Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker Oral History

Dublin Core

Title

Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker Oral History

Description

Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker Oral History

Creator

Churchill County Museum Association

Publisher

Churchill County Museum Association

Date

May 14, 1996

Format

Analog Cassette Tape, Text File, Mp3 Audio

Language

English

Oral History Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Audio Cassette

Duration

52:40

Transcription

Churchill County Oral History Project

an interview with

ALICE LOFTHOUSE FERGUSON BAKER

Fallon, Nevada

conducted by

Anita Erquiaga

May 14, 1996

This interview was transcribed by Glenda Price; edited by Norma Morgan; final by Pat Boden; index by Gracie Viera; supervised by Myrl Nygren, Director of Oral History Project, Churchill County Museum.

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

I interviewed Alice Baker at her home on May 14, 1996. She has lived at 322 East Richards since early in her marriage to Paul Ferguson. Her house is quite large and very neat and comfortable. There are many mementos which she has accumulated over the years including an antique clock, and all are displayed beautifully without a speck of dust anywhere. She has had many family gatherings at her place over the years and she said it is getting to where it is a little crowded because her family has grown and includes a great-great-grandchild now.

I interviewed her because she is a member of the Danielson family. They were a very old family in Churchill County. She married Paul Ferguson. His family were also among the early settlers here. She said she didn't know much about the Ferguson family but her daughter, Emma Jean Van Komen, has researched her father's family and has it all written down.

Alice is 85 years old and appears to be in very good health. She attributes this to having been a vegetarian for a great deal of her life. She is a tiny little woman, very soft spoken, and very much a lady. It was a pleasure to listen to her tell the story of her life.

Interview with Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker

ERQUIAGA: This is Anita Erquiaga of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Program. Today is May 14, 1996. I am interviewing Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker at her home at 322 East Richards Street in Fallon. Alice, I'd like to thank you for taking the time today to do this interview.

BAKER: Well, I hope it turns out good.

ERQUIAGA: First of all, will you tell me your full name?

BAKER: Alice Pauline Baker.

ERQUIAGA: And what was your place of birth and date of birth?

BAKER: I was born here in Fallon, April 4, 1911.

ERQUIAGA: And you've lived right here in Fallon all the time?

BAKER: Yeah, I didn't live in this exact house until after I was married.

ERQUIAGA: Were you born in a hospital or at home?

BAKER: At home.

ERQUIAGA: Did you have a doctor come out? Did your mother have a doctor come out?

BAKER: You know I couldn't answer that. I know I was born in the house we lived in for many years. Still standing.

ERQUIAGA: What was your mother's name?

BAKER: Emma Eliza Danielson.

ERQUIAGA: And where was she born?

BAKER: At Alpine, Nevada.

ERQUIAGA: Tell me more about that.

BAKER: My grandfather and grandmother were married in about 1874, and he evidently had taken up a homestead, and that's where they made their home.

ERQUIAGA: And they lived there a long time, then.

BAKER: Until they had six children. She had two before she was married to him, so there was eight all together, and they lived there until they were pretty well grown.

ERQUIAGA: What was your grandfather's name?

BAKER: James Andrew Danielson.

ERQUIAGA: And then your grandmother. Who was she before that?

BAKER: She was a Wightman, and she married a man by the name of Coltran, and she had two children by him, and then she married Danielson. She was born in Illinois, and her grandfather came out here. His name was Wightman, and he took up a station out there, and Grandmother wanted to come and see him, so her and her mother came out here. Her mother went back and she stayed here with her grandfather. Later she married Danielson and then they moved to Elko.

ERQUIAGA: Now, this is the Wightman family that have been around here a long time and are well known here?

BAKER: Well, I think they're related, but I never did find out just--I know that Andy Drumm's wife's name--what was her name?

ERQUIAGA: She was a Wightman.

BAKER: She was a Wightman, and I think some way that, maybe, a distant relation there.

ERQUIAGA: I see. Well, I don't think we got your father's full name, did we?

BAKER: I don't think so.

ERQUIAGA: Would you like to tell me that?

BAKER: Paul Graham Lofthouse.

ERQUIAGA: And where was he born?

BAKER: He was born in Unionville.

ERQUIAGA: Was his family native to Nevada, or did they come here from some place?

BAKER: Well, my grandfather, I know, came from England. They must have met here in Unionville. I think that that's where they were married.

ERQUIAGA: What did they do in Unionville?

BAKER: He was a miner.

ERQUIAGA: And so is that where your dad went to school?

BAKER: That's where he went to school. I think they had twelve children. Two of them passed away. Dad passed away. I think he was the first one of the family. Besides the mother and father. They had passed away before.

ERQUIAGA: So, then, where did he meet your mother?

BAKER: Here in Fallon.

ERQUIAGA: Did he move into Fallon?

BAKER: Well, that's where they moved to when they left Unionville, I think they moved to Fallon. I was born here in Fallon. Most of them was already children by the time they came over here, and I think that was in about [18]89.

ERQUIAGA: Did they come here to farm?

BAKER: I don't know if Grandfather ever farmed.

ERQUIAGA: What about your father? Did he farm?

BAKER: No, my father had a dray where he used to move people. He had coal and wood. They ordered it, and he would take it to them.

ERQUIAGA: He would sell that?

BAKER: Um-hum, or anything that they wanted to move. He helped them to move. He was in that business for a number of years. He even started out with a horse team and a wagon, and later he bought a Ford truck.

ERQUIAGA: And he met your mother here in Fallon?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: And where did they live in Fallon?

BAKER: Well, by that time they was living on Ada Street, and they bought a house and lived on Ada Street. Only house that I ever knew of them living in.

ERQUIAGA: And they weren't on a farm?

BAKER: No.

ERQUIAGA: I thought maybe they were. One of these pieces of information that I read, one of these Lofthouse men had a dragline. Was that your father?

BAKER: A dragline?

ERQUIAGA: Wasn't yours, evidently. Might have been his brother. Did your folks have a car?

BAKER: I don't think we ever did have a car until after Mother passed away.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, people didn't have cars that far back, I guess. Did they have a horse and buggy?

BAKER: Well, I know that Mother had owned two horses, but I don't remember them ever owning a buggy, but I know that Aunt Nora--if you remember Nora Lofthouse--she drove a horse and buggy.

ERQUIAGA: How did your mother go to the store and do her shopping?

BAKER: As long as I can remember they had a phone, and Mother used to call it in and then they used to deliver.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, I see. What was the store that did that?

BAKER: Kent's.

ERQUIAGA: Were you the oldest in your family?

BAKER: No, I had two brothers. One was killed and Willy--you remember his name.

ERQUIAGA: What was his full name?

BAKER: James William.

ERQUIAGA: And did he work at Kent's? Any more?

BAKER: Ernie. I guess you remember when he was shot?

ERQUIAGA: No, I don't remember. Tell me about it.

BAKER: Well, I don't know. There was drinking a little bit, and they'd come downstairs from up in the hall there, and he was taking a drink and this guy came up, and Ernie run, and instead of shooting up in the air or anything, he shot at him. He was in the hospital for several weeks and passed away.

ERQUIAGA: How old was he at that time?

BAKER: About twenty-one. He was going to school at that time.

ERQUIAGA: Where did you go to school?

BAKER: I started at West End, went through eighth grade, and it wasn't long I was married.

ERQUIAGA: You went to school at Oats Park, did you?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: You have any special memories of Oats Park?

BAKER: Well, I can remember when they put the two wings on it. They put one and then later they put one on the other end.

ERQUIAGA: How did you get to school?

BAKER: I generally walked.

ERQUIAGA: And the same to the high school? You walked?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: Did you know your grandparents?

BAKER: I saw my grandmother Lofthouse. She passed away in 1915, so I wasn't very old when she passed away.

ERQUIAGA: In 1915. How about the Danielsons? What they were doing all this time? Did they continue to live at Alpine?

BAKER: No, later Grandfather sold the ranch. Then he bought a ranch out here. It used to be called the Danielson Ranch for a long time.

ERQUIAGA: It was quite a large ranch, wasn't it?

BAKER: Yes, it was. I don't know who owns it now, but I think the house is still there.

ERQUIAGA: It's out of town a little ways.

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: It's not too far out in Harmon?

BAKER: No, it's not out in Harmon. It's out toward the base. [Naval Air Station, Fallon] I think the base owns quite a bit of the ground there.

ERQUIAGA: Was this after you were grown?

BAKER: No, that was before I can remember. I think he had sold that ranch before I was . . .

ERQUIAGA: Were some of your brothers still at home to help with that big ranch?

BAKER: Not my brothers, but my mother's brothers. I think Earl Danielson run the ranch for quite a while.

ERQUIAGA: You probably weren't old enough to help with any farm work when you were at home, or were you?

BAKER: We never lived on a farm. Much as I can remember.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, that's right. I'm getting mixed up here. It was your mother that was at Alpine. I don't know why I thought you were on a farm. What did you do for entertainment when you were young?

BAKER: We used to skate on--they had put in the sidewalks, and we used to skate on the sidewalks. Then they made scooters. Took a box and put skating rings on them. We did that for a long time until they got to complaining it was making too much noise so we had to quit doing that.

ERQUIAGA: Did you have dances?

BAKER: Oh, yes. They had dances up at Fraternal then they used to have them over there in Hall. I guess that's before you remember

ERQUIAGA: Do you know what's there now?

BAKER: Hall, and the Clark's too.

Yes. I don't know exactly what their names are. I guess they're still there. What is the one right here on the corner? There was Kendrick. What is that called?

ERQUIAGA: Their business, you mean?

BAKER: Yeah.

ERQUIAGA: I don't know what that was before.

BAKER: Anyhow, where this is at now, Kendricks still have it.

ERQUIAGA: Did you have live music at those dances?

BAKER: Yes, we did.

ERQUIAGA: Do you remember who the musicians were?

BAKER: No. I know there was Fred and Harry, and I think Louise Witherspoon. I think she played the piano. Who played before that I can't remember. But they played when they had dances. It was maybe every week or every few weeks. Anyhow, it was the Clarks' Hall was where they used to dance at.

ERQUIAGA: Did your family go on picnics like up to Lahontan?

BAKER: Yes, we went up there a number of times.

ERQUIAGA: It must have been later after you got a car?

BAKER: I think Aunt Nora and Uncle Will. We used to go with them quite a bit. They had a car.

ERQUIAGA: Did a lot of people do that?

BAKER: Yeah, there was quite a few that went. Had picnics, and they used to go up there to Soda Lake before it was ever full. We used to go down in to the, and there was a spring in there. I can remember the tractor, I don't know just what you'd call it, but it had a smokestack on it, and I can remember every time we went out it was coming up a little bit more. I guess it's still there.

ERQUIAGA: The tractor?

BAKER: Yes, but I imagine it's all covered by now.

ERQUIAGA: Probably. Well, is that where the water supply was

coming from? This spring that you mentioned?

BAKER: I know the spring was there, so it must have helped, but I imagine it must have been more. They must have been doing something with soda at that time.

ERQUIAGA: Was that in the big Soda Lake?

BAKER: Yeah.

ERQUIAGA: Well, they did some work in the small Soda. They must have been doing it there, too.

BAKER: Yeah.

ERQUIAGA: Did people swim in there?

BAKER: I don't remember them swimming at that time, but I know that later they did swim in there.

ERQUIAGA: It must have been a big hole when it was only partly full of water.

BAKER: It just kept coming up, coming up, and I don't how it is today. I guess it must be pretty well filled up. Some people go out there and go swimming, yet, I think.

ERQUIAGA: How did you meet your first husband?

BAKER: He used to ride in rodeos, and my cousin, I stayed with them after my mother passed away. . . then they got to going around together, so then I met him through them.

ERQUIAGA: How old were you when your mother passed away?

BAKER: Ten.

ERQUIAGA: And did you have to kind of take over the cooking?

BAKER: Well, I didn't at that time I stayed with one aunt for a while and then I went over and stayed with another aunt. You remember Nevada. I don't know if you remember Mary Lofthouse or not. We went to school together.

ERQUIAGA: So your husband wasn't in school with you. He was older than that?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: What was his full name?

BAKER: Paul Quinton Ferguson.

ERQUIAGA: And what did you say? Latch? That was his nickname?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQU1AGA: Most people knew him by that.

BAKER: Yeah, I think so.

ERQUIAGA: When you married him, what kind of work was he doing?

BAKER: Well, he was working on the highways at that time.

ERQUIAGA: Construction?

BAKER: Um-hum.

ERQU1AGA: One of these local companies?

BAKER: Well, I think he worked for most of them. When he was out of a job, why, he would go with somebody else.

ERQUIAGA: And where did you live after you were married?

BAKER: We weren't married too long when we bought this place.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, you bought this place. How much did you have to pay for a house in those days?

BAKER: Eight hundred dollars.

ERQUIAGA: Two bedrooms or three?

BAKER: Two bedrooms.

ERQUIAGA: And did it have a bathroom? By that time there was water everywhere.

BAKER: Yes, there was a bath. Um-hum. It had a back porch and a front porch. We've had it all brought in.

ERQUIAGA: Well, your husband wasn't involved in the farming either.

BAKER: Well, he was 'cause that's where his folks lived on a ranch. That was right across from where your folks used to live.

ERQUIAGA: So, did he work out there sometimes to help them?

BAKER: Yes. He lived in a house out there too.

ERQUIAGA: He had a car probably.

BAKER: Yeah, we did by that time.

ERQUIAGA: Did you learn to drive?

BAKER: Yeah, finally. (laughing)

ERQUIAGA: Who taught you how to drive?

BAKER: I think he did. My husband. I'd about give up, and he says, "Well, you better keep on," and I finally learned how to drive.

ERQUIAGA: Tell me about your children. How many children did you have?

BAKER: Just the two. Well, I lost one.

ERQUIAGA: And what were their names?

BAKER: Emma Jean Ferguson and Ernest William Ferguson.

ERQUIAGA: And then what happened to your husband? Did he die?

BAKER: Um-hum. He died in 1961.

ERQUIAGA: The kids weren't . .

BAKER: Oh, yeah, they were all grown here and had children. He got to see some of his grandchildren.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, did he? So, then, what did you do after he died, or had you started working before that?

BAKER: No, I didn't go to work until--let's see, what year did I go to work? Must have been about 1946, and I worked until 1976 'cause I got thirty years in.

ERQUIAGA: Where did you go to work?

BAKER: Telephone company.

ERQUIAGA: Would you tell me about that? Were you an operator?

BAKER: I was an operator, worked on a night shift on Saturdays for about thirty years. I worked there for thirty years. Worked on Saturday nights, went back Sunday, worked from twelve to five.

ERQUIAGA: Tell me about those old telephones. Those old ones that hung on the wall. That had a crank.

BAKER: I think that they were still a-going when I first went there, and then they finally got dial.

ERQUIAGA: How did those old ones work?

BAKER: They had a cord and a hearing aid. You put it up to your ear and then they had a little piece for your mouth. Then they had a crank on them. You don't remember them?

ERQUIAGA: But, I want you to tell me about them. (laughing)

BAKER: (laughing)

ERQUIAGA: Well, did you crank a certain number of rings a number of times?

BAKER: Yeah. Some of them were long and short or all long. A long and two shorts, and then there was three shorts.

ERQUIAGA: And then when you got hold of the operator, did you tell her who you wanted to talk to?

BAKER: That was later, I think. When we first started in, we'd crank the numbers and then we dialed them.

ERQUIAGA: Do you remember when the dial system came in? About when?

BAKER: I went to work there in 1946, so it must have been sometime after that.

ERQUIAGA: Were you working there at that time?

BAKER: At 1946, yea.

ERQUIAGA: Or when the dial system came in?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUTAGA: Did that make any difference in the number of operators that were needed?

BAKER: I think they kept just about what we had at that time.

ERQUIAGA: They didn't have to cut back.

BAKER: I don't think so. I think that they used what we had, for changing shifts. Each one worked a certain time, and then somebody came along and relieved them.

ERQUIAGA: Was your son in the service? Ernie?

BAKER: He was in the service for a year. He was there at Treasure Island.

ERQUIAGA: That was after the War was over that he went there?

BAKER: I think he was serving there just before. He was there about a year.

ERQUIAGA: Back to the telephone company, when did they do away with operators altogether?

BAKER: That was after I left.

ERQUIAGA: And you were already gone from there. You had retired by then?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: When did you marry Mr. Baker?

BAKER: Latch passed away in 1961, and I married Wilbur in 1963, and he passed away in 1965. So, that was it.

ERQUIAGA: You've been a widow a long time. Who was he? Was he one of the old-time families in Fallon?

BAKER: You probably knew. Roberta Baker and Eunice Baker.

ERQUIAGA: He was from that family? Was he a brother?

BAKER: Yes, he was a brother.

ERQUIAGA: So, that meant you were married to your brother's brother-in-law.

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: (laughing) That's kind of complicated. Your brother's wife was Eunice, and she's a sister of your husband?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: The Bakers were an old-time family here, weren't they?

BAKER: Oh, yes. I don't remember what year they came in.

ERQUIAGA: What kind of work did he do? Wilbur.

BAKER: Well, he was a carpenter, and he went to work, he had just started working for the telephone company, and just shortly he passed away.

ERQUIAGA: Had he been sick?

BAKER: Well, no. They all passed away with heart disease.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, his family?

BAKER: Uh-huh.

ERQUIAGA: Was your family involved with church activities?

BAKER: No.

ERQUIAGA: Not any of the Danielsons?

BAKER: Well, the Lofthouses they were Seventh-Day Adventists, and my aunts from that side used to go to church.

ERQUIAGA: But you didn't follow through with that?

BAKER: Not until later.

ERQUIAGA: You know anything about the Seventh-Day Adventist church. Wasn't it one of the very first churches?

BAKER: Yes, I think it was the first church in Fallon.

ERQUIAGA: Do you know where it was originally?

BAKER: It was out there... the highway goes right past it. We used to always call it the 'dobe house, and then we turned right in there right by the cemetery. You know where the cemetery is out there.

ERQUIAGA: Down south of town, you mean?

BAKER: Um-hum.

ERQUIAGA: That would be on what is now the Schurz Highway?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: Okay, was that the Beckstead place in there?

BAKER: Well, the Beckstead was there, but Corkills took it over.

ERQUIAGA: I see, and that's where the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was?

BAKER: No, I don't think it was there. I think it was up above it. I can't remember. As I say, I don't get around very much anymore. (laughing)

ERQUIAGA: You were busy. Well, when did you get involved going to church? [End of side A] The tape ran out on the other side. We were talking about the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. What were you going to tell me about it?

BAKER: Emma Jean could tell you a lot about it because it was her grandfather when he came in they started the Adventist Church.

ERQUIAGA: Was that her Ferguson grandfather?

BAKER: Yes, great-grandfather.

ERQUIAGA: Did Emma Jean go to the church because you were going, or did she get you started?

BAKER: Well, after I was then she went, but Sonny didn't go so much 'cause he never did join the church.

ERQUIAGA: Well, that provided you with some social life and entertainment probably.

BAKER: It's been wonderful.

ERQUIAGA: When did they start the school here?

BAKER: 1915, and I think that they moved the school. It's not what it looks like now, but it was in that old building that was there for so many years.

ERQUIAGA: The church building, is it still the same one that they've had for many years?

BAKER: No, I think the one that's there now was opened in October, 1950.

ERQUIAGA: And then they've built onto the school, I guess.

BAKER: No, they've started the school all over and put it almost like a new building now.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, I see. Did Emma Jean go to school there?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: Ernie?

BAKER: No, he didn't. He wanted to stay with his class.

ERQUIAGA: So, both of your children have stayed on here in Fallon. They haven't lived anyplace else.

BAKER: No.

ERQUIAGA: What kind of work has Ernie done in his adult life?

BAKER: He worked for Coverston's Garage. He worked there for a long time, and then he got in with the school, and he taught cars and mechanics.

ERQUIAGA: Auto mechanics?

BAKER: Um-hum.

ERQUIAGA: Coverston Garage is the Fallon Garage?

BAKER: Yes. He worked there for a long time.

ERQUIAGA: Was he a mechanic there?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: And now he's retired?

BAKER: Yes, he's retired now.

ERQUIAGA: And how about Emma Jean? She stayed right here in Fallon all the time, didn't she?

BAKER: She worked as a nurse's aide at the hospital for quite a while after she was married. Now they're in a business of their own.

ERQUIAGA: What's her husband's name?

BAKER: Bert VanKomen.

ERQUIAGA: How many grandchildren do you have?

BAKER: Six grandchildren. Fourteen great-grandchildren.

ERQUIAGA: Fourteen great-grandchildren! That's a nice family.

BAKER: And one great-great.

EROUTAGA: Well, that's a nice big family.

BAKER: It is when we all get together.

ERQUIAGA: Do the grandchildren live around here or have they moved away?

BAKER: They're all right here besides there is some of them that's living in Reno.

ERQUIAGA: That's not very far.

BAKER: No.

ERQUTAGA: Do you get together every once in a while?

BAKER: Every once in a while, but I tell you, it's getting so large (laughing).

ERQUIAGA: Quite a chore to feed all that bunch probably.

BAKER: Yeah, it is.

ERQUIAGA: Well, you've seen a lot of changes in Fallon all of these years.

BAKER: Oh, yes.

ERQUIAGA: What are some of the biggest changes that you've seen?

BAKER: Horse and buggy, cars, the airplanes, just keep multiplying and doing things.

ERQUIAGA: When is the first that you remember people having airplanes here in Fallon? Their little private planes. How far back does that go?

BAKER: Well, it must have been in the thirties some place. I don't remember just when.

ERQUIAGA: How about the schools? What's different there?

BAKER: What's that they use so much now?

ERQUIAGA: The computers?

BAKER: Yeah, computers that's made a great change, I think. More than any that I know of.

ERQUIAGA: Do your kids all have computers at home?

BAKER: I think they all have. My granddaughter she teaches Seventh Day Adventist Church School.

ERQUIAGA: Is that Emma's daughter?

BAKER: Yes.

ERQUIAGA: And what's her name?

BAKER: Cathy.

ERQUIAGA: Has she been teaching there a long time?

BAKER: I think pretty close to thirteen years. there a long time.

ERQUIAGA: Quite a career.

BAKER: Yeah. She's been very good. And Karen, she and husband are also in a business.

ERQUIAGA: Here in Fallon?

BAKER: Working in construction. Houses.

ERQUIAGA: What's her husband's name?

BAKER: Ed Zimmerman. And they have two girls. One girl's going to school now. She's in college. And the other's doing hair.

ERQUIAGA: How about the stores here in Fallon now as compared with years ago?

BAKER: Well, Kent's, of course

ERQUIAGA: How long has the Kent store been on that corner?

BAKER: I think they moved in there about 1903.

ERQUIAGA: And so before your time it was there.

BAKER: Yeah. It's always been there. And there was no bakers. There used to be a baker shop here, and we used to go and buy bread.

ERQUIAGA: Did you ever bake your own bread at home?

BAKER: Oh, yes, I did for a long time.

ERQUIAGA: And your mother, no doubt, she did too.

BAKER: Yeah.

ERQUIAGA: What kind of a stove did you cook on when you were first married?

BAKER: One of those you used for coal and wood,

ERQUIAGA: When did you get something different? Electricity or something.

BAKER: I think that we bought that gas stove in about 1940.

ERQUIAGA: That was a long time to cook on a woodburning stove.

BAKER: Yeah. That's the way we used to heat the water.

ERQUIAGA: I see. Did it have a tank on the side of it?

BAKER: Um-hum. I had that, too, even here when we first came here. We heated the water with it.

ERQUIAGA: And then does that hook up to your bathroom so you have hot water there?

BAKER: Yeah. We had a tank in there.

ERQUIAGA: So, even in the summer, you had to burn wood to have hot water.

BAKER: Yeah.

ERQUIAGA: Well, that's a big change, isn't it?

BAKER: Yeah, it is.

ERQUIAGA: How about the restaurants now? Are there more of them or less than there used to be?

BAKER: Well, I think there must be more because I can only remember the one used to be across from that when they went for dancing, they generally went over there afterwards and had something after dancing.

ERQUIAGA: How about the Palace Club? Wasn't there a connection between the Palace Club and the Lofthouse family at one time?

BAKER: Well, they had a saloon there for a good many years.

ERQUIAGA: Who was that that had it?

BAKER: George and Ralph Lofthouse.

ERQUIAGA: Would that be your uncles?

BAKER: Uh-huh.

ERQUIAGA: How long did they have it?

BAKER: For a long time, and then they changed it and they had a theater there for a good many years.

ERQUIAGA: Oh. Did you go to the theater very much when you were young?

BAKER: Oh, yes, we used to go quite often.

ERQUIAGA: What did it cost, I wonder, to go to the theater?

BAKER: I think twenty cents or twenty-five cents for adults and twenty cents for kids.

ERQUIAGA: When your uncles had the saloon, was that after Prohibition?

BAKER: That was before Prohibition. Then I think when Prohibition come in is when they put it into a theater.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, I see. Were there some bars during Prohibition that sold just soft drinks?

BAKER: I don't know if they did or not.

ERQUIAGA: How about the hospitals comparing them now and in the past?

BAKER: Well, that's changed. I know that Mrs. Moore's hospital. I guess you remember that.

ERQUIAGA: Where were your kids born?

BAKER: There was Mrs. Mulvaney was her name, and she had several places where she took in pregnancies.

ERQUIAGA: And that's where both of yours were born?

BAKER: Yes. They wasn't both at Mrs. Mulvaney. Mrs. Mulvaney took care Ernie, and Mrs. Hall took care--do you remember her?

ERQUIAGA: I have heard of her, yes.

BAKER: She took care of me when I had Emma.

ERQUIAGA: Who was Mrs. Hall? Do you know?

BAKER: Yes. I don't know what her name was. She was a Weyant, and she was really a nurse. She worked there for a long time, I think, at the Moore hospital. Then she finally started one for herself.

ERQUIAGA: There's been a lot of little hospitals over the years in Fallon.

BAKER: That's about the ones that I can remember.

ERQUIAGA: Did you ever know anybody that was a midwife?

BAKER: No. I think there must have been some, but I don't remember any of them.

ERQUIAGA: Do you have a particular philosophy that you live by?

BAKER: Not beside with the church.

ERQUIAGA: What you learn in church is how you live?

BAKER: Um-hum.

ERQUIAGA: What do you attribute your good health to? You seem to be very healthy.

BAKER: Maybe that's from not eating meat. Eating vegetables mostly. That must be about the only thing I could put it to being a vegetarian for many years.

ERQUIAGA: For many years you have been a vegetarian?

BAKER: Yes, since about sixty. That's been a long time. Never did go back to eating meat.

ERQUIAGA: You got used to it that way. How about your husband? Did he go back and he eat meat?

BAKER: Oh, yes, he did.

ERQUIAGA: Did he fix his own?

BAKER: Well, I think when I fixed it, he ate what I fixed. He always liked meat.

ERQUIAGA: Well, you really do seem to be healthy. You haven't spent a lot of time in hospitals or on a sick bed.

BAKER: Oh, I was sick about a year ago, and then before. I took pneumonia, and then I had a little case of heart somethin' disease. I just have to be careful now, and then I got that…

ERQUIAGA: What part of you did it affect?

BAKER: It affects my heart for some reason, and then my back gave way on me.

ERQUIAGA: A bone problem in your back? Maybe osteoporosis?

BAKER: That's it.

ERQUIAGA: Is there anything you can do for that?

BAKER: You just have to take it easy. Don't overdo.

ERQUIAGA: Do you still drive?

BAKER: Yes, I do drive. I don't drive a whole lot, but I can manage to go to the grocery store.

ERQUIAGA: You get your own shopping done that way.

BAKER: Um-hum. Not all of it. Emma Jean does a lot for me.

ERQUIAGA: Do you take any trips anywhere?

BAKER: I haven't lately, but I have taken nice trips.

ERQUIAGA: Where did you go?

BAKER: Over by Austria. It was in there.

ERQUIAGA: Austria? Oh, that might have been different.

BAKER: Yeah. There about three months.

ERQUIAGA: Did you go with your children?

BAKER: No, I went with my cousin. If you remember Leona Gillespie. She was here for a long time. We went together. We were there for about three months.

ERQUIAGA: That was interesting, I bet. Do you have a hobby?

BAKER: Only studying the Bible.

ERQUIAGA: Do you like to read other things, too?

BAKER: Yeah, I do read.

ERQUIAGA: But you don't crochet?

BAKER: Well, I did for a long time, but I haven't recently, and I made those pictures up in there.

ERQUIAGA: Those are a type of embroidery?

BAKER: Yeah. Used to do a lot of embroidery. I haven't done anything lately.

ERQUIAGA: Just keeping track of all those grandchildren and all those great-grandchildren can take up your time.

BAKER: (laughing) Yeah, that's right. (laughing)

ERQUIAGA: Did you ever ride horseback very much?

BAKER: I didn't, but my grandchildren on Emma Jean's side do a lot of riding, or did. I don't know if they do so much now. They're very good riders.

ERQUIAGA: Is there any other things that you can think of that you'd like to tell us about?

BAKER: No.

ERQUIAGA: Do you remember the Fallon Flour Mill?

BAKER: I don't remember a flour mill. Alfalfa mill, I remember that.

ERQUIAGA: That was at Kent's?

BAKER: Yeah.

ERQUIAGA: How do you happen to remember that?

BAKER: People got sick from that. Hay fever.

ERQUIAGA: From the dust?

BAKER: Yeah. Used to be a lot of dust.

ERQUIAGA: People who lived down close to it, or all over?

BAKER: Well, quite a bit. I don't why they closed it down. Maybe they couldn't get the hay or something to run it.

ERQUIAGA: Do you remember when they raised sugar beets here?

BAKER: I can remember that, yes. That didn't last very long.

ERQUIAGA: Did you ever see them growing in the fields? Did they just look like green plants?

BAKER: I remember when they planted them. Of course, they had to be taken to the mill.

ERQUIAGA: Do you remember what the mill looked like?

BAKER: Yeah, it was out there by the cemetery. Do you remember it?

ERQUIAGA: No.

BAKER: I should have looked up some of these pictures, and you could have seen it.

ERQUIAGA: You didn't know anybody that worked there, though, None of your family?

BAKER: My brother worked there.

ERQUIAGA: Oh, your brother worked there? Which one? James?

BAKER: No, Ernie.

ERQUIAGA: Where did James work besides Kent's? Did he work . . ?

BAKER: He always worked for Kent's.

ERQUIAGA: Well, do you have anything else you'd like to tell me about?

BAKER: I don't know of anything else,

ERQUIAGA: Well, maybe we will wind up our interview then if we've covered it all.

BAKER: All right.

ERQUIAGA: I really thank you for telling me all this.

BAKER: I wish I could have told you more.

ERQUIAGA: Well, this is better than nothing. We're glad to get it and thank you.

BAKER: You're welcome.

 

Interviewer

Anita Erquiaga

Interviewee

Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker

Location

322 East Richards st, Fallon, NV

Comments

Files

1102G1.JPG
Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker Oral History Transcript.docx
Baker, Alice.mp3

Citation

Churchill County Museum Association, “Alice Lofthouse Ferguson Baker Oral History,” Churchill County Museum Digital Archive: Fallon, Nevada, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ccmuseum.omeka.net/items/show/643.