has gone to pay our attorneys.

ARDEN: Oh, because of all the water rights.
BERLIN: Yes.
SA: Did they increase what you had to pay all the time?
AB: Oh yes! I can't give you figures, but it's always been increasing, yes.
SA: So there's water now?
AB: Last year was wonderful. The year before that was bad. But this year, what do we hope? We may be lucky to have 70 percent of our allotted water.
SA: Driving here, down this road--and I'm going to take some pictures leaving--I see there's sheep and I see some cattle.
AB: Yes.
SA: Are those larger ranches? Or just that they concentrate on. . . . The ones with the cattle seem like. . . .
AB: Now, across the road, the Ormachea place, I think it's 160 acres. She has sheep as well as cattle.
SA: Is that all from homesteading?
AB: Yes, her grandparents: Marie Sherman's grandparents. I get my generations mixed up!
SA: Have they been a pretty big ranch for quite a long time?
AB: Oh yes, always.
SA: And when did they come, do you know? No, but they came after
my family did. I'd say probably somewhere in the 1920s.
SA: Did you ever have turkeys on your place?
AB: No, we didn't.
SA: Did the Itos and Kitos have turkeys?
BERLIN: No, they did not.
ARDEN: Was turkey raising kind of a separate thing?
AB: Yes, but many people did it. They did it especially because it was a way for women to make pocket money, raising turkeys and selling them at Thanksgiving time.
SA: Oh, okay, so women kind of went into that more?
AB: Yes.
SA: Was there a reason it was for women more than men?
AB: Well, the men were busy doing other things.
SA: Okay, so this would be kind of supplemental that they could do.
AB: Yes.
SA: I read, of course, where your father supervised the CCC.
AB: Yes.
SA: I'm going to ask you some questions, if you can remember. Did
he talk to you at all about his experiences with the CCC?
AB: Oh yeah. Well, of course, he lived at home. And as I think back on it, I think it was remarkable. The CCC boys did a lot of work on the ditches--just a lot of work. And one of the things they did was make a very attractive picnic ground at Lahontan.
SA: Oh, I hadn't heard that.
AB: Which was later demolished by vandals.
SA: (showing concern) Oh.
AB: The CCC was a very successful government--I would say-operation here. And many of our local citizens were CCC boys who stayed.
SA: Oh, did some stay?

BERLIN: Oh yes, oh ye&
ARDEN: Do you know any who stayed?
AB: Yes, one of my dearest friends, Floyd Biggs, who married Nola Downs, was a CCC boy.
SA: They still live here?
AB: Nola does.
SA: So after, give me her name, because we've been trying to find some people to interview to give first-hand [knowledge] of the CCC side.
AB: Well, I'm afraid by the time Nola knew Floyd. . . .
SA: Oh, it was too late?
AB: Yeah.
SA: Did you meet any of the CCC guys?
AB: Oh yes!
SA: Tell me as much as you can.
AB: Well, they were just nice kids, like any other group of kids. One of the things that used to worry my dad, was that if anything went wrong in town, "it was those CCC boys." And very often it was some Fallon High School kids.
SA: You mean the local people would make them the scapegoat?
AB: Yeah.
SA: Where were some of the parts of the country they came from? Or was it from all over?
AB: They came from all over, as I remember.
SA: Were there different ethnic groups?
BERLIN: No, I think not. Now that's an interesting question, and I've never thought of it before, but I think not.
ARDEN: Who did the selecting?
AB: For the CCC? I have no idea.
SA: I want to ask you more about the CCC. Did they stay for several years?
AB: I would say that some of them stayed two or three years, yes.
SA: What ages were they? How young? Seventeen, or. . . .
AB: I'd say seventeen, eighteen.
SA: Did they have barracks for them, or what?
AB: Oh yes. Barracks and dining hall.
SA: Where would that be?
AB: There were two camps here: there was Camp Carson River, and I've forgotten the name of the other camp. It was in the north of town, and Carson River was in the southwest.
SA: I read somewhere where that picture was taken near Gallagher's Stockyard. Was that the place?
AB: Uh-huh.
SA: And was it like military barracks?
AB: Uh-huh, yeah. Comfortable, I'd say.
SA: Did they mingle in town?
AB: The boys, of course, were attracted to the girls, and the girls were attracted to the boys. I think some of the local young men were a little bit jealous.
SA: That must have been exciting for the girls!
BERLIN: Oh, of course it was, yes.
ARDEN: How old were you then?
AB: Oh, I was in college then.
SA: Were you home at all?
AB: Oh yes, weekends.
SA: Were you interested?
AB: No.
SA: Well, they seemed a little younger than I, but I don't know.
AB: But Dad used to bring the boys home weekends to help him around the ranch. They were nice kids.
SA: Were they kind of visible in town?
AB: Oh yes.
SA: So it had an impact here.
AB: I would say.
SA: Plus the good work they did.
AB: Plus, you see, they brought in help. There was always a doctor at the camps, and someone in charge of the education. And, oh, I couldn't estimate, but there were several people at each camp, brought in by the government.
SA: I know that in small towns there has been a problem with health and medical care. Talking to your parents and then when you started to grow up, was their enough doctors or nurses to take care. . .
AB: I didn't ever hear my mother or my grandmother complain.
SA: Never?
BERLIN: No, we always had a doctor. And if anybody were ill, you called and the doctor came.
ARDEN: Oh good, so Fallon was ahead of. . . .
AB: Yes, I would say that we didn't have any serious problems.
SA: Good. Were you the only child?
AB: No, I had a brother, Jim.
SA: Did he marry?
AB: No, Jim was killed in the war.
SA: Oh dear. Okay, so there were no children in this household.
AB: No.
SA: Did your family go out to the recreation area that they started at Lahontan Dam?
AB: Oh yes, going to Lahontan Dam to go swimming was the big event in our lives, always, yes.
SA: What I'd like you to do, for those who don't have the privilege of seeing the dam, can you describe when you first were old enough to go there, and when you went there swimming, what it was like.
AB: It was wonderful for us, because here was all that water--more water than we'd ever seen before.
SA: Did you fish there?
AB: No, I didn't ever fish there.
SA: Did your family fish?
AB: No.
SA: And about how many people would go out there to picnic and enjoy the area?
BERLIN: Oh, I would say the whole community. Maybe not at the same time, but yes, really and truly, that was the only place where there was water and trees. I'm sorry I didn't realize how lucky we were to have trees. I just took the trees for granted. My mother talked about when she was a girl, they would have expeditions on Sunday to Soda Lake, and that was a popular point. But by the time I'd grown up, Lahontan was more popular than Soda Lake.
ARDEN: When you would go to Lahontan Dam, were there periods where there was very little water in the lake?
AB: Yes, of course. Sometimes we could see the island, and sometimes we couldn't.
SA: Did you go to Pyramid Lake?
AB: Occasionally. But that was a big trip.
SA: Do you remember changes in Pyramid Lake?
AB: No, I don't.
SA: I know there's a lot of controversy with Pyramid Lake and with the water in Pyramid Lake.
AB: No, I don't remember that.
SA: Have you seen their new recreation center?
AB: At Pyramid? No, I haven't. I should.
SA: I drove out there, around the area, to see.
Then getting back here to the ranch, over the periods, were
there periods of drought where it hurt you here?
AB: You know, when we're young, we're not. . . . What do I want to say? I was amazed two years ago when we had the drought, at how worried I was, and then I thought of all the other periods when we had droughts, and it really didn't worry me at all. I was just too young.
SA: Uh-huh, and you weren't responsible.
BERLIN: Right.
ARDEN: Was there ever a period when it was a hardship here on this
homestead, because of not being able to raise crops?
AB: No, I wouldn't say that, no.
SA: Or losing crops?
AB: No, I wouldn't say that.
SA: Were there ever any real bad winters where it froze?
AB: Oh yes, we used to have some very bad winters.
SA: How'd you cope with that?
AB: One of the things that always delighted us was that if the winters were bad enough, they'd close school. And in those lovely days, the school closures were called an "act of God," and you did not have to make up the time come spring. I remember the winter of--I think it was 1933--and I think the schools were closed for two weeks, and we were lucky enough to have a team, and somebody fixed up a sled, and it was the most wonderful. . . The high-time of our lives!
SA: And then of course with the snow melting, gave you all more water!
AB: Right. And you know, we weren't aware of that fact--we just enjoyed the snow.
SA: But the grownups here. . .
AB: Oh yes.
SA: Now, I want to go to the Depression years.
AB: The Depression, we talk about that often. We were all poor, but we really didn't know it. (laughter) Really and truly.
SA: You had your roof over your head and your food.
BERLIN: Uh-huh.
ARDEN: Maybe you weren't in town enough, but I was just wondering if there was any organized help for those who. . . .
AB: You know, I don't remember, but I'm sure there must have been.
SA: You didn't see any effects here in your family?
AB: Oh, well, of course! We had less money. But somehow, as I say, again, when you're young, you don't worry about it.
SA: Now I want to go to the World War II period. Tell me a little bit about World War II in the rural area of Fallon. Did it take away fellahs from the ranches?
AB: Oh yes. I would say that it didn't hurt the ranches too much, because essential young men were kept at home to work on the ranches. And of course the price of grain was good. In a way, it was a good time for the ranchers.
SA: Were there more sales of the produce and beef to feed the military?
AB: I don't remember, but probably there was.
SA: I also saw where they were promoting victory gardens.
AB: Oh yes, we all had gardens.
SA: Was there a feeling in the town, with young fellahs going, and losses of young men. . . .
AB: Oh yes, it was very sad. And it was very sad at school, because every once and so often we'd lose one of our boys.
SA: So it was a hard period.
AB: Yes, it was. I look back on it now, at school, as if it were, aside from the war, it was a wonderful time to teach, And I sometimes think we had so many more important things to worry about, that the things we later worried about, we didn't even notice. When you thought some kid was being shot, it didn't worry you very much whether another one was chewing gum in school.
ARDEN: Yeah, you kind of put. . . .
BERLIN: Put things in perspective, yes.
SA: When the war ended, were there any changes that were visible? Did other people move into Fallon after the war?
AB: If they did, it was so gradual I wasn't aware of it.
SA: Also, during the war, did it affect--because I know there was tire rationing and gas rationing.
AB: Oh yes, and meat rationing.
SA: And butter.
AB: And hose! I remember once that my Aunt Madge gave me hose, and it was the most marvelous thing in the whole. . . . I'll never forget that.
SA: Now, by rationing meat, did that affect the cattle industry?
AB: I'm sure it did. I couldn't tell you how, but I'm sure it did.
SA: Then when the military base came in. Approximately what time period was that?
AB: You know, I can't tell you about when.
SA: I know that had a tremendous impact on ranchers, didn't it?
AB: Well, yes, because some of the ranchers, for instance, my dear friends the Hannifans, sold their ranch to the military.
SA: Did the government condemn the land so you had to sell it?
AB: Yes, indeed.
SA: They had no choice?
BERLIN: You had no choice, that is correct.
ARDEN: That must have been difficult.
AB: Yes.
SA: Because I know at home, if they want to build a freeway, they condemn the houses.
AB: Absolutely.
SA: So there's no choice.
AB: Right.
SA: That must have been devastating!
AB: People are so opposed to the federal prison coming here.
SA: They would condemn some more.
AB: After all, if the federal government decides to build here, they'll do it, yes.
SA: That must be absolutely devastating.
AB: Yes, it is a problem.
SA: And the new housing that's just beyond you here, the military--did they have to condemn and take away some of the ranches?
AB: Oh yes, all the ranches down here, yes.
SA: What did those people do?
AB: Well, the younger ones bought ranches somewhere else, and I would say the older ones retired and moved to town.
SA: That must be so hard. Do you see more of that happening as they expand?
AB: Well, supposedly no, but actually I imagine it will happen, yes.
ARDEN: You obviously were living here when the military came in.
BERLIN: Oh yes.
SA: What about the planes? Did it affect the animals?
AB: Oh, not here, no. We can't say we were ever bothered by. .
SA: Because it isn't noisy?
AB: Because we don't notice it, I guess. It's noisy.
SA: What about when it first started? Usually you get used to things.
AB: I think we were so busy worrying about the other things that we didn't notice the difference.
SA: You've been here from the time they opened, right?
AB: Yes.
SA: What have you observed as to the military? Do they integrate in the town, are they isolated?
AB: Unfortunately, right now, I have one true dear friend, after all these years, that I've made at the military, and I think that's rather unfortunate that we don't have an opportunity to know the people better,
SA: I know that they come and go for training, rather than permanent stays.
AB: Right.
SA: But they must have some permanent staff?
AB: Oh yes, they do.
SA: And do they have, like at the base, community outreach?
AB: Oh yes.
SA: Like an open day to come?
BERLIN: Oh yes, they make an effort.
ARDEN: Anything else that you can tell about the military in the community?
AB: I think the people who know the military best probably are the teachers, because they have the advantage of knowing the kids, and then you get to know the families.
SA: When the students come into the schools, does that overcrowd
existing schools? Do they have to build more schools?
AB: Yes, I'm sure. Of course, on the other hand, I don't know what the per capita is now, but the Navy pays for each child.
SA: Oh, they do? That's good.
AB: Oh yes!
SA: I thought it came through taxes.
AB: No.
SA: Good. Okay, so that may help the schools.
AB: Yes, definitely.
SA: And also gives the students an opportunity to meet people from other parts of the country.
AB: And also the civilians who are employed at the base--their children are also eligible for Navy funds for the schools.
SA: That's good. So concentrating again on the effects of the
irrigation, the water that's made this the oasis that it is, because it is different from any other place nearby, can you add anything more to help us understand the beauty of it?
AB: One of the things that has always meant a lot to me is that wild asparagus grows on the ditch banks.
SA: Really?!

BERLIN: And in the early spring, we all have our favorite spots to cut wild asparagus. It is certainly one of the joys of living in this valley-along with the cantaloupe.
ARDEN: Oh, how wonderful! I've never heard that. No one has told us that.
AB: It's wonderful.
SA: It is beautiful country.
AB: And another thing that I think we should be especially thankful for, we have wonderful sunsets.
SA: I love your skies. Yes, just beautiful.
You married after your parents died?
AB: Yes.
SA: And your husband came here?
AB: Oh yes.
SA: So just tell me a little bit how you ran things here when your parents were gone and it was the two of you here. How did you manage this place?
AB: We've always been very fortunate in having neighbors. The Maciotta brothers farmed, and they did our farm work for years, and Mickie Laca who does it now is their nephew. So we've been extremely fortunate.
SA: So you were able to handle it all.
AB: Yes.
SA: What was your husband's occupation?
AB: My husband worked in the Fallon Mercantile, and he worked as the machinist chiefly on milking machines and water pumps. And he had been a miner prior to that.

ARDEN: That reminds me to ask you, as the years went on, did your family acquire some of the more sophisticated equipment?
BERLIN: Oh yes!
SA: Tell me about that.
AB: As I say, I can still remember coming home from school, from the university, and having electricity. And the thing that was the most
wonderful thing was that my mother had an electric iron.
SA: Oh! She didn't have to heat it on the stove?
AB: Yes.
SA: And what year did you say electricity came in here?
AB: In 1934, 1935--somewhere along there.
SA: And then what about farm equipment?
AB: I don't remember.
SA: You didn't get any more modern. . . .
AB: Well, I'm sure a lot of people did, yes.
SA: And then you said your husband [repaired] electric pumps?
AB: Yes, all through the valley, he took care of people's pumps. We used to have many more dairies in Fallon than we have now, and he took care of milking machines all over the valley.
SA: Oh, that's a good business! Did he like to do any of the ranching?
AB: He loved gardening.
SA: What year did your husband die?
AB: I think it was eight years ago.
SA: How have you managed alone?

BERLIN: Oh, very well.
ARDEN: Are there many changes in your land, now that you're alone? Have you reduced any?
AB: Oh, no, everything is just the same.
SA: Do you have any animals at all?
AB: No. Oh, I have a dog and my cat. The cattle belong to the Lacas.
SA: Do you get heavy rains here?
AB: No.
SA: Very little in a desert climate.
AB: Right, just very little.
SA: So the region depends almost exclusively on the irrigation water.
AB: Oh yes!
SA: And without that, what would happen?
AB: And as Don Travis said the other night, "Our wells also depend on the irrigation water." And year-before-last, we all worried about our wells when we suffered from the drought.
SA: So the well water comes also through the canals?
AB: Yes.
SA: Oh, from the dam project?
AB: Yeah.
SA: And what about one of the things I was thinking of when Mr. Woodliff was telling me about the new park: Does the sprinkling system water, does that also. . . .
AB: Oh yes.

ARDEN: All of that comes from that.
BERLIN: Oh yes.
SA: So it's really dependent..
AB: Oh yes, everything.
SA: . . . on that Project, because I understand there's another new park, where a sprinkling system was just put in, where his son is doing the gazebo?
AB: Oh yes, the Laura Mills Park.
SA: No, he said it was a different park, a new park that they're building.
AB: Well, it's part of the Laura Mills.
SA: Okay. So that without realizing it, and thinking about this Project, I've been amazed how everything depends. . . . If it had not been for the Newlands Project, this would be just sagebrush country.
AB: Oh yes.
SA: Is there anything more that you can add to the interview?
AB: One thing that I think about frequently are the drain ditches.
SA: Tell me about that.
AB: Apparently, originally, when they put in the irrigation system, they didn't realize the problem of drainage. And the federal government also put in the drains. And I can remember when they were putting in the drain here, this road was closed. And if we wanted to get out, somebody walked down to this other road. But again, it was so long ago. I don't think we worried especially about it.
Now I don't ever remember the time when we didn't have a telephone.
SA: Really?!
AB: Of course, that is always a link.

ARDEN: And it's so important when you live out this far,
BERLIN: Oh yes.
SA: When did they pave these roads?
AB: Oh heavens! This Union Lane, I think is paved because of the Navy.
SA: Oh, it wasn't paved before then?
AB: I think not.
SA: Another question I was going to ask: I know you didn't go into town much, but the trucking, I see so many freight trucks and trucks going through Fallon. Did you ever see trucks come to the ranches to pick up produce?
AB: No.
SA: There's just heavy truck traffic through town.
AB: When we used to have a creamery here, the cream trucks would come and pick up the cream, and then in later years they picked up the cream for creameries in Reno. But other than that, I don't ever remember trucks picking up anything.
SA: What do you do for mail in this rural area?
AB: Oh, we have rural routes.
SA: So you have a mailbox somewhere?
AB: Yes.
SA: Is it far?
AB: Mine's a quarter of a mile down the road.
SA: Have you ever been snowed-in, have to wait to get your mail?
AB: Oh yes! (laughter)
ARDEN: Is there anything else about the house? It's a beautiful house. I'm going to take some pictures inside, because the craftsmanship. . . . Who crafted this? It's so beautiful.
BERLIN: Yeah, isn't it amazing? My grandfather, as I say, was a stonemason, and he built the fireplace, and he made that picture
frame. But I think they just had good carpenters then, don't you?
SA: Beautiful, yes. I really want to take a lot of pictures.
AB: And we were fortunate when the earthquake--and I can't tell you the year. Some homes were damaged, and we weren't on the fault, so we weren't damaged.
SA: Oh, good! How old were your parents when they died?
AB: My father was eighty-one, and my mother was about seventy I think.
SA: Oh, she was young.
AB: Yes.
SA: Is there anything else that you can share?
AB: We've always had, since my time, a bus system for rural students.
SA: Oh, a school bus?
AB: Uh-huh. And my brother and I walked down here to what is now Testolin Road, to pick up the bus.
SA: Except for the school bus, is there any transportation for anyone else? Or do they have to use their cars?
AB: You have to use your car.
SA: Will the school buses pick up someone if they want a ride?
AB: Oh no.
SA: There used to be a school here, Union School, right?

BERLIN: Yes.
ARDEN: Did you go to that school?
AB: No, it was gone before I started to school. The structure was still standing, but the Consolidated "B" District had been consolidated.
SA: I'm going to leave the machine on while we go look at pictures. I'm not going to end the interview.
AB: The first thing I want to show you is this. . . .
SA: Anne, while we were outside exploring the grounds of your home and your grandfather's homestead, you talked more about the ditches. So what I want you first to do is tell me what you were telling me outside about the ditches.
AB: One of my most vivid memories is of my mother and grandfather irrigating, and they had to walk the ditches frequently, because there were lots of gophers. Very often a ditch would break, and a break in the ditch was very serious, because somebody had to come with a tailboard and repair the break. As the years went by, the ditches seemed to become more stable, and I can remember when farmers first started fencing both sides of their ditches, and they would run cattle or horses along the ditch, and of course that would help to stabilize the ditch and keep the gophers out. But gophers were a problem. And today when I watch men irrigating, riding their three-wheelers, I think about all those hundreds of miles that people used to walk when they irrigated--you walked!
SA: And how do they do it now?
AB: Oh, well, they ride a three-wheeler or else they go in their pickup trucks.
SA: Describe for us what a three-wheeler is.
AB: A three-wheeler is a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a motorcycle type engine, a lightweight vehicle with flotation type tires. It is easily driven across fields, et cetera, saving the rider miles of walking.
SA: To go take care of all the. . . .
BERLIN: To watch the ditches, yeah.
ARDEN: I see.
AB: Nobody walks.
SA: Now the other thing, still relating to ditches--and I know you told me everyone swam in the ditches--were there any accidents, or anyone drowning?
AB: There have always been tragic accidents of children drowning in the ditches, yes.
SA: Recently there was a car accident that I think was involved with a ditch where someone got killed. Have there been many car accidents?
AB: Oh yes, of course, unfortunately.
SA: Is it usually people who don't know their way around?
AB: Oh, no, it's local--usually somebody going too fast. Just a tragedy.
SA: When we were looking at your historic photos, we saw a wonderful picture with lots and lots of ducks that your husband and others were hunting. Tell me about the duck hunting period.
AB: What we call the government pasture was a wonderful place to hunt ducks, and as the years have gone by and the government pasture, the water has dried up, duck hunting has become--there have been fewer and fewer ducks.
SA: Where was this government pasture?
AB: This government pasture is south here.
SA: About how many miles south?
AB: Oh, it's three or four miles.
SA: What made it such good duck hunting?
AB: Well, because there was a huge pond of water.
ARDEN: I see. And how did the pond accumulate?
BERLIN: Well, the water coming out of the drain ditches. And then of course there was also wonderful hunting at Stillwater in the sloughs.
SA: And what happened?
AB: Well, as we had less and less water, the sloughs dried up.
SA: And why was there less and less water? Was it diverted?
AB: It was diverted other places, yes.
SA: I see. So that affected that.
AB: Oh definitely, definitely.
SA: And what about the pheasant and quail hunting?
AB: The same thing is true. And of course another thing that has affected the pheasant and quail hunting--the power machinery does away with many nests with young birds, simply because when you're driving one of those big machines, you don't have a chance to see.
SA: Oh, my goodness. And does the noise also chase away any wildlife?
AB: I suppose it does. But I think the pheasants and quail have been decimated. Two reasons: there are many more people, and then the power equipment.
SA: I see. Is a part of it that more and more people came to hunt and maybe killed too many?
AB: No, that isn't it.
SA: Okay. So what period did your husband and friends go duck hunting? What was the most prolific period?
AB: Oh, I can't say when, but I would say from when the Project started, up until the last ten years.
ARDEN: Oh, that recent?!
BERLIN: Oh yes.
SA: So the diversion is recent?
AB: Yes.
SA: I see. Has the diversion affected any other aspects, beside the hunting?
AB: I don't know. You mean aspects of what?
SA: Aspects of ranchers and farmers. Has it affected you?
AB: Of course the dry years are bad, yes. But the years of the wonderful hunting definitely are gone. Now when I go to the museum and look at those marvelous stuffed ducks, I wonder how anybody could eat one. But before we didn't used to worry about that.
SA: And now you don't see them,
AB: No.
SA: They have to go to other regions to do that.
AB: Right.
SA: Is there anything else before we end this interview?
AB: I think not. I think we've covered it pretty well.
SA: Well, I want to thank you so much for sharing--not only sharing the interview, but for my exploration of your beautiful homestead here, and the land, and now we're going to take some more photos inside the house.
On behalf of the Churchill County Oral History Project, we want to thank you. This is the end of the interview.

MONUMENT WORKS SERVE SOUTHERN OREGON
The Jacksonville Marble Works was located at the corner of Oregon and California Streets on the former site of Linn's Furniture Manufacturing. Company which had burned. Today the telephone building is located on that site.
The Marble Works was established by J. C. Whipp who left England in 1866 where he had served in the British Navy. In Jacksonville he married Florence (Hoffman) Shipley who with her family had crossed the plains in 1852.
In an age when death was commonplace, and a weekly trip to the cemetery was an obligation, memorial stones were virtual necessities. Those who could afford them purchased marbles engraved with eloquent verses and lavish embellishments. Whipp was able to hire expert sculptors and marble workers. Stones in the photograph attest to their skill in carving. In the center of the display appears the. sculptured angel which Dr. J. W. Robinson purchased as a memorial for his two children who died in 1890 (see March issue). An item in the Oregon Sentinel of September 4, 1886, states that, "Whipp is doing a rushing business. He has just returned from Josephine County where he set up a large number of tombstones. [In Jacksonville] he is putting up a handsome enclosure for C. C. Beekman."
The business was in existence for less than 15 years, but during that time Whipp provided many memorial stones which are still standing in the cemeteries of southern Oregon.
In 1903 he closed the marble works, and, with his family, moved from southern Oregon. He was apparently a man of varied interests: before coming to Jacksonville he had been one of the builders of the famous Tillamook lighthouse; after leaving Jacksonville, he became a rancher in Fallon, Nevada. He died there at the age of 81.
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Sylvia Arden

Anne Gibbs Berlin

Fallon, Nevada