Ethel Kent McNeely Oral History
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Churchill County Oral History Project
an interview with
ETHEL K. McNEELY
Reno, Nevada
conducted by
Sylvia Arden
April 10, 1994
This interview is part of the socioeconomic studies for Churchill County's Yucca Mountain Planning and Oversight Program.
© 1994
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewer and interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Churchill County Museum or any of its employees.
Preface
Ethel Kent McNeely's paternal grandfather, Ira H. Kent, settled in the Stillwater area about 1875 after traveling from New York and Oregon, selling heavy wagons. Ethel's paternal grandmother, Mary Kaiser Kent, came with her father, Charles Kaiser, to the Stillwater area about 1870. Ira and Mary eloped to Virginia City. Ethel's father, Charles Kent, was born in Stillwater. Her mother, Helen Hale Hamlin, was teaching school there when they met and married.
The Kent family started ranching in Stillwater and also opened a general store. When Fallon became the County seat in 1903, Grandfather and Grandmother Kent moved to Fallon where they opened another store. Ethel's father kept the store in Stillwater and ran the ranch where Ethel was born in 1915, five years after her brother Ira Hamlin Kent was born. She describes life on the ranch with up to fifty working men sleeping in a bunkhouse and various cooks, including Chinese, preparing the meals for the workmen and the family. She describes the irrigation ditches and canals from Lahontan Dam, the big orchard and vegetable garden, and the large dairy with about ninety cows.
Ethel rode a horse to the Stillwater Schoolhouse when she was only six! When her brother Ira started high school, Ethel, her mother and brother moved into Fallon where they rented a house close to Grandmother and Grandfather Kent and the Kent Company Store. The move also gave Ethel the opportunity to start music lessons and join the Campfire girls. She was only thirteen when she started driving a car and even drove the school bus when the regular driver couldn't make it.
While attending the University of Nevada-Reno she met and married James T. McNeely. They helped her Dad on the ranch for three years, including taking care of the 5,000 turkeys her Dad decided to raise. Ethel did the cooking. In 1941 her husband was called in the service and Ethel and their son, who was born on the ranch, went with him. Mr. McNeely was sent overseas in 1944. By then they had a second son. Ethel and the boys went back to the ranch. When the war ended, her husband returned to the ranch and they bought part of the herd of Holstein cows. Jim operated the dairy as well as helping with other ranch work until he was called back in the service in 1951. He decided to become a permanent career officer. When Mr. McNeely got out of the service, they lived at Lake Tahoe for five years before buying their home in Reno in 1971, where Ethel still lives.
SYLVIA ARDEN: This is Sylvia Arden, interviewer for the Churchill County Oral History Project, interviewing Ethel McNeely at her home at 1595 Wilbur Place, Reno, Nevada. The date is April 10, 1994. Good morning, Ethel. I'm so pleased that you allowed me to interview you for the Churchill County Oral History Project. Can you first give us your full name, including your maiden name, where you were born, and when?
ETHEL McNEELY: Ethel Kathryn Kent McNeely. I was born in Stillwater, Nevada, in a farmhouse that's still there, in 1915 [September 2].
SA: I'd like to ask you about your grandparents. We're going to start with your father's parents. Can you tell me their names and where they were born?
EM: Grandpa Kent is Ira H. Kent, and he was born in Lylestown, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1855. And Grandma Kent was Mary Kaiser Kent, and she was born in the Sacramento, [California] area, January 15, 1859.
SA: Did you know them?
EM: Yes, I knew both of them. Grandpa lived into his late eighties, and Grandma was in her nineties when she passed away.
SA: Can you tell me when they came to Nevada and what brought them here, do you know?
EM: Grandpa Kent came down from Oregon with some heavy wagons and to sell. He'd come out from New York with these wagons, and he sold 'em and he liked the Stillwater area so well that he settled there. And that was about 1875. And Grandma Kent came with her father, Charles Kaiser, to the Stillwater area about 1870.
SA: Tell me about what your grandpop or grandmom told you about--or did they tell you about their arrival in Stillwater and what that life was like and what it was like then? Did they ever tell you?
EM: No, they didn't tell me too much about when they arrived here or anything, but Grandma Kent worked in a store that her father had, down on the Freeman Ranch, and she used to tell about how she would have to take a gun out because they were always afraid of Indian raids at that time.
SA: Oh my! Can you tell me, first going to grandpop and then grandma, how many in each of their immediate families? Did Ira have brothers or sisters that came out? Did your grandmom, when she came with her father, have brothers and sisters?
EM: Grandpa Kent, as far as I know, was by himself. I never knew of him having any brothers or sisters. Grandma Kent had some sisters, and one of them lived, when I knew 'em, lived in Wadsworth, and one lived down in San Jose, or down in that area. She later moved to Fallon.
SA: Did they tell you how they met?
EM: Well, I can't tell you how they met, but they eloped by wagon to Virginia City and were married in Virginia City.
SA: Do you know how old they were when they married?
EM: I can't tell you right offhand.
SA: We'll go back to them later. Let's go to your mother's family. Tell me about your grandpop and grandmom on your mother's side: their names, where they were born, and when.
EM: Grandpa Hamlin's name was Roscoe Hamlin. He was born in China, Maine, January 30, 1841. Grandma's name was Eunice Street, and she was born in Ottawa County, Ohio, March 11, 1845.
SA: Did you know your mother's parents, your grandpop and grandmom on your mother's side?
EM: My grandfather died before I was born, and Grandma died when I was only about six or seven years old.
SA: Let's move on to your immediate family with your father and your mother. How many brothers and sisters did you have?
EM: My father is Charles Erastus Kent and he was born February 17, 1881, in Stillwater, Nevada. He and Mother were married in August 1905. Mother was Helen Hale Hamlin, and she was born December 7, 1876, in Sierra Valley near Loyalton, [California].
SA: I know your father was born in Stillwater, but what brought your mother out here?
EM: Mother graduated from the University of Nevada with a teacher's degree, and she taught in Lovelock and then went to Stillwater, and that's where she met him.
SA: Oh, how interesting! Did she tell you much about her experience there as a teacher?
EM: No, the only thing I know is she taught my uncle.
SA: (laughs) As in those days, usually when teachers married, they had to stop teaching. Is that what happened with your mother?
EM: I imagine so. But they were married in Reno.
SA: Let me go back and learn a little bit about your father. What can you tell me about your father, what he did, did he work on the ranch, or what his work was.
EM: Well, he first went to high school over in Wadsworth, and then they sent him down to Sacramento to a business school. When he came back, of course he worked on the ranch. And at that time the Kents had a store, and the store, most of it moved to Fallon. But Dad still kept the store in Stillwater, and he ran that along with the ranch.
SA: So the family started very, very early with both ranching and the store that they're so famous for…
EM: Yes. The ranch was started about 1875, I think, is when we first got the ranch, which we still have.
SA: So it's still in the family name, and I know the store.
EM: That's right.
SA: I see you were born in 1915--tell me first, were you born on the ranch? Where were you born in Stillwater?
EM: I was born on the ranch in the house that the folks live in.
SA: And how long did you stay there? Did you live most of your childhood there?
EM: I lived there, pretty near, yes, until, really, until I graduated from college. We lived in Fallon for three years while my brother was goin' to high school, and the rest of the time it was on the ranch.
SA: I want to go back to your very, very earliest memories. First, were there brothers and sisters?
EM: I just had the one brother, Ira Hamlin Kent.
SA: Is he younger or older?
EM: He is older. He is five years older than I am.
SA: So from your very, very earliest memories, I want you to tell me a lot of things, and I'll be asking you questions. What was the house like that you lived in, from the time you can remember? We're going to first stay in the house and the household before we move out into the ranch. What can you remember?
EM: Okay, the house was kind of divided. We had our own living quarters. There were three bedrooms and a bathroom, a dining room and a living room. And off of the dining room was a little porch that Mother cooked in, in the summertime. In the wintertime, we generally ate out in the other part of the house which had a large dining room where the men ate, and we always had a cook. And there was a bedroom and a bath at that area of the house. The house, when I was real tiny, was heated with stove and fireplace. And then they discovered hot water and the house was completely heated with radiators and we turned 'em on in the fall time and off in the springtime.
SA: Now I need to slow you down, because we're going to want dates. I want to stay first just with your very early childhood. We'll move into the later developments. When you were a little girl, there were a lot of people in your household, hm?
EM: There was always a lot of men working out on the ranch, because Dad had a lot of cattle and horses. And of course during the summertime there was haying and everything, and sometimes we'd have up to fifty men during the summertime that there'd have to be cooking for.
SA: Where did they sleep?
EM: There was a bunkhouse out away from the house a little ways.
SA: So you grew up with a lot of working men around you.
EM: Yes, but I was very well protected. I wasn't allowed to go out amongst them, and was kind of isolated, because there weren't any other children around to play with.
SA: You were the only little girl.
EM: Uh-huh, and Dad would not let me go out around 'em. We never got to go barefooted. That was absolutely taboo because he was always afraid of rusted nails and things like that.
SA: You described part of the house. Did you have your own room?
EM: When I was real small my brother and I shared a room. And then later I had a room of my own.
SA: And he was five years older, so that made a difference.
EM: Yes.
SA: Tell me a little more about the furnishings in the house. What was it like inside the house? Describe what kind of furniture there was in the place, what was it like?
EM: Well, we had, of course, one of the old-fashioned round tables in the dining room, with the chairs. And then the dish cupboard, of course, was built into the wall. Then in that room there was a desk that Dad and Mother used. It was a flat-topped desk. And then around the walls, up on the walls, were the wooden borders, and on those they had a lot of cups from fairs that they had won for cattle or horses, and also for pigs.
SA: Did you have electricity early in your home?
EM: No, we did not have electricity in there until about 1927 or 1928.
SA: So how did you light?
EM: The house was lit with--we either had kerosene lamps or the gasoline lamps.
SA: And you said something about heating. What kind of fuel did you use in your stoves?
EM: Well, the stoves was all cottonwood. There were a lot of cottonwood trees around, and they used cottonwood with that. But then they discovered the wells about 1918, so then that's when they went to hot water in the homes. And we used that hot water not only in the homes, but in the bunkhouse and in the garages and the chicken houses and all over to heat things.
SA: Who installed all that?
EM: I don't remember.
SA: But you had hot water early.
EM: Yes.
SA: And did you have inside plumbing?
EM: Oh yes.
SA: You had inside plumbing from the time you can remember?
EM: Yes, from the time I can remember.
SA: So your folks were way ahead of a lot of other people, weren't they?
EM: When the house was built, it was built probably in 1911 or 1912, and the bathrooms were put in at that time.
SA: So you didn't have too much hardship there.
EM: No, we didn't.
SA: That's good. How was the laundry done?
EM: We had an Indian woman that used to come and do the laundry. She was with us for years and years, and she'd come down generally on Mondays, and then come on Tuesdays and do the ironing.
SA: Was that from the Stillwater Reservation?
EM: Yes it was.
SA: What kind of a washing machine was there?
EM: No washing machine. It was washtubs and washboards.
SA: And hung out on the line?
EM: And hung out on the line.
SA: From the time you can remember, I want to know more about the ranch, because I'm very interested in the results of the irrigation. First tell me, from the early period, from what you can remember, what was grown on the ranch? What kind of crops?
EM: Alfalfa and grain were grown on the ranch.
SA: And how did the water come to the ranch?
EM: It was down through the irrigation ditches, through the canals, from the Lahontan Dam.
SA: Did you have orchards or vegetable gardens beside that?
EM: We had a great big orchard, and we always had a large vegetable garden, because, of course, with all the men we had to have. Mother would always can quarts and quarts and quarts of food. And Dad would butcher and smoke the hams and bacons and everything like that. And we always had meat. There was an ice house where they cut the ice in the wintertime and put in these barn-type buildings. And then in the summertime they would cut the ice and put it in these coolers and would keep the meat in those.
SA: Where did you cut the ice from? Where did you go to cut it?
EM: They cut it out of the Stillwater Slough at that time.
SA: Now, when you say Stillwater Slough, where did the water come from?
EM: Well, that was drainage at those times.
SA: Drainage from the irrigation?
EM: Well, drainage from irrigation, and probably springs along the way, because there was always generally a lot of water along there.
SA: And ice melting?
EM: I'm not positive about where all that came from.
SA: What kind of fruit in the orchard?
EM: We always had apples, pears, peaches.
SA: Did the irrigation also water that? How did they water the orchards and all that?
EM: That was all watered by irrigation.
SA: Did you have neighbors nearby?
EM: They were, oh, probably a half-a-mile away, except for Stillwater. Stillwater was just across the slough from us, or irrigation ditches, from us. And there were stores there and a saloon and an old hotel and an old ice house.
SA: How big was your family ranch?
EM: I'm not sure how big it is.
SA: I can find that out. Did you go swimming in the ditches?
EM: Oh yeah. My grandfather first taught me how to swim. When they struck the hot water in Stillwater, they built a swimming pool.
SA: Where was that?
EM: That was right in Stillwater, which is right across the ditches from us. And Grandfather used to come down and he taught me how to swim.
SA: How old were you when you were learning?
EM: Oh, probably seven or eight years old.
SA: Oh, a little girl.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Now, who would you go swimming in the ditches with?
EM: By myself.
SA: Was it dangerous? Were the ditches dangerous?
EM: I never thought so.
SA: Your parents weren't worried about it?
EM: No.
SA: Did you ever ice skate? In a few interviews, they ice skated on the sloughs.
EM: Yes, we used to ice skate a lot. Tony and Freddy Dalton who lived up by the schoolhouse used to come down and get me, and we would go down Dutch Bill, and Dutch Bill would freeze over, and we would skate by the hours down there.
SA: How old were you when you started doing that?
EM: Oh, 1 was probably in high school when I started that.
SA: Are there any pictures of the ice skating? I'm so eager to find some.
EM: Yes, I have some.
SA: Oh! I've been so eager to…
EM: I have some of Dutch Bill frozen over.
SA: That's the kind of photographs that I really want to see. So you had some time for some fun?
EM: That was fun.
SA: Now, staying in your childhood, when did you have to start chores and what did you do?
EM: Well, I started in carryin' wood in. (laughs) I used to have to fill the wood box for the kitchen stove. And it was a great big--it was probably three feet wide by three feet [deep]. It was my duty to keep that filled.
SA: Did you help your mom in the house?
EM: Yes, I helped Mother. But of course we never had to do any of the cooking or anything.
SA: You said you had a cook. Who was the cook?
EM: Oh, we had various ones. We've had Chinese cooks and we've had white women and white men, and various ones through the years. Sometimes they'd stay a day, and sometimes they'd be there for a year or two, and they'd come and go, so it was always different.
SA: Where would they find the Chinese cooks? Where would they find them?
EM: I don't know where they found those. We had most of those when I was very small.
SA: Did they live in the bunks?
EM: I'm not sure, I can't remember that.
SA: So did they cook all the meals, like breakfast? Your mother didn't have to cook?
EM: That's right. No, she didn't cook. The only time Mother cooked was sometimes in the summertime. We had a kerosene stove out on the little porch that I mentioned before, and sometimes she would fix things there, and she did a lot of the canning on that stove too.
SA: So describe to me, as still a young girl, mealtime. Did everyone eat together? Did you eat with the workmen?
EM: In the summertime, no, we ate in our own dining room in our part of the house. Mother would go out and get the food and bring it in to us, because there were too many men out there.
SA: And you wouldn't have the intimacy of a family meal.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Okay, so then when did you all eat together?
EM: In the wintertime, generally there were fewer men, and generally we ate with the men.
SA: Out in that other room?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Alright, describe that kind of a meal to me. About how many would be around the table?
EM: Well, I'm not sure exactly how many when I was younger, but later there was generally about twelve of us at the table. And it was a long, long table with chairs. The room was very plain, just the table and chairs. And we generally covered it with an oilcloth cover. Later it was my job to set and clear the table and wash the dishes.
SA: So you had a lot of work.
EM: Then later than that, when I was going to high school, it was my job to get up and get breakfast in the morning.
SA: Oh, what happened to the cooks?
EM: Well, sometimes we'd have cooks, and sometimes it'd be, you know, just a few people and Mother wouldn't mind doin' it, so Mother did it.
SA: And were they great big meals?
EM: Oh yes, they always had big meals on the ranch.
SA: Before we move to your school days tell me a little bit about your mother: what kind of a woman she was and mother. Describe her personality so we can get an idea of what your mom was like. Did she have special talents or interests?
EM: Mother kept the books for the ranch from the time that she and Dad were married until just a few years before she died. She was very good in mathematics, she was very strong in education, she was very strict with us children, and she loved to sew and crochet and was very interested in sports. As I understand, when she and Dad were first married, she used to go with Dad out in the mountains when they'd ride for horses.
SA: So she was quite active.
EM: Yes, but her teaching was her main thing. During later years, some of my cousins would even call her up and ask her about how to solve a problem in algebra or something like that, and Mother could sit and do it in nothing flat. She could answer 'em right back. She was very, very good in things like that.
SA: Did she have a fun spirit to her?
EM: Mother was very sober--she came from a Quaker family. So she didn't have the humor that a lot of mothers do.
SA: Was there fun and laughter in the house?
EM: Oh yeah, we always enjoyed each other.
SA: What were some of the recreational or playtime kinds of things where the family might participate? Was there music in the house?
EM: Not in our house. Mother had the piano, but I don't remember. . . I know she made us take piano lessons and violin lessons, but we used to enjoy goin' in the summertime, we'd take time off and would go camping and go fishing and things like that.
SA: Would that be the four of you?
EM: Four of us, and sometimes one of the hired men that we'd had for years used to go along with us. Then we'd go arrowhead hunting, and I have a lot of the arrowheads that we had. And I used to go out with Dad a lot.
SA: Oh, how nice. So then tell me about your dad as a person, and his personality.
EM: Dad was a very loving man, and very, very kind, and a generous man. I think he always had time for us kids. He was always very busy. He was in politics and he served in the Senate over in Carson City, and he was always in politics in Churchill County. He served on Truckee-Carson Irrigation Board from the beginning, and it was always very important to him, of course, so we could have plenty of water.
SA: I wish I could have interviewed him.
EM: Yes, he would have been very interesting, but he's been gone many, many years.
SA: What year did he die?
EM: He died in 1948.
SA: Did he ever talk to you about the water problems, the water rights issues, or anything like that dealing with the Newlands Project and your ranch?
EM: No, he didn't talk to me, because of course I was younger. Dad always thought a woman's place wasn't there. He always thought a teacher or something like that. He was of the old world, and that was what he thought.
SA: Did you ever do any chores on the ranch, or ride a horse and go out with him on the ranch?
EM: Oh, I always rode a horse, 'cause I had to ride a horse to school and everything. But no, I didn't get to do much on the ranch, 'cause that was one of the things that they just didn't allow me out on.
SA: You had a lot of workmen.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Did he ever talk to you about before he reached that stage that you witnessed, the hardships when he was first developing all that? Did he ever talk about that?
EM: Un-uh, not to me.
SA: Did he have a fun side?
EM: Yes, Dad had a fun side, and he was fun to be with.
SA: Oh, that was very fortunate for you.
EM: Yes.
SA: Now I want to move to school days. And of course by the time you were going to school, your brother had already been going to school, and I'll get his story. So I want to know a couple of things: Number one, how far did you have to travel, and when you were a little girl, how'd you get to school before you rode a horse?
EM: Well, I rode a horse to school right from the very beginning.
SA: How old were you when you started?
EM: Six.
SA: And you rode a horse at six?!
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Do you have any pictures of you on a horse? I'd love that,
EM: I would love some too, but I can't find any of my old pictures. I think my brother has most of those pictures. But it was a mile-and-a-half to school, I rode to school and the boys would help me off and on, and we'd tie our horse up out in back of the schoolhouse, and then when it was time to come home, they'd put me on and I'd come home.
SA: Oh my! Now, what was the school called, do you know?
EM: It's the Stillwater Schoolhouse--it's still there.
SA: Okay, you want to describe it?
EM: It was a large white building with two rooms: one for the lower four grades and one for the upper four grades. And it had a great big old round stove in there that we used to keep us warm. And one room was divided where the smaller children were. It was divided so that we could open it up and have school programs and things like that in there.
SA: Did it help having a brother so much older? Did he connect with your life as a protector or as a big brother?
EM: No, he was always so much older than I was, and he was gone-especially when I got into high school he was gone.
SA: What about when you were starting school as a little girl?
EM: Not that I remember.
SA: No. He ignored you? (laughs)
EM: That's right.
SA: So tell me about your teacher when you first were starting.
EM: I can't remember too much about the teachers.
SA: That's alright. Do you remember anything about those early school days, going through your elementary days?
EM: Well, I remember how we had to learn our alphabets and our multiplication tables and there was always school programs that the parents were invited to, and we all had to participate in those.
SA: Describe something that you might have participated in when you say "a school program."
EM: Well, there were poems--you had to recite poems. Or you might be in a little play or something. It was entertainment for the whole family.
SA: What did you do?
EM: I remember reciting poems, but I couldn't tell you what they were. (laughs)
SA: Is that what you liked, reciting poetry?
EM: Well, I did at that time. My mother was very fond of poetry, and I think that's probably where it started.
SA: Oh, and then you pleased her by doing that?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: What kind of clothes did little girls wear to school through your elementary days?
EM: We had little dresses.
SA: No Levis for the girls?
EM: Oh no, no, no. I had chaps during the wintertime. I wore chaps to keep my legs warm.
SA: How long did you ride a horse to school?
EM: I did it the first four years, I guess, of school.
SA: And then how did you get to school?
EM: My brother went to high school in Fallon and we moved to Fallon for three years of school.
SA: I see, so he could go to high school?
EM: So he could go to high school, because there wasn't any way for him to get back and forth. And then in my eighth grade I moved back to Stillwater, and then I walked to school.
SA: So, now let's go through. Anything more on your first four years in your elementary school in Stillwater that you can share?
EM: Nothing that I remember.
SA: So now, when you said, "we moved to Fallon," who moved to Fallon?
EM: Mother and my brother and I.
SA: How often would you go back to the ranch?
EM: We'd generally try to get down on weekends, unless he had something to do. And my dad would be in and out all the time.
SA: He'd come in and out of Fallon?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Where did you live when you moved into Fallon?
EM: We had a house right off of Center Street. I can't remember the name of the street, but the house is still there. And then the second year we moved to a house on Broadway, and it is still there at the present time.
SA: Oh, can you give me the addresses later?
EM: I can't remember.
SA: If you find them. So you rented these houses?
EM: Yes.
SA: How did your mother like moving there?
EM: Well, she enjoyed it. She joined some bridge clubs and we were close to church, which we'd never been before. All three of us started in goin' to Sunday School and church.
SA: Which church?
EM: The Methodist church.
SA: Was the house furnished?
EM: Yes, the house was furnished. And at that time I got to go into Campfire Girls and start my music lessons and things like that, that I didn't have the opportunity to do while I was in Stillwater. [End of tape 1 side A]
SA: Before you moved to Fallon, through your fourth grade, did your family ever take you into Fallon?
EM: Oh yeah, we would always go into Fallon, generally once a week, to do the shopping and sometimes we'd get to go to shows.
SA: Let's go back to the very first time that you can remember. I want to know what Fallon looked like to you. Describe what you remember about Fallon, before you moved there.
EM: I don't remember too much about it, because we'd generally just be in a short time. We would always go in on Christmas and the holidays, because the families were always together at those times, have great big family dinners. Especially Christmastime, we'd go in on Christmas Eve to my aunt's house for Christmas, and then go home, and next morning go back to Grandma's and Grandpa's for Christmas dinner.
SA: So tell me now what part of the family lived in Fallon? Who lived in Fallon?
EM: My Grandmother and Grandfather Kent and my Aunt Florence, which was Dad's sister, and Ira L. Kent, which was my dad's brother.
SA: They all lived in Fallon?
EM: Yes, they did.
SA: Were they running the store there?
EM: Aunt Florence's husband, Milton Wallace, was running the store, and Uncle Ira, along with Grandpa Kent.
SA: I'll get more of that from him. So you kept going into Fallon--it wasn't like a strange place when you moved there.
EM: No, no.
SA: So when you first started to go into Fallon, I want to compare it to today. Specifically were there trees the way there are now? Were trees already getting bigger? Those are the kinds of things„
EM: There were trees there and Grandma's and Grandpa's house was right there on Center Street where the Ford garage is now. It was right close to the Kent Company Store. They had a lot of trees and lawn around their place. Then the Kent Company Store always seemed big at that time. It was well kept and Thanksgiving and Christmas they always served pumpkin pie and mincemeat pie to the public.
SA: Really?! I wish I had been there! (chuckles) Were there ranches around Fallon like there are now?
EM: Oh yes, a lot of ranches around. It was all a ranching community.
SA: So that was all from the Newlands Project when the homesteaders came?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Over the period of time that you then moved there and were going to school, did it expand, did more people arrive?
EM: Oh yeah, people steadily kept comin' in all the time.
SA: Now you moved into Fallon, and what school did you go to then? Because I'll get Ira's story from him.
EM: I went to Oats Park School, and I also went to West End School. West End School for the fourth grade, and then I went over to Oats Park.
SA: Did you walk to school?
EM: Yes, both ways.
SA: Did you start to make a lot of friends in Fallon?
EM: Yes, I made friends. That was when we started in with Campfire, and I made a lot of friends through that.
SA: Did this house have electricity?
EM: Oh yes.
SA: Of course Fallon, because of Lahontan Dam, got electricity very early.
EM: Yeah. Yeah, they had electricity.
SA: Take me through from fourth to eighth grade--you said you stayed in Fallon?
EM: Through seventh grade.
SA: Through seventh. Any highlights of those school days that you can remember?
EM: I can't remember, only our Campfire Girls and the things that we used to do. I think they probably highlighted it.
SA: Was that through the school, Campfire?
EM: No, it was outside of school.
SA: But that was kind of your favorite thing?
EM: Yes.
SA: Was that your first real social with a lot of girls?
EM: That's right. And then I'll never forget, Laura Mills was one of our teachers over in Oats Park. She and Mother were very good friends, and we used to go out and look at the wildflowers and the birds and things like that. And that was always a highlight.
SA: Tell me a little about her. What kind of woman was she?
EM: She was very a down-to-earth lady and very thoughtful and considerate. I'll never forget her teaching geography, because she was always so precise about everything, and we'd have to make these maps with flour and salt and water, you know. And I'll never forget her telling us that no mountain had a peak to it. And later in life, we were in Puerto Rico, and these mountains had such a peak to it, I had to write to her and tell her!
SA: Oh did you?! (laughs)
EM: I wrote to her and told her.
SA: Good for you! (laughter) She hadn't gone out of Churchill County, maybe.
EM: Well, yes, she had traveled a lot. But she always said that when we're drawing maps, how children do, that they always make a sharp peak.
SA: Now I want to go back just a little bit to your school in Stillwater, and then move into Fallon. Were there Indian children in your school in Stillwater?
EM: Yes, we had Indian children.
SA: It was mixed classes, they didn't segregate them?
EM: Not all of them. There were a few Indian children there, but most of the Indian children went to the school on the Indian reservation.
SA: Why did some come into your school then?
EM: Well, I really don't know, but some of them were there, and they were friends throughout their life with me. Several of them are gone now.
SA: So you played with them, and you were friends with them?
EM: Oh yes. Well, we got to know 'em, of course, when their fathers and folks worked on the ranch. We got to know 'em.
SA: When the men lived on the ranch, would the families move with them on the ranch?
EM: Well, yes, there were generally always families there, because we had a dairy and Dad always had milkmen there, and they generally had families. And we had two or three houses that housed families.
SA: Oh, Indian families?
EM: No, white. No, the Indians always lived up in the Indian reservation and generally came down in the morning to work and went home in the evening.
SA: Would the kids ever come to play with you while their mother was doing laundry?
EM: No, Stella didn't have any children that I remember.
SA: I see. So when you were living on the ranch, you'd play with the Indian children at school?
EM: Uh-huh. Some of 'em were in my class.
SA: Then going back to the dairy, because I didn't realize he also had a dairy there, was that a pretty big dairy?
EM: We had about ninety cows at one time.
SA: Oh, a huge dairy!
EM: Yes. A lot of them were registered Holstein cattle.
SA: Did you ever milk a cow?
EM: No.
SA: He never let you do that?
EM: No, my mother insisted that I should never learn. [Laughs] She said, "Once you learn, then you're gonna get stuck goin' out and milkin'." So she would not let me.
SA: She protected you.
EM: She didn't do it either, and she would not let me.
SA: So she was a strong woman--no man was going to tell her what she had to do!
EM: That's right. And we had a lot of chickens. And we had a lot of pigs. We had sheep, and we had cattle.
SA: Did you ever raise turkeys?
EM: Later, yes, some.
SA: And what about the Hearts-O-Gold melons?
EM: We raised a lot of Hearts-O-Gold melons. And we raised sugar beets.
SA: Oh, that's right, the sugar beet factory. Oh, that's amazing. If you have any pictures of your ranch that show any of those, I'd like to see them.
EM: Ira would probably have pictures of those, because I cannot find any of my photos of early childhood.
SA: I'll tell him that! (chuckles)
EM: I would like to mention that when I was younger, they used to have picnics on the Fourth of July, and they were over on the road into Stillwater. There were two different places that were great big groves of trees, and people from all over would come to these picnics, and they'd have all kinds of races for the children, and they'd have horse races. I don't remember when they stopped, but all those trees have been cut down and it's such a shame.
SA: Why?
EM: Well, they cut 'em down for fields and new people bought the ranches and the dairies and cut the trees down. And that's one thing that I really miss is the trees, because my dad always believed in planting trees every year to replenish trees that were being cut down for wood.
SA: So he was like a conservationist.
EM: He was. Well, I think it came naturally, because there were very few trees when they first settled there.
SA: Uh-huh, it took so long for them to grow.
EM: And it took--especially cottonwood--it takes so long for 'em to grow. And these groves were just beautiful with trees. But they used to be a lot of fun to go to, because people would bring their ice cream freezers with homemade ice cream and all kinds of food. And it was a lot of fun to get together.
SA: I wonder if there's any pictures of that.
EM: I don't know of any pictures of that.
SA: What other holidays did people celebrate, or your family?
EM: Well, I don't remember. Later we always used to celebrate--we'd go out Fourth of July sometimes--we'd go out on the desert and shoot firecrackers.
SA: You say "out on the desert." Where?
EM: Well, it would be out east toward the Stillwater Mountains. Right now it's underwater where the Wildlife has made a lake out of it. But it used to be dry.
SA: Of course you said you went to Grandmom and Grandpop's for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Tell me a little about how Christmas was celebrated first, with the family.
EM: Well, as I mentioned, we always went up to Aunt Florence's for Christmas Eve. She would always have Christmas, and there would be Grandma and Grandpa Kent and Uncle Ira Kent, and later he was married to Margaret. And then their children. But when I was little, there was just Aunt Florence's children, and us. And we'd go home afterwards in our car. Christmas morning Mother would always insist that we had to eat breakfast before we could have our Christmas tree, and that has been carried on in the family. We had sliding doors between our living room and dining room in the house, and mother would always keep those doors shut, and then she'd go in and light the candles on the tree, and then we could come in.
SA: So a family tradition.
EM: Well, a tradition even before (laughter) Christmas, yes.
SA: Any other family customs?
EM: Well, then afterwards we'd always go back to Grandma Kent's for Christmas dinner. She always insisted on Christmas dinner until she was just too old to do it. One thing that they always served was sauerkraut with the turkey dinner. And I've always kept that in our family.
SA: Oh! Where did that come from? Did they come from Germany?
EM: Grandma Kent came from Germany, and I think that's probably where it came from. But she did do that.
SA: And so you carried that on.
EM: And we always had . . well, up toward the end there were forty-five or so of us for dinner.
SA: Did she have help to help cook and serve?
EM: Well, she always had help.
SA: I seems like from the time you were born, from the hard work of your grandparents and your parents, you didn't have really difficult financial times.
EM: Well, it was hard during the Depression.
SA: Okay, we'll come to the Depression. I'll ask about that. Now, you were too young when the Lahontan Dam was being built, but do you have any recollections, because workers came in and there were work camps, and when it was finally completed, do you have any recollections?
EM: No, because, see.
SA: You were too young?
EM: Well, and that was on the other side of Fallon, and that wasn't part of it.
SA: Right. So then we're going to come back to Fallon now. Tell me how many years that you lived there with your mother and brother?
EM: Three years.
SA: And then when you went back to the ranch, what did you do about school then?
EM: I went back to Stillwater School for the eighth grade.
SA: Okay, just for eighth grade.
EM: Yes, and then when I went to high school, first year of high school I boarded out with a couple in Fallon,
SA: Tell me about the eighth grade, and was there any little graduation? How many kids graduated eighth grade in that little school?
EM: I've forgotten now how many there were at graduation, but they had a little graduation and a little program for it.
SA: So then who did you board with?
EM: The people's name was Clyde Smith.
SA: How was that arranged?
EM: This neighbor's daughter was stayin' with 'em, and Mother and Dad knew both Clyde and his wife. So they arranged for me to stay there for that year.
SA: And that was instead of living with relatives?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Was there a reason?
EM: No--thought it was best that I just get away for a while. Then I stayed with my grandmother and grandfather for a while, and then I moved back to the ranch, and they finally got us a bus to bus students.
SA: When they got enough. So let's go to the first year that you were boarding. Was this a special girlfriend of yours?
EM: No, she was just a neighbor.
SA: Did she become close friends?
EM: Not particularly.
SA: And what did it feel like to go to board in this house? Were there mixed feelings? Were you excited?
EM: It was different. I was glad to be in high school and glad to make friends and glad to get my education.
SA: As you were starting high school did you begin to determine the kinds of subjects that you liked, and the kind of things that you might want to go into later where you had favorite areas of school?
EM: Oh, I always enjoyed math more than I did anything.
SA: Like your mother, took after your mother.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: How often would you see them? Would you go home weekends?
EM: I'd go home weekends.
SA: Every weekend?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Did you get homesick at all?
EM: I don't think so.
SA: Were you kind of mature for your age?
EM: I've been by myself. . . . I've always been by myself.
SA: Tell me a little about the high school years, what it was like to be a teenager in Fallon for a girl on her own. (laughs)
EM: Well, I never got to do a lot of things, especially the second year where I was back on the ranch, because I couldn't play basketball because I didn't have any way of transportation. And Mother wouldn't let me go to the dances unless somebody was with me. And this friend of mine, she and her mother used to ask me to stay in and go to the dances with 'em, but I didn't get to go to many, and I hardly ever dated, because it was so far out.
SA: So you were then commuting when the buses started, and you'd have to go right home.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: And there wasn't a time you could say, "Well, I'm gonna stay over at Grandma's. . . ." They didn't want you to do that?
EM: Well, Grandma and Grandma lots of times were gone in the wintertime.
SA: I see, so that you went to school and went home. When you went home, were there changes in the ranch or. . . Your brother was gone by then, right?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Were there any changes in the household during that period?
EM: No, nothing much. Mother, of course, would do some of the cooking and sometimes would have cooks. But the ranch stayed just about the same at that time. It was later that they started in doing away with a lot of the buildings and clearing out a lot of the old things around there. Of course the earthquake in 1954 demolished some of the buildings.
SA: Oh my! Now, did they ever let you drive a car?
EM: I started in when I was thirteen years old.
SA: Really?! Did they let you drive to school?
EM: No, but once in a while I'd have to drive the school bus.
SA: You did?! (laughs) What was that like?
EM: Well, it was quite a responsibility when you get children on it.
SA: When you say you "had to," because a driver wouldn't be able to show up?
EM: The school buses were driven by students.
SA: Really?!
EM: Yes. And sometimes he wouldn't be able to make it, and they kept the school bus at the house, so therefore. . . .
SA: You had to pitch in and drive, and you weren't afraid?
EM: Un-uh.
SA: (laughs) That's kind of spunky! Any pictures of that?
EM: I've got a picture of a school bus someplace.
SA: Oh, good. Even if we don't find it today, I come back to Reno, you can drop me a note and say, "Sylvia, I have some things to show you," and I'll come. Okay? I read when Fallon became the county seat, the Kent family opened opened their store in Fallon.
EM: In 1903.
SA: In 1903, very, very early, which was amazing to me, because that's a very early period. Did they ever tell you anything about that? It was way before you were born.
EM: Un-uh. But see, part of that, that's when Dad kept part of the store in Stillwater, and I have a lot of his books where he sold things to certain people. And I've got a lot of letters that are interesting.
SA: Oh, wonderful! Then who ran the store in Fallon?
EM: Grandpa Kent.
SA: Grandpa Kent ran that and also was running the ranch?
EM: No, my dad ran the ranch.
SA: He was by then growing up, getting older.
EM: Yeah, 1903.
SA: Tell me, going back to the ranch, what was the health care like? Because I hear from so many people that if you got seriously ill, it was hard to get good health care.
EM: Well, there was several doctors in Fallon. Of course they would come out if you were really sick or anything.
SA: There were several in the early. . . .
EM: Yes, and I know Dad was sick. . . Well, he'd gotten hurt, but they took him to Fallon and then they put him on a train and took him down to San Francisco. But when I was born, I was a little preemie--or prit near a preemie, I should say--and I was sick for quite a while, but then they took me to San Francisco too.
SA: Oh, my goodness. So you had to be separated from your mother?
EM: No, Mother was with me.
SA: Oh, she came with you. Were there ever any times when it was a hardship, the medical care?
EM: Not that I remember.
SA: Not that you would know.
EM: No.
SA: There was a big oil boom in this area in 1924. Do you remember anything about it? Did your family get into oil speculation?
EM: It was earlier than that.
SA: Well, the big, big one was 1918-1924.
EM: In 1918, see, that's when they struck the hot water. They were drilling for oil, and that's when they struck the hot water at Stillwater.
SA: Oh, okay. Because that was the big oil-crazy boom, it said, where there was stock speculation. Did your family do any oil stock speculation?
EM: Not that I know of.
SA: Were you able to see any of these? Margaret Pilkington was telling me anytime they discovered oil the kids would just leave school and run out and go and see this. Did you do that?
EM: No.
SA: You were too young?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Do you remember any of it? Did you ever see any of it?
EM: I saw some of the derricks (laughs) but I couldn't describe any.
SA: Your family didn’t get involved in the Oil Speculation.
EM: Uh-huh
SA: Did you ever attend the Nevada State Fair in the Hay Palace?
EM: Yeah, I used to enter the Nevada State Fair because I was in 4-H.
SA: Oh, tell me about 4-H. When did you start 4-H?
EM: I started 4-H probably in the fifth or sixth grade.
SA: A school project?
EM: Well, in the summertime. No, it would be in the summertime. And this aunt. . .
SA: Say her name on tape.
EM: Bertha Hamlin, was our 4-H leader, and she'd give us lessons. We'd have cooking and sewing and things like that. And then we'd get to go to the camp up at Lake Tahoe for a week.
SA: So your 4-H participation, was that in animals too, or just in the homemaking part?
EM: Just in homemaking projects.
SA: In the homemaking part.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: What would you enter?
EM: Oh, I entered canned fruit, jellies, sewing--things like that.
SA: Did you ever win any ribbons?
EM: Oh, I won a few.
SA: Do you have any?
EM: I don't think so.
SA: So was that the Nevada State Fair where the Hay Palace was?
EM: That's Nevada State Fair in Fallon,
SA: Do you have any pictures of that?
EM: No, I don't.
SA: How many years did you participate in that?
EM: Oh, I don't know, I started in then, then later after I was married I still entered some.
SA: Was that a great big event in this area? Did everyone go there?
EM: It was a big event, big event in those days.
SA: So that everyone would look forward to going to that.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: What time of year would they have that?
EM: In September.
SA: In September, so would school classes go?
EM: I don't remember 'em ever lettin' the school classes out.
SA: Uh-huh, it would be kind of on your own about that.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Do you remember, were you in Fallon when they planted all those cottonwood trees on Williams Street that they later cut down for Highway 50?
EM: I don't remember anything about that.
SA: Now, what years were you living in Fallon? Was it only through the high school years?
EM: Well, I lived in Fallon through my brother's high school years, and then the first year of [my] high school, which was 1929 and part of 1930.
SA: But then the bus took you in so you saw Fallon. What year did you stop living in Fallon?
EM: It would have been 1930 when I stopped livin' in Fallon.
SA: But did you keep going back to visit your grandparents and aunts and uncles?
EM: Oh yes, uh-huh.
SA: Did you observe any of the activity of the CCC? That was between 1935 and 1941 when they came to work on the ditches and different projects.
EM: Well, see, that was the time when I was in college. But I remember 'em doin' a lot of work on the ditches and things like that.
SA: When you came back, would you ever see the work?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Did they do any work near your family ranch?
EM: I don't remember if they did or not.
SA: Did you ever meet any of them?
EM: Well, I knew Harold Fitz that worked on some of them.
SA: Was he a CCC?
EM: He was head of CCC.
SA: He was head of CCC. I think they did an interview with him. Did he ever talk to you about it? Did you observe any- There were so many of them, I wonder if it was something you could visibly see.
EM: I don’t remember.
SA: And you weren’t here.
EM: Mmm-hnn.
SA: And now then we wanted to go to the Depression years, because you said there were some hard times. Tell me what years they were, and describe to me the effect on your family and your ranch and the business.
SA: Well, it was during the early thirties, and it was not only the Depression, but also we had a drought. And we didn't have the water.
SA: Why? Why wasn't there water from the Project?
EM: No snow. And there wasn't any water in the dam. And Dad had to pump water from the slough up onto the crops, up onto the fields. And of course it didn't help the fields, because the slough was so full of alkali.
SA: Oh, my!
EM: But of course it was hard. We didn't have anything to sell, and money was real tight. I know it was very hard, because it was the year that I wanted to go away to school, and I didn't have enough. There just wasn't the money for me to go away to school.
SA: Did they have to then drop a lot of workmen, and did they sell off any of the animals?
EM: Well, no, he borrowed money to keep goin'.
SA: The irrigation project at that time was dependent on melted snow?
EM: Oh yeah, just like it is now.
SA: But I thought having the dam helped the problem.
EM: Yes, but when you don't have snow to fill the dam up, you don't have water.
SA: Were there lots of droughts? Or was that the biggest?
EM: Well, that's the biggest one that I remember,
SA: And what year was that?
EM: It was in the early thirties.
SA: How long did it take to recover from that drought?
EM: I don't remember.
SA: When the rain started to pick up again?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: So then you were home that year, you couldn't go to college?
EM: No, I went to college, but I went over to my aunt's and uncle's in Susanville and stayed with them and went to junior college.
SA: Oh, okay. And what was happening on the ranch? You'd go back to visit?
EM: Just at holidays.
SA: And summer too? Or not?
EM: Oh yes, I spent the summer there. And then the next year I went up here to the University [of Nevada, Reno].
SA: So that summer after the drought, what kind of physical changes did you observe or see?
EM: There weren't too many changes at that time. The only changes were over in Stillwater. Stillwater was going downhill fast. My close friend, William VanBlaricon, who said he was a Pony Express rider, had died during my high school years. I had a lot of friends over there, a lot of the older men were very good to me. Charlie LeBeau is the one that gave me all those pictures. I used to go over there, and he'd tell me some of his wild stories. And then William VanBlaricon left his two pistols and his knife to me. But he got sick and he was put in the hospital in Fallon and the county took care of him. So when he died, the county took all these things and my dad bought 'em back for me, because he had always said that they were to be mine. They have the two pistols and the knife in the museum in Fallon.
SA: Oh, very good! They'll be interested in your interview, and they'll be getting a copy.
EM: Well, they had, at one time, when I gave them to 'em, I gave them a little history I had of him, because I don't have much. And I used to have a picture of him, but I don't know where that's gone to.
SA: Well, that's not part of this interview, though.
EM: But he had the saloon in Stillwater. And of course Stillwater at one time had quite a few buildings in it. The earthquake demolished a lot of 'ern.
SA: Before we talk about the earthquake, I want to go to World War II. Even though you were probably away during that period, I'm sure that you came back. Did it affect your family at all? Did any of your family members have to go into the military?
EM: My husband was in the military, and my brother was working in the store and he went back down to the ranch at that time to help my dad out because of the shortage of help. And then he stayed on at the ranch.
SA: I understand that they always left at least one person on a ranch.
EM: That's right. [End of Tape 1]
SA: Tell me from your recollections how World War II affected specifically your family's ranch. Let's start there. How was that affected?
EM: Yes, a lot of the people that worked there, especially a lot of the young Indian fellahs that worked there, were called into the service or went into the service.
SA: Oh!
EM: And Mother kept contact with a lot of these fellahs. She'd write to 'em because they never had anybody else to contact. And some of 'em came back and some of 'em didn't. But it was hard because of the shortage of help. But my brother went down and he helped my dad on the ranch at that time.
SA: How old was your dad, about, during the war? Was he still well and able to…
EM: Oh yeah.
SA: And were there shortages that made it difficult to do a lot of things? I mean, tires and gasoline and things like that?
EM: Yes. Of course everything was rationed, and they'd have to watch the rationing real close.
SA: Did you observe or learn about any changes and hardships in the town of Fallon?
EM: We were gone.
SA: I know in my research that there was a big boom after the war, a great big boom after the war when beef prices went up, and other prices went up, and everyone was finally able to buy. Was there a rejuvenation of your family's ranch and economy?
EM: Well, we came out of it pretty good. Of course the Navy base came into Fallon during the war, and that's what helped a lot too--helped Fallon survive a lot of it, because of the extra people in there.
SA: Was there mixed emotions when that military base was being built in Fallon?
EM: I really don't know, because we were gone at that time.
SA: You didn't hear your family talk about it?
EM: I know that they came in and took over a lot of the range for gunnery practice and things like that, and that made a lot of difference in our range, because it took a lot of our range away from us.
SA: They took some of your family's range?
EM: Yeah, they used it for, I guess, gunnery practice.
SA: Did they buy it from the family?
EM: No, it was all Taylor Grazing Act.
SA: Oh, so it was grazing land that you didn't own, but you were able to use for grazing.
EM: That we'd used for years and years and years.
SA: And I understand the noise, too, affected some of the animals?
EM: The noise did.
SA: Construction and planes?
EM: The planes, when they'd practice dropping bombs.
SA: But then in the long run, did that military base help your family as far as the store and selling? Did they ever sell their products to the base?
EM: I don't know anything about that.
SA: Ira will probably know that.
EM: Because we never really had anything to do with the store, really.
SA: You weren't close, Ira didn't confide?
EM: Well, he could help you, because he worked up there. But I couldn't tell you anything about that.
SA: Well, we'll ask him about that. Now I want to just briefly--because again, our focus is on Churchill County--but just briefly I want to go through your education and follow through a little bit on the rest of your life. So you went for one year, you stayed with your aunt and went to the junior college, right?
EM: Yes.
SA: What did you take there?
EM: I took just the basic entrance.
SA: And then you went to the University of Nevada-Reno?
EM: That's right.
SA: And how long did you go there?
EM: I graduated from the University of Nevada-Reno.
SA: And what kind of subjects?
EM: I majored in social service and business management.
SA: Ah-ha. Now, during that period you kept seeing your family. How was your mom doing and your dad?
EM: They were both fine.
SA: Did they come visit you at all?
EM: Oh, if they'd come into Reno--but that was quite a trip at that time. And Mother never drove to Reno--in all the years that she'd driven, she'd never driven to Reno.
SA: When did you meet and marry your husband?
EM: I met him in 1935 and we were married in 1938.
SA: Where did you meet him?
EM: At the University.
SA: He was attending there too?
EM: Yes.
SA: Where did you live? Did you live here in Reno?
EM: After we were married we lived for a couple of months in Battle Mountain, and then we went back to the ranch to help Dad on the ranch.
SA: Since you said Battle Mountain and I'm doing a Lander County project, I want to talk to you a little bit about that. What brought you to Battle Mountain?
EM: We were only there two months. His mother was head of the telephone company there. She ran the switchboards.
SA: What's her name?
EM: Her name was Hazel McNeely Adams, She'd been with Bell Telephone for years and years and years.
SA: So you just went to visit?
EM: Well, we were up there, and he was workin' up there at that time. But then Dad offered us the job on the ranch and we took that.
SA: So you came back and you were on the ranch for a while?
EM: We run the ranch until 1941 when he was called in the service.
SA: Oh, so now you've got to give me some in-depth information.
EM: That's when we raised turkeys.
SA: I'm glad you mentioned that--I want you to go in-depth, the period that you and your husband where there, First of all, who else was there on the ranch when you both came there?
EM: Well, my mother and dad were still at the main ranch, and we were down at the lower ranch, as we called it.
SA: What's the difference between the upper and lower ranch?
EM: Well, the lower ranch is where the sheep camp was, as we called it, at that time, 'cause Dad was runnin' sheep. And we had all the sheep corrals down there, and the lambing corrals, and things like that. And he kept a lot of equipment down there. And then I cooked for the men that were around at that time.
SA: What did you live in? Was there a house there?
EM: There was a house. It was three cabins put together to make one house. (laughs)
SA: Did you have it to yourself?
EM: Yes. No bathroom.
SA: That was the first time in your life you didn't have that!
EM: No bathroom.
SA: You had an outhouse?
EM: Yeah, we had an outhouse.
SA: Was that kind of hard?
EM: Yeah, you had to get used to it. We had to go up to Mother's and Dad's to take a bath.
SA: Oh for goodness sakes! Now, did your husband do ranching before this?
EM: No, he'd always worked in a service station up in Battle Mountain for Dan Shovelin at that time.
SA: He lived up in Battle Mountain?
EM: He was raised in Battle Mountain part of the time. His dad was a miner and had been in Goldfield and Seven Troughs and Rochester. They were divorced and his mother and Jim moved to Battle Mountain where she was head of the telephone company.
SA: So how did he know what to do on the ranch?
EM: He learned.
SA: Did he learn real good?
EM: Seemed to! (laughter)
SA: So tell me how many years were you both there running it?
EM: We weren't runnin' it, we were just helpin'. Three years. And during those three years, Dad decided to raise turkeys. We had 5,000 turkeys.
SA: (gasps) He went in for things in a big way!
EM: And we had the brooder houses, which were heated, of course, with warm water. They were a mess. They're the dumbest creatures! (laughter) But I'll never forget, they used to put 'em out on the fields and Dad and Jim would go out and sleep in a horse trailer because the coyotes would come in at night and try and get 'em.
SA: Oh! And your role wasn't to take care of turkeys, though?
EM: No, I did the cookin'. (laughs)
SA: Yours was to do all the cooking. How many did you have to cook for?
EM: Oh, it depended on whether it was lambing season or not. Sometimes they were doing three or four of us and sometimes there were eight or ten.
SA: Did you like doing that?
EM: It didn't bother me.
SA: Did you like living there on the ranch with your husband?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Did you have any children yet?
EM: No, our first son was born while we were still down there.
SA: When you were there, your first son was born there.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Where did you go to have your son?
EM: Reno, at St. Mary's Hospital.
SA: So you had plenty of time? You had no emergencies?
EM: No, I came to Reno and stayed with some friends.
SA: Who did the cooking while you were gone?
EM: Oh, it was during the summertime, so there wasn't that much.
SA: Did you go back with your little boy to the ranch?
EM: Oh yes.
SA: Was he the darling of the ranch, with your parents?
EM: Oh yeah, he kind of took Grandpa's spot. (laughs)
SA: (with admiration) Oh! Were there other grandchildren from Ira before that?
EM: Yes, Ira had one boy, but they were living in town at the time.
SA: What's your little boy's name?
EM: Ted.
SA: Theodore, or Ted?
EM: Well, Theodore--James Theodore.
SA: So tell me about how long were you there with your baby and your husband now? How much longer were you there at that ranch?
EM: Well, we were there about a year after Ted was born, and then Jim was called in the service.
SA: Kind of describe that year. Were there any changes? What happened with the turkeys?
EM: Well, the turkeys, of course, were sold off during Thanksgiving or right in early November, and the Indians came down and killed and plucked 'em.
SA: Oh! Any pictures of that?
EM: I don't have any, but that's in the scrapbooks that I'm missin' someplace. Anyway, we planted an orchard down there.
SA: What kind of fruit?
EM: Well, there was apples and pears and plums.
SA: Wow! When you say "we planted. . . ."
EM: Dad was, of course, the one that started it, because he believed in trees and things like that.
SA: How wonderful. Did your husband do the actual digging?
EM: Oh, we had Indians that helped to dig 'em.
SA: But you organized and planned it.
EM: We all did it, all worked together in doin' it.
SA: How was your mom through this period?
EM: Mother had had a heart attack right after we were married, but she came through fine. She didn't work out, run the fields or anything like that. She did raise the chukars that my brother brought in from India.
SA: It was your brother who brought them in from India?
EM: Yes. Mother raised those chukars and some quail for, oh, three or four years.
SA: Okay, let's go back now. Tell me the story of the chukars.
EM: I'd rather let you have Ira tell you that, 'cause that's his baby.
SA: Oh, that's right, that's Ira. Okay. So was the economy good through this period? Was the water sufficient and everything?
EM: Oh yes.
SA: So things were gain' pretty good?
EM: Yes. Wages were low.
SA: But food prices low too, for people?
EM: Yes.
SA: So then tell me what happened. Your husband was called into the military?
EM: Yes.
SA: Even with a baby, and even with the ranch?
EM: Uh-huh, he was an ROTC student from the University, so we were called in.
SA: Okay, he had an obligation.
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Did you stay at the ranch with your baby?
EM: No, I went with him.
SA: Did you follow him around?
EM: We went to Salt Lake and then to Spokane.
SA: And did he stay in this country the whole time?
EM: No, he was sent overseas in 1944.
SA: And did you go back to the ranch during that period?
EM: Yes.
SA: For how long?
EM: Well, we went back when he was sent overseas, and when he came back from overseas he got out.
SA: But how long were you at the ranch while he was overseas?
EM: Hm, just a little over a year, 'cause he was overseas only a little over a year.
SA: So a year is quite a long time. Any changes at the ranch? Or in your family?
EM: At that time, of course Ira and Nina were livin' down there then at that time.
SA: Who?
EM: My brother--Hammy, as you would call him--and they were living down there at that time because he had come down.
SA: Oh, that's right, he came down to help take care of it.
EM: Yeah, So things were about the same.
SA: That was during the period there was some hardship because of the war?
EM: Well, I think so, some.
SA: How was your lithe boy doing? How old was he at that time?
EM: He was three years old, prit near four years old, and I had the second boy.
SA: While you were there?
EM: No, before--during the war when we were away from home. But he was born also here in Reno. I came back to have him here.
SA: But were you on the ranch with both little boys then for a while?
EM: Yes, and we had a house of our own.
SA: Did that bring a lot of joy to your mother?
EM: Oh yes, both of 'em. The boys, they could hear Dad's pickup comin' and they'd run out in the road and hold hands and make Dad stop and take 'em with him. And there wasn't hardly a day that Dad didn't see those boys.
SA: Oh, do you have pictures of that somewhere?
EM: Somewhere, someplace, maybe.
SA: So then when your husband came back then, where did you move to?
EM: Well, we were still on the ranch, and we were still in the house that the children and I had been in. We bought part of the herd of Holstein cows from Dad, because they wanted to get out of the dairy business. And so we built a grade-A barn, and we bought the registered Holstein cattle. Jim would milk those, and then in the daytime he'd work over on the ranch and help Dad on the ranch.
SA: Now, where was. . . .
EM: It was right at Stillwater, just before you go into Stillwater.
SA: So it was not on your family ranch?
EM: It was part of it, and we bought it from. . . .
SA: Part of it, but a separate location?
EM: Yes. It's before you go into the main ranch.
SA: I see, but it was all part of that. So how long did you stay there and run that dairy?
EM: We were there until 1951 when Jim was called back in the service.
SA: Oh, so now tell me, because isn't that part of Churchill County?
EM: Oh yes, oh yes.
SA: Yeah, so that's important to this. So tell me more. Did you work physically in the dairy?
EM: No, because mother would never let me milk the cows.
SA: That was smart! (laughter) Okay, so now tell me more about that dairy business that you were both running. Who did you hire to help with it? Where was the cream and milk sold?
EM: Jim did it all himself, and we bought hay from the ranch itself. And the milk was picked up by the dairy in Fallon.
SA: Do you know what dairy that was?
EM: I can't remember the name of it. But they came down and picked up the milk every day. The barn, of course, was heated with hot water and then we had a great big walk-in freezer that we kept the milk in until they picked it up.
SA: Was that there already?
EM: No, we built it. We built the whole thing. And then in the summertime we had a large garden, and I'd freeze vegetables and things.
SA: Who took care of the garden?
EM: I did the garden.
SA: Oh, you did that! Did you like that?
EM: I liked that.
SA: Did your boys help? Did you have them start early, helping you?
EM: Oh yeah, they used to help out. And they had to help in the barn. When Jim would get through milkin' the cows, then they'd have to go out and help.
SA: Did they like that?
EM: No, they didn't like the dirty work. (laughter)
SA: So was that a prosperous dairy? Did you do well?
EM: Well, we were doing pretty well. But then, of course, when Uncle Sam called us back in, we had to sell everything. And it was hard to get rid of cattle, especially when they were registered.
SA: Oh, my goodness.
EM: So Mr. Shanks, from Fallon, also had Holsteins, and he took our cattle on a lease, and some of 'em he bought and some of 'em he sold.
SA: Where did your husband have to go during that period?
EM: Well, first we were stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base.
SA: That's near San Francisco?
EM: Yes. And then SAC wanted us back, 'cause that's what he had always been in.
SA: Who?
EM: Strategic Air Command. And we were sent to Topeka, Kansas. And the kids and I were there for a year, and then we went from there to Riverside.
SA: And then?
EM: Then from Riverside to Sacramento, and Sacramento to Maine, and Maine to Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico to Denver.
SA: In how many years?
EM: Well, let's see, we were in Topeka a year, we were in Riverside prit near three years, we were at Mather for two years, and Loring Air Force Base three years.
SA: Is this all part of the service?
EM: Uh-huh. And Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico for three years.
SA: Did he decide to become a permanent military person?
EM: Well, we prit near had to, because we'd been in and out so many times and it was gettin' harder and harder for people to find jobs when you're gettin' a little bit older.
SA: So you would just keep signing up?
EM: No, he was an officer, so he didn't have to sign up.
SA: So what did it mean? As an officer he was like a career officer?
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: Okay, so he was a career officer.
EM: Well, he was in the reserve, but he did make it a career, yes.
SA: Did you at all come back to Churchill County through that period?
EM: When we were on the West Coast, we did. We came back after the earthquake in 1954.
SA: Alright now tell me about the earthquake.
EM: I didn't hear about it at first, and my husband came home from when we were in Riverside and told me there'd been an earthquake and how bad it was. And I said, "Well, I hadn't heard anything." So then we tried to get through to Mother, and of course we couldn't do it because she was living all by herself. Dad was gone at that time. Finally we got the Red Cross and they called through when they found out that she was by herself.
SA: She was by herself on the ranch?
EM: Uh-huh, she was in the house by herself. My brother and his wife were still living on the ranch. But anyway, she was fine, and we came on up.
SA: Up from? Where were you at that time?
EM: At Riverside. And we were up there. . . . Of course we didn't get up there until August, because we were there in August when they had the second quake. But the first quake knocked the chimney off of Mother's house. And people from San Francisco came up to look at it--architects came up to look at it because there wasn't any cracks in any of the foundation, the foundation was all the old adobe and rocks and everything, and it hadn't bothered it at all. And yet fifty feet or a hundred feet from the house, were deep gullies where the earthquake had been. It knocked down a couple of buildings on the house.
SA: Any animals hurt? Any people hurt?
EM: No, luckily not. But my brother's house, they never had a dish left in their house. It was centered quite close to that area.
SA: Oh my! So what did they do? How did they get back to normal?
EM: Well, it just took a long time. We got back up there, Jim put in Mother's sewer line again. (laughs) The next night we had the August earthquake and knocked it all out, so (laughs) he had to go out and dig it up and do it all over again. But it was funny because the earthquake hit, and the hot water well that had always heated the houses, it cut that water off. And then the one in August, it brought it back, but very, very little. So it was prit near shut off.
SA: So did they stay there and then just start repairing?
EM: Oh yeah. The fields were real bad. My brother can tell you about that. The ditches in the fields, some of 'em were raised higher than the fields.
SA: Oh, for goodness sakes! Now tell me, you said you dad had died. How old was he when he died, and what did he die from?
EM: He had a heart attack, and then he got pneumonia on top of it. He died up here at St. Mary's Hospital.
SA: How old was he?
EM: He was sixty-eight.
SA: Oh, too young!
EM: Uh-huh.
SA: That must have been devastating.
EM: Jim's mother died the week before, so we lost them both within one week.
SA: Oh my gosh. How did your mom handle that?
EM: Mother had arthritis, I guess it was, and she was up and down a lot in bed, and she was in bed at the time that Dad died. And I was the one that had to go back and forth and everything. But Mother took it good--she was a solid person and could take things like that.
SA: When did she die and where?
EM: She died here in Reno at St. Mary's also, in November 1963.
SA: Did she live at the ranch all the time until she died?
EM: She was by herself, and she was eighty-six when she died.
SA: Oh, that's a good age.
EM: Just about eighty-six.
SA: When you say "alone," was Ira and his family still there in the other house?
EM: Yeah, they lived down lower.
SA: But she lived alone in that other house?
EM: Yeah, she lived by herself.
SA: Did you ever get the dairy back, or was that part of your life finished?
EM: No, that part of our life was finished. When Jim got out of the service, we moved up to Lake Tahoe, and we were up there five years, but the altitude was too high for him, so then we moved down here.
SA: When did you move here?
EM: In 1971.
SA: Was this house already built?
EM: Yes.
SA: It's such a beautiful, beautiful location.
EM: Yes, it was just like this. We bought it from some people.
SA: When did your husband die?
EM: In 1976--he was only sixty-three.
SA: (expressing concern) Oh my. Heart also?
EM: They're not sure for what.
SA: Oh, I'm sorry about that. Now, again, because it is Churchill County, so I don't want to get into Reno, did any of your kids ever live in Churchill County?
EM: No, not when they were grown--just when they were goin' to school. The boys went to grammar school in Stillwater.
SA: How did that happen?
EM: Well, we were livin'--see, we were livin' there from 1944 until 1951.
SA: Okay, so I'm not going to trace them into their adult years then, because that doesn't relate. Now, is there anything else pertaining to the Stillwater period--more than the Fallon period, and that's Churchill County, which this is about--that we have not covered?
EM: Well, I think a lot of it is the buildings and how they've been torn down in the Stillwater area.
SA: From your observations?
EM: Yes, 'cause when I was young there used to be the old Stillwater school building used to be there, and the courthouse building was there, and the old jail was there. I can't tell you the year that the courthouse was torn down, but Albert Wise had bought it and tore it down to build his house with it. And I don't know what happened to the school. And of course Greenwood's Store, and she had the post office in the store. And I used to enjoy going over there 'cause she always had a good library, and I used to go over and get books, and she'd always lend me books to read. And then there used to be a dry goods store there too, that you could go in and men would buy things.
SA: Well what I would need would be more. . . . For instance, is there someone still living in Stillwater that would have records of that? We need to have dates.
EM: I don't think so, although the museum does have pictures of those things.
SA: Uh-huh, because what I want is firsthand, . . . For instance, are there any oldtimers still living in Stillwater?
EM: No.
SA: None? None left?
EM: In fact, prit near everything's gone now that was there.
SA: So unless you have… because on tape to name a store without a lot, or a deed, or a date isn’t too helpful. Or looking at a picture isn’t too helpful because we don’t know when it was torn down. You see what I mean?
EM: See they have pictures at the museum of the courthouse and the jail.
SA: Yes, well they may have that history, so we're not going to make that part of your interview, because if they have all those pictures, they may have Stillwater history, we want to keep it and finish it with your interview. And so unless you can tell me on the ranch what changes were made in buildings or homes there, that’s what… you know, where there additions or things torn down on the ranch, or if Ira can tell me. Rather than continue an interview with what buildings went up or down I’d rather find out what the museum has. Because if you can’t give me dates-
EM: I can’t give exact dates.
SA: Or addresses, or things-
EM: On the ranch, all the buildings up around the main house where Mother and Dad lived, have prit near all been torn down.
SA: Do you know when and why?
EM: I'm not sure exactly when they moved most of the things down to the lower ranch. But they had the big old horse barns and the milking barn and the dairy and the blacksmith's shop and all of those things, and sheep pens.
SA: Is it because they were stopping the blacksmithing and the sheep and stuff? So when that era ended, they tore it down?
EM: Well, they tore it down, too, and they put it all into cultivation. But they moved so many of the things down to the lower ranch instead of up by Mother's.
SA: You don't know what year?
EM: No.
SA: Maybe Ira can tell me all that, 'cause that's what we really need to know.
EM: A lot of that was done while we were gone.
SA: So he would [know], because we would want that kind of information. Is there anything else from your personal experience there that you haven't covered?
EM: We used to go fishing. I remember going with Mother fishing down to Dutch Bill. We used to go down there fishing a lot in the springtime.
SA: And you said you had some pictures of Dutch Bill.
EM: I've got some pictures of it frozen.
SA: Yes, so we would want that. Is there anything else that we have not covered from your life?
EM: Not that I know of.
SA: I think we got a lot of detail and a very, very good interview. You have a wonderful memory, and you're very articulate.
EM: I don't know about the memory!
SA: So on behalf of the Churchill County Oral History Project, I want to thank you for sharing your information and your life with us, and this is the end of the interview.
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