Joseph P. Mosconi - University of Nevada, Reno

16 Joseph Mosconi
Let me see, were there any of them
married? I don’t believe so—mostly all single
men. Some of them young fellows died up here
in Truckee. Capetti; he died...a young man.
They were all single people. Some of them were
married, and their wives were still in Italy, see.
Other than your dad’s or your uncle’s place,
were there any Italian hotels in Truckee at the
time?
Oh, yes. There’s Rossarinis. They were
from Tuscany. They had a hotel up there. Then
there was the Costas. The Rossarinis had a
clothing store in Truckee.
What part of Italy were they from?
I can’t tell you.
What about Costa?
Northern part of Italy, but I can’t tell you
just what part. He had a big contract with
the paper company, hauling the wood for
the Crown Willamette Paper Company at
Floriston. There used to be a large paper mill
at Floriston, and he had the contract to haul...
him and John Delfatti. John Delfatti was from
a town just below from where I was born.
And this Rossarini...what’s that young
fellow’s name? He is the Channel 4 reporter—
John Firpo. His father married a Rossarini. So
he’s one of the Rossarinis. Mrs. Rossarini was a
widow. Then this Firpo married her, and they
had this one boy. They lived in Truckee.
Then, several years ago, I was down to a
little town down in Oakland, I think, and I
happened to go into this clothing store, and
here was some of the Rossarinis had that
clothing store.
They stayed in the clothing business? [laughter]
Yes. The others were Rossarini; they had
a hotel and a bar and eating place, up River
Street from my uncle. I can’t remember any of
the others. Wait a minute. Oh, yes. There was
a Sala...2 brothers...Dan Sala and Bartolo Sala.
They was from the town where I was born.
Great big...they looked like to me they were
about 7 foot tall...great big men. There was a
Sala here in Reno, I think; I’m not sure whether
they were related or not. They had a bar.
Then there was some more...a Besio from
the town where I was born. The building is
still there [where] you go to the shortcut. It’s
right alongside the road there. One of the
Besios still has a clothing store in the other
end of the town of Truckee.. .West Truckee.
He and his wife have a clothing store, one of
the young fellows. The older boys are retired.
[One] was a school principal down out of
Stockton, one of those little towns out of
Stockton.
After your family left Euer Valley, where did
they go? You told me about the icehouse in
Truckee. Did your father work in the icehouse?
Oh, yes.
Which year did he work in the icehouse, or did
he do it more than one year?
I can’t remember which year, but he was
working at that ice plant where the sawmill
is at there now in Truckee. They got the
water from Trout Creek. See, Trout Creek
comes down from where we were making
charcoal. Euer Valley was sitting down here,
and we had the camp up here; it wasn’t right
in Euer Valley. The camp was up here on the
bench [looking at map or photograph]. It’s all
considered Euer Valley. And then the Trout
Creek starts there and follows on down, and
it drained out into the ponds of the ice plant.