John F. Cahlan - University of Nevada, Reno

John F. Cahlan:Reminiscences of a Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada,Newspaperman, University Regent,and Public-Spirited CitizenDescriptionInterviewee: John F. CahlanInterviewed: 1968Published: 1970Interviewer: Mary Ellen GlassUNOHP Catalog #035John Francis Cahlan is a native of Nevada, born in Reno in 1902. He had a long career as a newspaperman andfollowed an avocation in politics, serving as a regent of the University of Nevada, a legislative lobbyist, and as aninstigator of the establishment of the Nevada State Archives.Few residents of Nevada have had greater contact with the events and the men who have shaped the state’s historyin the past half-century than John Cahlan. Born in Reno and briefly a resident of Carson City, Cahlan attendedthe University of Nevada in the 1920s. He worked for the Nevada State Journal when James G. Scrugham was itsowner, and moved to Las Vegas when newspapering was still in its adolescence there. Cahlan was not a selectivescholar—a newspaperman cannot afford to be that. He was, rather, a reporter trained by long service to listen forthe feature angle or the news lead. Names of nationally famous and locally prominent personalities abound; Mr.Cahlan obviously took pride in his encounters with the people who make news.Cahlan watched the building of Hoover Dam, the growth of Las Vegas, and the development of the Atomic EnergyCommission’s testing facility from a unique point of view. His activities as political prophet and seer, legislativereporter, university regent, juvenile officer, and service club activist took him into far more strategic situations thanmost Nevadans ever could experience. The state was much smaller in population during Mr. Cahlan’s busiest years,and it is doubtful that future archivists will have a comparable range of opportunities. This account is certain to beof value, not only for its descriptions of the events that Cahlan saw firsthand, but also for the small-town festivities,the hearsay that it preserves, and for the gossip—the most natural and honest kind of narration—that is here putin permanent form.Scholars of the future may find reason to recheck some of Cahlan’s assertions or descriptions—this is one of thefunctions of scholarship—but they will do well to keep this account close at hand. It is representative, earnest,patriotic, local history, related with the pride and self-assurance that was common to those who are now beingcalled “Old Nevadans.”

John F. Cahlan:Reminiscences of a Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada,Newspaperman, University Regent,and Public-Spirited Citizen

John F. Cahlan:Reminiscences of a Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada,Newspaperman, University Regent,and Public-Spirited CitizenAn Oral History Conducted by Mary Ellen GlassUniversity of Nevada Oral History Program

Copyright 1970University of Nevada Oral History ProgramMail Stop 0324Reno, Nevada 89557unohp@unr.eduhttp://www.unr.edu/oralhistoryAll rights reserved. Published 1970.Printed in the United States of AmericaPublication Staff:Director: Mary Ellen GlassUniversity of Nevada Oral History Program Use PolicyAll UNOHP interviews are copyrighted materials. They may be downloaded and/orprinted for personal reference and educational use, but not republished or sold. Under“fair use” standards, excerpts of up to 1000 words may be quoted for publication withoutUNOHP permission as long as the use is non-commercial and materials are properlycited. The citation should include the title of the work, the name of the person orpeople interviewed, the date of publication or production, and the fact that the workwas published or produced by the University of Nevada Oral History Program (andcollaborating institutions, when applicable). Requests for permission to quote for otherpublication, or to use any photos found within the transcripts, should be addressedto the UNOHP, Mail Stop 0324, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557-0324.Original recordings of most UNOHP interviews are available for research purposesupon request.

ContentsPreface to the Digital EditionIntroductionSpecial Introduction by Professor James W. Hulse1. My Early Life and Education2. A Career in Journalism: Overview3. Some of My Important Feature Stories about Southern NevadaBoulder DamEntertainment and TourismLas Vegas Valley Water ProblemsNellis Air Force BaseHenderson and BMIThe AECSports InterestsObservations on Population Growth4. Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and Public Service5. A Term with the University of Nevada Board of Regents, 1947-19516. Evolution of the Centennial Commission and the Nevada State Division of Archivesixxixiii11545758797

viiiJohn F. Calhan7. Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known8. The Southern Nevada Industrial Foundation: A New Career9. “Cahlan School of Journalism”10. ConclusionOriginal Index: For Reference Only103123127135141

Preface to the Digital EditionEstablished in 1964, the University ofNevada Oral History Program (UNOHP)explores the remembered past throughrigorous oral history interviewing, creating arecord for present and future researchers. Theprogram’s collection of primary source oralhistories is an important body of informationabout significant events, people, places,and activities in twentieth and twenty-firstcentury Nevada and the West.The UNOHP wishes to make theinformation in its oral histories accessibleto a broad range of patrons. To achievethis goal, its transcripts must speak withan intelligible voice. However, no type fontcontains symbols for physical gestures andvocal modulations which are integral partsof verbal communication. When humanspeech is represented in print, stripped ofthese signals, the result can be a morass ofseemingly tangled syntax and incompletesentences—totally verbatim transcriptssometimes verge on incoherence. Therefore,this transcript has been lightly edited.While taking great pains not to altermeaning in any way, the editor may haveremoved false starts, redundancies, and the“uhs,” “ahs,” and other noises with whichspeech is often liberally sprinkled; compressedsome passages which, in unaltered form,misrepresent the chronicler’s meaning; andrelocated some material to place informationin its intended context. Laughter is representedwith [laughter] at the end of a sentence inwhich it occurs, and ellipses are used toindicate that a statement has been interruptedor is incomplete…or that there is a pause fordramatic effect.As with all of our oral histories, whilewe can vouch for the authenticity of theinterviews in the UNOHP collection, weadvise readers to keep in mind that these areremembered pasts, and we do not claim thatthe recollections are entirely free of error.We can state, however, that the transcriptsaccurately reflect the oral history recordingson which they were based. Accordingly, eachtranscript should be approached with the

xJohn F. Calhansame prudence that the intelligent readerexercises when consulting governmentrecords, newspaper accounts, diaries, andother sources of historical information.All statements made here constitute theremembrance or opinions of the individualswho were interviewed, and not the opinionsof the UNOHP.In order to standardize the design of allUNOHP transcripts for the online database,most have been reformatted, a process thatwas completed in 2012. This document maytherefore differ in appearance and paginationfrom earlier printed versions. Rather thancompile entirely new indexes for each volume,the UNOHP has made each transcript fullysearchable electronically. If a previous versionof this volume existed, its original index hasbeen appended to this document for referenceonly. A link to the entire catalog can be foundonline at http://oralhistory.unr.edu/.For more information on the UNOHPor any of its publications, please contact theUniversity of Nevada Oral History Program atMail Stop 0324, University of Nevada, Reno,NV, 89557-0324 or by calling 775/784-6932.Alicia BarberDirector, UNOHPJuly 2012

IntroductionJohn Francis Cahlan is a native of Nevada,born in Reno in 1902. He had a long career asa newspaperman and followed an avocation inpolitics, serving as a Regent of the Universityof Nevada, a legislative lobbyist, and as aninstigator of establishment of the NevadaState Archives. A later career led to a businessin economic development. Professor JamesHulse’s introduction outlines Mr. Cahlan’sconsiderable achievements.When invited to participate in theOral History Project, Mr. Cahlan acceptedenthusiastically. With a journalist’s instinct forcombining facts and colorful asides, he toldhis story in a series of six interviews all heldin the office of the Southern Nevada IndustrialFoundation (SNIF), Las Vegas, Nevada, fromApril 8 to April 10, 1968. A cooperativechronicler, he answered all questions andadded observations with frankness andapparent enjoyment.Mr. Cahlan’s review of his memoirresulted in few significant changes in thecontext of the script, and with minor revisionsin sentence structure in some places. A bonusof this review was the addition of a chapter on“Cahlan’s School of Journalism,” written at thetime of his checking the transcript.The Oral History Project of the Universityof Nevada, Reno, Library preserves the pastand the present for future research by taperecordingthe reminiscences of personswho have played significant roles in thedevelopment of Nevada and the West, or whohave witnessed events of importance. Scriptsresulting from the interviews are depositedin the Special Collections Department of theUniversity Library, where they are availableto scholars. John F. Cahlan’s oral history isdesignated as open for research.Mary Ellen GlassUniversity of Nevada, Reno1970

Special IntroductionJohn Francis Cahlan needs no introduceror interpreter. In the first place he has been oneof the best-known members of the professionthat has unique advantages in public relations;he has long had maximum “public exposure”as a journalist and active citizen. He representsa generation of peripatetic Nevadans whohad an unusual opportunity to know theirregion well. Furthermore, he does not haveany trouble expressing himself and he isnot reticent about discussing the extent andnature of his involvements.Few residents of Nevada have had greatercontact with the events and the men whohave shaped the state’s history in the past halfcentury. Born in Reno and briefly a residentof Carson City, John Cahlan attended theUniversity of Nevada in the 1920’s. He workedfor the Nevada State Journal when James G.Scrugham was its owner and moved to LasVegas when newspapering was still in itsadolescence there. Cahlan is not a selectivescholar—a newspaperman cannot afford tobe that. He is rather a reporter trained bylong service to listen for the feature angle orthe news “lead.” Names of nationally famousand locally prominent personalities abound;Mr. Cahlan obviously takes pride in hisencounters with the people who make news.He watched the building of Hoover Dam, thegrowth of Las Vegas, and the developmentof the Atomic Energy Commission’s testingfacility from a unique point of view. Hisactivities as political prophet and seer,legislative reporter, university regent, juvenileofficer, and service club activist took himinto far more strategic situations than mostNevadans ever could experience. The statewas much smaller in population during Mr.Cahlan’s busiest years, and it is doubtful thatfuture activists will have a comparable rangeof opportunities. This account is certain tobe of value not only for its descriptions ofthe events that Cahlan saw first-hand, butalso for the small-town festivities, the hearsaythat it preserves, and for the gossip—the mostnatural and honest kind of narration—that ishere put in permanent form.

xivJohn F. CalhanScholars of the future may find reasonto recheck some of Cahlan’s assertions ordescriptions—this is one of the functions ofscholarship—but they will do well to keepthis account close at hand. It is representative,earnest, patriotic, local history, relatedwith the pride and self-assurance that wascommon to those who are now being called“old Nevadans.”James W. HulseDepartment of HistoryUniversity of Nevada, Reno1969

1My Early Life and EducationMy name is John Francis Cahlan, and Iwas born in Reno on the twenty-fifth day ofAugust, 1902.Because of the type of work I have beenin, I have known presidents and prostitutes,congressmen and convicts, governors andgrubstakers, mayors and murderers, ministersand muggers, ball players and bootleggers,and all types of assorted other citizens.I was born at 518 North Center Streetin Reno. It was a little house that was therefor many, many years and later became thesite of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternityhouse. My earliest recollections of Reno aresort of random. The first thing I think I canremember was the unpaved streets in whicha large steamroller with a small roller in frontand the big back wheels used to come up anddown the street about once a month. Andone of my pet thoughts was to get inside thebig wheel and walk along as it turned over. Inever made it, but I still had the yen to do it.I also can remember when they wereputting in the sewer line on Center Street.Reno at the time was, oh, I should judge aboutan 8,000 population. They were just extendingthe paved streets and the sewer line. Theyhad the pipe laid on end, and I got to playingin one of the sewer pipes and managed toget myself stuck. My mother had to call thefire department to get me out which causedquite a sensation on the 500 block on NorthCenter Street!I also can remember when I had thediphtheria. I was one of the very few peoplein Reno, or anywhere else at the time, thatsurvived diphtheria because it was then avery serious disease and prior to this timethere was no antidote for the thing. But justprior to the time I got it, the antitoxin wasdiscovered, and when I got the disease, Dr.Thom in Reno told my mother that this newantitoxin was available and that it was eitherthat or dying. So my mother and fatherdecided that it would be a good idea for meto get the antitoxin. And I received the doseand was the first one in the state of Nevada toso receive it. As you can see, it worked.The recollections I have in Reno, I canremember the streetcars that used to run on

2 John F. Cahlanthe streets of Reno. Well, I was too small at thattime to remember them very distinctly. Lateron, when I grew up in Reno, we were comingback from Carson City, I can remember thestreetcars very well. They used to have thestreetcar barns down on Fourth Street abouthalfway to Sparks, and early in the morningthey would come up to the Southern Pacificdepot on Center Street by the Overland Hotelwhere they would start their run. One wouldgo out clear out Second Street to the end ofthe city limits; another one would go up tothe University of Nevada up Sierra Street; andanother one would go to Sparks up FourthStreet. Later on, the runs were extended outFourth Street west to Ralston and up Ralstonto the bottom of the hill. And then when PeteBurke established his Burke’s Addition out inthe southeast section of Reno, they extendedthe car lines out there, and then they ran aseparate line out to Moana Springs. That onewent out Virginia Street to California and upCalifornia to Plumas, I believe it was, and outto Moana Lane and over to Moana Springs.One night when I was living in Reno, myfather and mother, my brother and myselfhad gone to Susanville to visit my father’sfamily there and were coming back on theold NCO railroad. We got to the top of thehill and started down into the valley, andwe saw a real large fire in Reno. And whenwe got to the depot, we could see that it wassomeplace downtown, so we followed the firedepartment to the Catholic church on Secondand Stevenson, I think it is—anyway, it wasthe old St. Thomas Aquinas church, and inback of that was the Wheelmen’s Association,which was a very famous—in the early days—bicycling club that had been formed in Renoaround the turn of the century or earlier.My mother and father used to belong to it.The church and the Wheelmen’s clubhouseburned completely to the ground and inrazing the Wheelmen’s Club, destroyed all ofthe trophies that they had won up and downthe Pacific Coast. And in the church, a lot ofvery precious statuary and things were lost.Father Thomas M. Tubman was the priest atthe church at that time. He later became abishop and was the first bishop, I believe, inthe Reno diocese.When I was six years old, in 1908, myfather became Inspector of the Nevada statepolice under Governor Sparks, and we movedto Carson City. My father established the firstBertilon identification system, I think, in theWest Coast and certainly in Nevada. It wasan operation which identified criminals, notonly by fingerprints, but by measurements oftheir head and their upper anatomy. This wasmade famous by the French penal authority,Bertilon. And that was why it was called“Bertilon System.”When we first got to Carson City, it wasquite a heartbreak for a young kid who hadspent the first six years of his life in Reno andmade all his friends in Reno. To be uprootedand taken to Carson City for Lord only knowswhat. And I can remember spending aboutthree days crying my eyes out ’cause I didn’thave any friends and didn’t know anybody atschool. However, things changed after we gotto go to school. I started first grade in CarsonCity, having gone to the Babcock kindergartenin Reno prior to leaving for Carson City.When I started first grade in Carson City,my teacher was Miss Alice Bryant, and mybrother and I went to the school— CarsonCity School, which was on Kings CanyonRoad. It was right across the street fromthe Carson City brewery, which was runby Max Stenz. His daughter was one of ourschoolmates, and we still are friendly and seeeach other every once in a while.As we went through school in CarsonCity, we became well acquainted with people

4 John F. Cahlangrandfather drove the first team into VirginiaCity with a load of flour, and the man he wasdoing business with was unable to pay him.But he told my grandfather that he would givehim the deed to some lots in Reno. But mygrandfather told him that he didn’t have toworry about it. He’d pick it up the next timehe came around. I’m not sure, but I don’t thinkmy grandfather ever got paid for the flour.But the lots that the man offered to deed tomy grandfather were on Virginia Street fromthe Truckee River on the west side of VirginiaStreet, from the Truckee River to SecondStreet, from Second Street to Sierra Street,and back down to the river which now is theheart of the city of Reno. So that’s how closewe came to be landed property owners.But anyway, my mother’s father,Frank Marion Edmunds, was a hoistingengineer in Virginia City, and my mother’smother, Gertrude Barron Edmunds, was aschoolteacher. Both of them had come outfrom New Hampshire, and they had livedwithin a few miles of each other in NewHampshire and didn’t know each other. Hewas born in Andover and she in Concord. Andwhen they got to Virginia City, my grandfathercourted my grandmother, and married her.My mother was born October 30, 1875in Virginia City. As I say, her father was ahoisting engineer and was on duty the nightthat they had the tragic Savage fire in whichseveral people lost their lives. My mother saidthat she could remember the night when thefire broke out. It was about sundown, andshe saw this red haze or red glow off to theleft of their front window, and she called herfather’s attention to it, and he said, “Oh, myGod, the—there’s a mine fire!” so he wentdown and stayed on the job for, as my mothersaid, I think it was forty-eight hours withoutrest, doing rescue work, and other things thatcould be done.In the Edmunds family, there were twoother daughters. My mother, Marion, was theoldest; Alice Edmunds, who later became Mrs.Will Sauer—her husband was a rancher in theWashoe Valley; and the third daughter, AmyEdmunds, who never married and taughtschool in Butte, Montana, and Minneapolis,Minnesota. She returned to Nevada about ayear before she died. So that about takes careof the family.My grandfather had two other daughters.My father’s mother, Charlotte Farley Cahlan,died when he was about five years old.And my grandfather married another wife,Charlotte Warren Cahlan, and they had twodaughters, Mrs. R. Hyrum Browne (GenevaCahlan), who now lives in California, andMrs. Arthur Mathews (Lena Cahlan), whoalso lives in California. As I say, both mybrother and I were both born in Reno. Ihave a daughter, Virginia Cahlan Otero,who was born in Las Vegas. My brother hasa daughter, Ruth Marion Henderson, whowas born in Elko, and a son, John ForestCahlan, who was born in Las Vegas. The sonhas three sons, Albert Edmunds Cahlan II,John Forest Cahlan, Jr., and Stephen BradfordCahlan, all of whom were born in Las Vegas.Their mother was the former Jean Garner.The only “foreigners” in the family are myniece’s children, all of whom were born in Mt.Ayr, Iowa. They are Miss Susan Henderson,Bruce Henderson, David Lee Henderson, andPatrick Henderson. Their father is MiltonHenderson of Mt. Ayr, Iowa.Now I’ll get back up to Carson City. Itwas a very interesting era for me because ofbeing a young kid, and doing the things thatyoung kids used to do. I can recall playing inthe capitol building, and one of the favoritesports was to go up to the second floor andslide down the banister, and I have had mybackside bumped on many occasions by the

My Early Life and Education5big ball that stands at the balustrade down atthe bottom of a staircase. It was there that webecame very well acquainted with many of thepoliticians of the era. I remember especiallyWill U. Mackey, who was the foreman in thestate printer’s office and Mr. Joseph Poujadewho was a lawyer and referee in bankruptcy,practicing before the supreme court, and lotsof the other people whose names have escapedme now.But I do recall that when I was in thethird or fourth grade at the Carson schoolthat the new state library was set up in theoctagonal building at the rear of the statecapitol, and Mrs. Louise W. Edwards, who wasthe mother of Dwight and “Bunk,” became thefirst librarian. And it was our job to suggestthe books that would be put in the library forthe youngsters. And, of course, we got theTom Swift books, the Rover Boy books, Frankand Dick Merriwell, the O’Henry stories,James Fennimore Cooper—so we had littlesomething to do with the establishment ofthe state library in Carson City.Shortly after we got to Carson City, wemoved to a place on Second and MinnesotaStreets which had a very convenient alcovebetween the house and the woodshed on theother side away from the house, and a perfectbackstop in the back of this alcove where mybrother and I used to play baseball. It wasn’tmore than a day or two after we startedplaying ball out there that two heads peekedup over the fence to watch us play baseballand we started in talking to the kids, or talkingto one of the kids, and he indicated that hisbrother was deaf and dumb. We couldn’tquite understand that, but we finally acceptedit; the kids’ names were Dowling. And fora period of three years, my brother and Iworked with the oldest one, Wilbert, whowas the deaf-mute. We finally got him to apoint where he could communicate with theother youngsters. When we first knew him,the only thing he could do was grunt. Andthrough association with us and our trying allthe time to teach him how to talk, we finallygot him so he could speak several words andmake himself understood pretty well. Later, hewent to a deaf and dumb school in Californiaand became quite well educated and went onto take care of himself. I’ve always felt that ifit hadn’t been for us, the kid never would’vegotten anything.There’re so many things that remainin my memory. For instance, the V and Troundhouse in Carson City. Every Saturday,we used to go down and watch the mechanicsworking on the engines down there. They hadanywhere from eight to ten engines in there atone time. They would change engines goingup to Virginia City from Carson City and theyhad to pull out some booster engines to go upover the hill.And speaking of the Virginia and Truckeerailroad, I can always remember the trainsthat they used to run on the holidays. Reno,Virginia City, and Carson City used totrade holidays. One of ’em would put on theMemorial Day festival; another the Fourthof July; and the other one, Labor Day. Andwherever the celebrations were staged, the Vand T would run trains to the town. They hadlong flatcars with benches bolted onto them,no sides on ’em; no nothing. They just hadthe benches on there, and everybody wouldget on the train and go wherever they weregoing—Virginia City or Reno. Going up, itwas quite a party because there seemed tobe a lot of demijohns underneath the seatsof the benches which the men would swigquite frequently, and by the time they gotinto Virginia City, they would be quite high.Coming back, they used to put on extraguards so that the sleeping boys wouldn’t rolloff en route to their home.

6 John F. CahlanThe celebrations that they put on willstand out in my mind for as long as I live—Virginia City especially—because theyused to have fire department drills. Thefire department in those days was all handdrawn.They had no horsedrawn vehiclesand the pumpers were manned by humanmanpower, just pumping for all they wereworth, to get the water through the hose.They would have contests between the, oh,the Curry Engine Company in Carson City,and there was one other engine company inCarson, Warren Company. And they wouldgo to Virginia City and contest with two orthree companies up there. And also, theywould have rock drilling contests with singlejacks and double jacks. And the Cousin Jacksfrom Grass Valley and Nevada City wouldjaunt up there to contest the Nevada minersin these feats of strength and also tugs of war.The celebration always opened with a paradedown “C” Street in Virginia City. I can wellremember one Fourth of July, we were—mymother, my brother, and I—standing onthe portico of the International Hotel andwatching the parade. And I can always—I amalways proud to—say that I stayed overnightin the famous International Hotel and enjoyedit very immensely.I also remember when I was in Reno in1910, they had the Jeffries-Johnson fight inReno on the Fourth of July. My mother andI went to Reno because my father—being amember of the state police—was sent to Renoto help assist in handling the crowds. Andbelieve me, there were crowds there at thatfight! I can remember my mother and I startedfrom Second Street to walk up to the depoton Center Street, where the Golden Hotelstood. And the Golden Hotel was the fightheadquarters, and it took us about half anhour to get from Second Street to the depot,just fighting our way through the crowd. Thecrowd extended from sidewalk to sidewalk,and just a complete mass of humanity for awhole block.I can remember also the San Francisconewspapers fighting to see who could get theirnewspaper to Reno first. But in those days, theonly roads over the Sierra Nevada mountainswere the ones that the stagecoaches andtrucking lines and horse-drawn wagons,trucking vehicles had been driven over, andthey were not made for automobiles. Butthe Examiner and the Chronicle and theCall Bulletin all hired automobiles to bringtheir papers to Reno. And it was quite a fightto get there first. In fact, one of the moredaredevil guys drove his automobile throughthe snowsheds on the ties going all the waythrough the snowsheds; and very fortunately,he got through without meeting any trainsgoing the other way.And I can remember in Reno at the time,on the corner of Second and Virginia Streetthere was a big, two-story wooden buildingwhere the original First National Bankbuilding stands. And on the second floor ofthis building, was a man by the name of FredDanne, a very good friend of my family, whohad a photographic studio there. It facedright onto Second Street and across thestreet was the Nevada State Journal buildingwhere the Nevada State Journal was printed.The newspaper had a large rolled piece ofcanvas that was black. It was a continuousroll that they used for bulletins and for worldseries ball games. And on the Fourth of Julywhen the fight was on, they used this to givebulletins, and a blow-by-blow account of thefight. And we—my mother and I—were upin the Danne studio watching the fight—theprogress of the fight. I was quite impressed,looking back at it now.My father took me out to Moana Springswhere Jim Jeffries was training, and also to

My Early Life and Education7Rick’s Resort where Johnson was training.Rick’s Resort was out on the old Mayberryranch property, out on the Truckee Riverwest of town. There was quite a nightclubthere in the early days, and this is whereJohnson trained. Well, I can recall going upand watching Johnson very busily at worksparring and punching at a bag and doinghis roadwork and everything, while up atMoana Springs Jeffries was playing cards anddrinking whiskey. And in my estimation, asyoung as I was, Jeffries never did take thefight seriously. There was a report my fathertold me about that Johnson, when the fightwas signed, had agreed to throw the bout toJeffries. That was why Jeffries was not training.The day before the fight, Johnson backed outof the agreement and said the white boy wouldhave to take care of himself in the ring. It wasquite a shock to everybody in Reno at the timethat Johnson won and was the new champion,and immediately, they started to try to find a“white hope.” That’s where the “white hope”in the boxing fraternity came from.Back in Carson City, we used to have a ballpark at what we knew as Valley Park. It’s outin the area that is now occupied by the golfcourse. They used to have a sort of league; ithad Virginia City, Dayton, Carson City, andReno, and every Sunday they would have agame in one of the four areas.They had some pretty good ball players.I can remember Dave Schooley who playedball for Dayton; “Dummy” Meyers waswith Carson City. Everybody used to go tothe ball games. They had no bleachers. Buteverybody’d drive their rigs up and watch theball players and the ball game.I can remember one day my brotherand I were coming away from the ball parkwhen we found a horse had broken througha cesspool area and was just fighting for hislife, trying to get out of the cesspool area. So,while I watched the horse— I don’t knowwhat I could’ve done if the horse had startedsinking—my brother went for some help. Wefinally got a couple of cowboys from a ranchnear there, and they lassoed the horse andpulled him out of the cesspool.I also can recall Bill Brougher, who wasthe son of Wils Brougher. Wils made muchof his money in mining in the area, mostly inTonopah and Goldfield. He had a big houseup off of Carson Street to the west, and he hadhis gang, and the Cahlans had their gang. Wedecided to have a rock fight at the Brougherhouse, and they had raised a flag on the fencearound the yard of the house. For about twohours and a half, we fought with rocks backand forth and busted all the windows in theBrougher house—not all of them, but a lotof ’em—and practically tore down the fence.And it was the time when the legislature wasin session, and they—all the legislators—cameup to the corner to watch the progress of thefight. I don’t know who won the fight, but Ido know that Jackson White, a colored boywho was one of our gang up there, scaled thefence and tore down the flag. So we decidedthat we were the winners.In 1912, we moved back to Reno, and wehad the same sort of heartache going fromCarson City to Reno as we did going fromReno to Carson City four years earlier. Wemoved into a house on Elm Street in Reno.The reason I remember the house so wellis that in the early spring and summer, mybrother and I always used to sleep outside.And there was a walkway between ourhouse and the other house, and we used tosleep outside in this walkway. And I wellremember when the Ringling Brotherscircus came into Reno and we, sleeping outin this area, got up at four or five o’clock inthe morning and went down to the stationto watch the circus train come in, then help

8 John F. Cahlantake care of the elephants and water themand get a pass to the circus.We were very fortunate in Reno, as faras entertainment was concerned. Reno washalfway between Salt Lake and San Francisco,and all the traveling shows—circuses as well asdrama and stage shows—stopped off in Renofor a one-night stand. The result—we gotRingling Brothers, Sells-Floto, Forepaughs,and all of the big circuses, and I can alwaysremember the cry that went up in the morningparade. Someone would come down the streetand yell, “Hold your horses, the elephants arecoming!” And it was before there were anyautomobiles at all on the streets of Reno. It wasquite a warning because the horses seeing theelephants would practically go mad. And theyhad several runaways up there, but nobodywas ever seriously hurt.When we first got back from Carson City,my brother and I were very avid baseballplayers, and we went to the Humphrey lotwhich was on Sierra Street, and blockedoff Elm Street between Sierra and VirginiaStreets. There was a very nice lot, no buildingson it except a barn on the back half of the lot.It made a very fine baseball diamond. So mybrother and I started to play “one-eyed cat”down at the ball park, and pretty soon we gottwo or three other people who came along—Tim Wilson, Ed “Smokey” Williams—andas we played, by the end of the first week, wehad enough ball players to make two teams.So we started. We would start playing baseballin the summer, of course, about eight o’clockin the morning and wind up in the dark; havetwo ball games, one in the morning and onein the afternoon and change pitchers andchange around back and forth. There werekids like Beverly Weck and Johnny McInnis,and Floyd Pratt.Oh, it was the nucleus of what laterbecame the Northwestern Athletic Club.And it was named Northwestern AthleticClub because it was in the northwest part oftown, and it became one of the very famousorganizations in the ’20’s and ’30’s of Reno.They had basketball teams, football teams,ice hockey teams, baseball teams—whateversport there was, the Northwestern AthleticClub was always in it, and it became quite afactor in the high school politics. I rememberI got kicked out of high school just about mylast three weeks of school because one of themembers of the Northwestern Athletic Clubwas running for president of the student body,“Spud” Harrison. And Mr. E. Otis Vaughn,who was the principal, didn’t care much forthe Northwestern Athletic Club and he putsomebody else up to beat Harrison. And then,Mr. Vaughn walked into the bookkeepingdepartment one day and heard me making apolitical speech, and kicked me out of school.But that’s something later.As I say, we used to have all sorts of sports.In the wintertime we’d start playing hockeyon the Manzanita Lake at the University ofNevada—skate all day and then, when theice became too soft to skate on, we’d just leaveour skates on and ride down the hill on thesnow and on home. After we left Elm Street,we made our home on Ninth and Lake Street,and it was on the northwest corner of LakeStreet, right at the bottom of the hill fromthe University of Nevada. And across LakeStreet was the Evans ranch which now is acity park and site of the Sigma Alpha Epsilonfraternity house.My brother and I were very avid sportsfans and used to go up to the University,especially in the fall, to watch the footballplayers get in trim for their coming footballgames. I can remember a lot of football playersin that early time— Harvey “Pongo” McPhail,Joe “Guts” McDonald, George C. “Hungry”Henningsen; I know there are a lot of ’em that

My Early Life and Education9I should remember, but I don’t. Reay Mackaywas another one. Amos Elliott, who was avery famous football player at the Universityof California, I think was their first coachthere when they were playing rugby. And Ican remember a team called the AustralianAll-Blacks (because of the uniforms theywore) and the Australian Waratahs comingto Reno to play the University of Nevada inrugby. It was quite a deal.In 1915, when they had the InternationalExposition in San Francisco, my motherand father said that we could go to the fair,providing we earned our own spendingmoney. And I can remember my brother andmyself getting up around six o’clock in themorning selling Nevada State Journals on thecorner of Second and Virginia Streets. By thetime the San Francisco papers came in fromCalifornia, we’d grab them, and sell them ’tilabout eleven or twelve o’clock in the morning,go home and have lunch and then come downabout two o’clock in the afternoon and sellGazettes until five or six o’clock in the evening.And then that way, we made our own moneyto go to the San Francisco Exposition.It was about that time that I becameinterested in aviation. It was in 1911, I think,that a man by the name of Eugene Ely cameto Reno to fly an airplane, and he picked outBelle Isle, which is now Wingfield Park, forhis runway. There was a small island right outin the middle of the Truckee River. It wasn’tconnected with any bridges as it is now. AndI’ve forgotten how we used to get over there;I guess it was by boat, rowboat, or something.But I remember the island real well. It was fullof willows and just was nothing but an islanduntil they cleared it off for a runway for Ely.And he had a biplane, a single motor biplane,and he took off from this runway, and hejust barely missed the trees at the end of therunway. If he’d hit them, he’d’ve gone into theriver. Well, he made one circle around Renoand came back and landed. And that was thefirst airplane flight I had ever seen.The reason I say this is to get into the SanFrancisco Exposition. Of course, flying thenwas something that you didn’t do every day,and anybody that went up in the air was a realdaredevil. Anybody that did stunts was justpractically nuts. When we first went downto San Francisco, Art Smith was one of thefliers that the Fair people had contracted todo exhibition flights. He got up and did loopthe-loopsand dives and so forth, that, well,now, they are just—anybody can do it, even anembryo pilot. Then, it was really something.Also, they had a Nicaraguan who was flyinga monoplane. Monoplanes, in those days, itwas figured they just didn’t have the wingspanor the lift to keep in the air. This one did apretty good job and really thrilled the peoplethat were watching it. I’ll get into this aviationthing a little later, because I’ve known a lot ofthe early pioneers.Well, after the fair, we came back, of course,to Reno and were living there. I can recall thatat the corner of Second and Virginia Street,there was the Washoe County Bank on thesouthwest corner of the intersection, and thenthere were three drugstores, Weck, Cann, andCheatham. The Weck Drugstore, the CannDrugstore, and the Cheatham Drugstore. TheByington building, which is still there on thenorthwest corner, during those days had awooden sidewalk around the building and itwasn’t taken up until the early ’20’s, I think.Anyway, it was while I was going to college—either late high school or early college. Andon the corner of First and Virginia, where theFirst National Bank building is, the seventeenstorybuilding or whatever it is, this wasoccupied by a rambling, one-story woodenstructure which was the Chinese gamblinghall in Reno. And it took in the whole half

10 John F. Cahlanblock from Virginia Street down towardsCenter Street. It was a real Chinese gamblingjoint, fan-tan, Chinese lottery, and all of thegames were running there.On the other side of the alley was awelding shop. Then, of course, on the cornerof First and Center was the city hall, a big redbrick building with the clock and the tower.The clock never did run after, oh, about 1920,I guess, because in this auto repair shop—aman by the name of John Oliveria ran theshop and he liked to nip every once in awhile. So he left his shop one night duringthe summer—August 1, 1920— and left thewelding oxygen running, not lit; it filled theshop with the gas. He came back about threeo’clock in the morning and walked in the doorand struck a match to find out where the lightswitch was. The whole shebang blew up. Itblew one of the rafters, or one of the piecesof wood, through the face of the clock on thecity hall, and that was the end of the clock.It blew him across the street and he landedon the steps of the YMCA building whichwas right across the street. Outside of beingslightly burned, it didn’t hurt him.*On the corner where the Mapes Hotel isnow was the post office building, the federalbuilding. And right in back of the federalbuilding was a long stretch of green grass,and then the YMCA, and on the southwestcorner of First and Center was the NixonOpera House. That’s now the Majestic Theater.And as I said earlier, the stage plays stoppedoff in Reno on their way from Salt Lake toSan Francisco, or the other way around, andwould put on a one-night stand there. I sawMaud Adams in “Peter Pan,” and Kolb andDill, a comic team, and several others that Ican’t recall. They used to have what we called“peanut heaven” way up top. The building wasa three-story building. “Peanut heaven” wason the third floor, and this was the generaladmission deal. You had to stay in the line tobe sure you got your tickets. So my brotherand I would ditch school; either one of uswould ditch school and go down and get ourplace in line. He’d go in the morning, and I’dgo in the afternoon, and we would always befirst in line so we got good seats. They had alarge chandelier in the center of the theaterwhich had a two-foot air vent in it so that theair could come down through this vent andinto the building. And if we couldn’t affordthe money to get a seat in “peanut heaven,”we would climb up on the roof, down in theinterior of this chandelier, and watch theplay from there. It was very thrilling andsometimes the chandelier would sway backand forth and scare the regular patrons, butit didn’t bother us too much.And then came high school. I went to theReno High School. Prior to that I was in theOrvis Ring school, which is still there, and Ican recall when we came back from CarsonCity, I entered the fifth grade, and my teacherwas Miss Laura B. Miller. In the sixth grade itwas Miss Frances Wright; in seventh grade itwas Miss Helen Hobbins; in the eighth gradeit was the famous and notorious Libby C.Booth. She was the principal and teacher ofthe eighth grade. And she had taught— whenI got there—she had taught people like PatMcCarran and that era, and she taught me,and then was teaching school at least ten yearsafter that—more than that. She was teachingwhile I was in high school and into college, soit must have been ten or fifteen years beforeshe retired.But to get back to school, then, I went tohigh school in the Reno High School buildingon West Street. It had just been completed acouple of years before I went to school there,*Cf. Reno Evening Gazette, August 2,1920, pp. 1-2.

My Early Life and Education11and it was a very, very fine building. Wethought it was the best schoolhouse in thestate of Nevada, which it probably was. Thesuperintendent of Reno schools at that timewas Benson D. Billinghurst, and the principalof the high school was B. Otis Vaughn. It wasin this era that I grew up, during Prohibition.In Reno, there was always a more or lesssocial barrier in the Truckee River. All of thevery high social people and those of wealthand so forth resided on the south side of theriver, and all the common people lived on thenorth side. On the south side of the river werethe Flanigans, the Connellys, the Lozanos, theSlaters, and the Bartletts. As a result, in thehigh school there was some feeling againstthose who lived on the north side—maybe Ishould say feelings against those who lived onthe south side. One of the greatest triumphsthat I ever had in my high school career waswhen I went out on a date with MargaretBartlett, who resided on the south side, andfinally broke the barrier.And getting back to the time when I wasin high school, I delivered papers for the RenoEvening Gazette and at that time, I had thedowntown route which included the housesof prostitution; one on Evans Avenue, wherethey had parlor houses and cribs; at the endof First Street down past the city hall to theeast where they had the cribs, also. The EvansAvenue area was known as the Mohawk. AndI can recall one Saturday afternoon, I had goneto the Wigwam Theater, which was on SierraStreet and Second Street. I think the theateris still there. As I was coming down the backsteps to go to the basement to the Gazettebuilding to pick up my papers, I steppedon a nail, and the nail had red paint on it.The nail was driven clear through my tennisshoe and my foot. I pulled the nail out andwrapped a rag around my foot and startedon my delivery rounds. The Mohawk wason toward the latter part of my route, and bythe time I got to the Mohawk, I could hardlywalk on that foot. One of the girls down thereasked me what was the matter, and I told herwhat had happened, and she said, “You getin there and get your shoe and sock off.” Andshe sent off for some turpentine, and soakedmy foot in kerosene and turpentine until thesoreness had gone out of it. I was then able towalk and finish my route and go back to theGazette building and get on my bike. I’m surethat the gal saved my foot because, as I say,the nail was a paint-colored nail and some ofit could’ve—most of it came off on my tennisshoe. The nail did go clear through my foot,and it really hurt.At the time, as I said, the NorthwesternAthletic Club was very prominent in highschool affairs and the south side kids had anorganization known as the Hermits. Theyformed a baseball team, and in the summerwe would play baseball in Bulldog Field,which was right across the street—it was onCourt and Arlington— right across the streetfrom the home that Mary Pickford gave to PatMcCarran, when he got her divorce in Reno.Then there was another organization, over inBurke’s Addition, and we used to play baseballover there in the area now occupied by theWooster High School. This was wide opencountry when we were there) I was captainof the baseball team in Reno High School inmy senior year, and we used to play the Indianschool, all of the high schools around—Loyalton, Portola, Truckee, and Carson City.And later, we had a semipro ball club inReno. Jack Threlkel, who ran the Reno Garage,was the manager of the ball club, and he usedto get kids from the high school and collegeto play ball all summer—semipro baseball.We used to play at Moana Springs and later,Jack built a ball park down on Fourth Street.And I became fairly adept at baseball. One of

12 John F. Cahlanmy greatest thrills these days is getting holdof Del Webb and telling how I used to chasehim all over the semipro baseball circuit whenhe was playing for Reno and Sacramento andthat area. He had either just left or was justcoming when I was coming or just left. I didplay one ball game with him in Reno. Andnow, he, of course, is president of the Del E.Webb organization, building hotels and hehas a little more money than I have, and Idon’t know whether he made it playing ballor how, but—.During the time that I was in high school,I can remember teachers like Miss AlwineSielaff, Effie Mona Mack, who taught meAmerican history and later became an .authorof books on history. My bookkeeping teacherwas Miss Zetta Underwood. remembermy English teacher was Miss Alma Belt. Iremember the bookkeeping teacher was avery nice-looking and very charming younglady. I don’t think she was more than threeor four years older than the seniors in highschool. This was her first teaching assignment.And I can recall, the latter part of mysenior year, I was pledged secretly to SigmaAlpha Epsilon fraternity, of which my brotherwas a member. My father also was a member,and he was the founder of THPO, the localfraternity, which went SAE nationally. So thewhole family became members of SAE. Mynephew is also an SAE—my brother’s son—and then two other nephews, Mike and JerryMerrill on my wife’s side, also are membersof SAE. All of ’em were at the University ofNevada.Then in 1920, I enrolled at the Universityof Nevada. told you I got kicked out of highschool when I was a senior and did notgraduate at that time.At the time, the University of Nevadahad a classification of “special student,” forwhich you had to be eighteen years old andhave at least fifteen credits of high school. wasseventeen and I had the fifteen credits. All Ilacked was a quarter of a credit of the sixteennecessary to get me into the University, so Itold a little white lie and said I was eighteenyears old. It got me in trouble about thirtyyears later. I tried to get a birth certificate,never having had one because they didn’trecord births legally in Washoe County; atleast it wasn’t required at the time I was born.So I started to get the delayed birth certificate,and I had an awful tough time trying to provemy age, or that I even was born in the stateof Nevada. One of the reasons was when the1910 U. S. Census—when I was eight yearsold, my mother gave the census taker thecorrect information, but in the 1920 Census,when I was eighteen years old, my father gavethem the information, and the two didn’t jibe.My mother gave my right birthday in 1910,but my father said, “Oh, I guess he’s sixteen,seventeen. Put it on there seventeen.” So itwas a year off. So that added a little confusionto my birth records, So then I went to theUniversity of Nevada records and found outthat one year made an awful lot of difference,and I couldn’t prove it, that I was born inReno in 1902. The insurance records that Ihad were correct. So finally, I got the delayedbirth certificate, but it took a lot of doing, andmainly because of the misinformation I gavethe University of Nevada about my birth.But anyway, when I went to the Universityof Nevada, Prohibition was just in its secondyear. And incidentally, I can remember whenProhibition came to the United States, thestate of Nevada went dry about a year beforethe rest of the United States, when Nevadapassed the repealer—I mean the ProhibitionAct—it also passed a Volstead Act of its own.And the state went dry before the rest of theUnited States went dry. Then 1918, the restof the United States went dry, and California

14 John F. CahlanPacific Coast League, but I got so homesickthat I decided that I’d come back and go to theUniversity. So I did. I should have graduatedin 1924, but I graduated in 1926.While I was going to college, I enrolledoriginally as an electrical engineer and Ithought that this would be what I wanted.But I found out that, in the first place, mymathematics would never carry me throughthe four years of engineering, and in thesecond place, the afternoon lab courses whichlasted until four-thirty in the afternoon werenot for me when I used to see my girl beingcourted by other people on the quadrangle—the other people being enrolled in Arts andScience. So I decided that I would transferto Arts and Science, and I had had a littleexperience in writing for the UniversitySagebrush, the weekly paper—writing sports.So I decided I would transfer to journalism.During the time I was in the electricalengineering curriculum, I took chemistry.And if there was ever one subject that Inever could understand it was chemistry!I was tutored by one of the best chemistsin Reno; the fact of the matter is he taughtschool—taught the chemistry courses at theUniversity of Nevada—and was in the drugbusiness in Reno, N. E. Wilson, of the WilsonDrug Company. As I say, he was one of thebest chemists I knew of, and he tutored me,and after the first couple of weeks, he justsaid, “John, you’re not going to learn thisstuff. You never will. You’ve got a mental blockor something.” So I went to Dean Adamswho was the Dean of Education. And I said,“Dr. Adams, if you want me to stay in theUniversity of Nevada for the rest of my life,just make me take chemistry.” I said, “I’ll neverbe able to pass it, and I can’t learn it, I’ve doneeverything I can, I’m not going to use it as apart of my journalism course. I’d like to getthat flunk removed.” You couldn’t graduateat the time if you had flunked any courseand hadn’t made it up. So, very generously,he removed the flunk, and I finally wasgraduated.

2A Career in Journalism: OverviewIn the spring and summer of 1926, I wentback to California, the Bay area, and hauntedthe newspapers down there for months andmonths trying, and I couldn’t even get in tosee a managing editor. So I finally decidedthat I’d go back to Reno and see what couldhappen there. I got back to Reno about thelatter part of September.The World Series starts usually in the latterpart of September, the early part of October.Joe McDonald, who was the general managerfor the Nevada State Journal at the time, hadrecalled that during the latter part of my timeat the University I had announced WorldSeries ball games for the Journal in front of theold Grand Theater, which is where the Arcadeis now. I used to have a set of earphoneson, and I had the megaphone. I would getthe play-by-play account from a telephoneconversation with the guy that was takingthe play-by-play over the Morse telegraphinstrument over in the Journal building andrelayed it to me. Then I would announce it tothe crowd there on Virginia Street. We used tohave crowds, oh, of several thousand peoplethere—stopped traffic. They’d have to reroutetraffic around Virginia Street, because of thecrowds. And I did that for about two yearswhile in college. As I was going to say, aboutthat time the World Series was coming alongin 1926, and Joe McDonald Wired me, notfor my ability as a sportswriter or anything,but for my announcing ability. So, my voicegot me into the newspaper business, really.And I became sports reporter for the Journalin that year.I can always remember, one of my chiefjobs was to keep the Associated Press Morsetelegraph operator in whiskey. And it wasthen that I started in becoming acquaintedwith the bootleggers. When I came on inthe afternoon, I would have to go over to“Shorty” King’s bootleggin’ joint, in the alleyin back of what is now Harrah’s Club. Thiswas quite an elaborate bootlegging joint.It had nightclub entertainment and buffetdinners, and naturally, the prohibited liquid.I would have to go over and pick up a mickeyof liquor—mickey is a half-pint—to take backto the AP operator and then have to go back

16 John F. Cahlanabout ten o’clock to get another one for him,to keep him happy.At that time, Osborne T. Buck wasmanaging editor of the Journal, and OrrinDavie was the advertising manager. Thenewspaper was owned by James G. Scrugham,who was governor, and later congressman,and United States Senator of Nevada.It was about that time also that I becamefurther interested in the aviation picture.While I was in high school, they had atranscontinental race between New YorkCity and San Francisco. And a fellow bythe nickname of the “Flying Parson”—I’veforgotten what his real name was, but he wasknown as the “Flying Parson” because he wasa minister and a flying enthusiast—he cameinto Reno and landed about where the airportis now. It was a cattle ranch at the time. Andthey landed—the planes landed in the pasturethere, because it was fairly smooth and theycould get down, and get up. When the “FlyingParson” came in, he had broken a lot of strutwires on his biplane. (For those that are notfamiliar with biplanes, they have three or fourwooden pieces that ran between the two wingsand then wire that connected the two struts, ina sort of a cross deal between the struts.) Andhe had broken a couple of those things so wewent out to cut down some barbed wire andfixed up his struts, so that he could get overthe Sierra Nevada mountains. Apparently hemade it, because he won the prize. But I neverheard of him after that.And about that time, about the time thatI went to work for the Journal, the Boeingairplane outfit won a contract for air mailbetween Salt Lake City and San Francisco.Being in the newspaper business, I went outto see about the planes as they came in atBlanch Field—and that was out on, oh, it wasout by the old country club, and by MoanaRoad. This was where they landed and tookoff. I became very well acquainted with MonteMouton, Clair Vance, Blanchfield himself.Blanchfield was killed in Reno. It was aveteran that was being buried, and Blanchfieldwas going up to drop some flowers over thegrave, but it was a terribly windy day. Hedropped the flowers, came down too low, andthe wind caught him, and dropped him downonto some houses on Ralston Street, just westof the cemetery.So I became more interested in aviationknowing these people and the pioneersthat they were. I remember talking to ClairVance shortly after he had made a landingon Mission Street in San Francisco. He gotup over San Francisco and the engine conkedout on him, and he knew he had to land. Sohe side-slipped in between the telegraph andtrolley car high-tension wires, and landedon Mission Street—downtown, practically.It landed safely; the plane was sort of badlybattered but he got out all right.Then it was about this time that HineyCooper interested me in the 20-30 Club. Hehad been appointed the Nevada representativeof the 20-30 Club to organize clubs in the area.He got hold of me and several other youngpeople in Reno and organized the first 20-30Club in the state of Nevada. And it was aboutthis time also that I became a charter memberof the local Demolay Masonic fraternity inReno. It was the first Demolay club in thestate, and I became interested in that.It was while I was in Reno, that there wasa tong murder in which one of the—I think itwas the—Hip Sing tong that was killed. Oneof the hatchet men who was accused of theslaying was Hughy Sing. Hughy was in theCarson City grammar school with me, andI sat right behind him for at least two years.Then I lost track of him. One morning whenI was on the Journal, there was a story brokeabout a Chinese who was killed near the New

A Career in Journalism: Overview17York Cafe, which was down on Lake Streetnear the cribs. It was decided that he was thevictim of a tong—a rival tong. Hughy was ayoung kid, and it was his first time aroundas a tong hatchet man, and they—the jury—decided that— (what the dickens was theother guy’s name?)— the other, older man,whose name is in the archives, but whichI cannot remember at the moment, wasresponsible for the slaying. He was sentencedto death in the prison as the first man toget the gas, which had been approved bythe legislature as a method of dispatchingcriminals—the death penalty approved just ayear before. Hughy was given a life sentenceand was very prominent as the chef for severalof the wardens who were at the Nevada StatePrison during his time. He was paroled severalyears ago, and I have completely lost trackof him, although at the time, he was a verygood friend of mine, and also was during thetime just prior to when I went to work for theJournal in Reno. In fact, I guess it was whenI was in my last year in college.Somebody got the big idea of puttingan exposition on in Reno, to dedicate thefinishing of the Lincoln Highway acrossthe United States. I can well recall the bigwhoop and hoorah that went on prior tothe staging of the exposition in Reno atIdlewild Park. One of the big pre-events wasa special train from Reno to San Franciscowhich was occupied by most of the leadersfrom Reno who went to San Francisco andstaged a great parade up Market Street andover into Oakland in the afternoon. It was agreat whoop and hoorah, and was supposedto bring about a huge exposition in the cityof Reno. But the only thing that it did was toget the state of California to build a buildingwhich still remains standing in Idlewild Park.Nevada made a token presentation at the fair,and you can imagine how much it impressedmost of the people, when I can’t rememberany of the circumstances that went on duringthe fair, if it was ever held. It was an idea thatjust didn’t jell.I might say also that it was while I wasworking for the Nevada State Journal thatI first became acquainted with Charles H.Lindbergh. It was announced that Lindberghwould make his triumphal flight across theUnited States, and one of his stops wouldbe in Reno. As I had been at the city councilmeeting which discussed the welcome forLindbergh, I was put on the committee toplan the welcome. I can well remember whenLindbergh came to the city. He landed atBlanch Field out where the United Air Linesplanes used to land, on a small field there. The“Spirit of St. Louis” was so constructed thatonce the pilot got down anywhere near thelevel of land, he could not see underneath.When he came in—when Lindbergh camein—to land, he slightly overshot the fieldand wound up about five inches away fromthe wire fence which separated the field fromthe highway. While he stopped in time, therewere many of the people on the welcomingcommittee who were a bit skeptical as towhether he’d be able to climb out of the plane.It was the largest crowd I have seen (or hadseen since 1910, the Jeffries-Johnson fight),that welcomed Lindbergh. He was taken todowntown Reno, where he made a speechand later went up to the Riverside Hotel wherehe was interviewed by the press of the area,among whom was Cornelius Vanderbilt, wholater became editor of the Illustrated DailyNews in Los Angeles and was a member ofthe famous Vanderbilt family. (Vanderbilt wasin Reno to get a divorce and subsequently tomarry another girl from Reno.)It was quite interesting to meet Lindberghon the first occasion, and I met him againabout a year later when he was flying as a

18 John F. Cahlanpublic relations man for one of the airplanemanufacturers and stopped in Reno. I hadan opportunity to talk to him for an houror so when he was waiting for his plane tobe refueled and to go on to San Francisco.He was a very unassuming sort of a guy—henever felt he was anything more than anairmail pilot, and he only had a lot of luck tomake the trip across the Atlantic. Of course,everyone knows that it was his flight acrossthe Atlantic that gave the big boost to aviation.That is another step along the road that I tooktoward the development of aviation in theUnited States.It was also during the time that I wasworking for the Journal in Reno that thedivorce law was changed by the legislature.The first divorce law that was in the stateof Nevada made it mandatory to maintainresidence for six months. Then later, itcame down to three months, and then tosix weeks. This was occasioned by the factthat there were several other states that weregetting in on the Reno and Nevada divorceindustry, namely Montana, Arkansas, andlater, Florida. The people in the city of Renoand the state of Nevada—of course, the cityof Reno was considered the divorce capitalof Nevada for many years—were inclinedto believe that shortening the divorce timewould cost the merchants of the city moneybecause of the less time that they wouldhave to stay here. However, the attorney putthe counter claim in that there would betwice or three times the amount of divorcesgranted in the city of Reno at six weeks thanat three months. They finally convinced thelegislature to do some looking into the fact,and it proved out to be so.Probably one of the greatest divorcejudges in Reno was George Bartlett, whoused to do little else but sit on the benchas a divorce judge and grind them out, oneevery three or four minutes. I was quite wellacquainted with George Bartlett, and he wasquite a gentleman. He affected a Southerngoatee and mustache for much of his laterdays, and was quite a distinguished figure atthe courthouse. He always took a personalinterest in every divorce that was granted,especially if the young lady might be goodlooking,and had a little money. Not thatGeorge ever got any of the money, but he likedto be entertained. And after the divorces weregranted, he was entertained quite royally. Hewrote several books and gave his theories ondivorce which were quite interesting, to saythe least. It was then that the myth [began]of the women going from the courthouse tothe Truckee River bridge and throwing theirwedding rings into the river to celebrate theirmarital ties being severed. I never was ableto find anyone who ever found a ring in theriver, but at made a real good story.Nobody ever could live in the city of Renowithout having some exposure to GeorgeWingfield. Wingfield came out of Tonopahand Goldfield and into the Reno area about1910. My father knew him in Goldfield,and in the gold camp, Wingfield was alwaysaccompanied by a bodyguard; one of thebodyguards was “Diamondfield Jack” Davis,who kept Wingfield out of trouble wheneverany developed. However, Wingfield was notanywhere near a coward. My dad told me atone time during the IWW strike at Goldfieldthat there was an organizer standing in frontof one of the hotels berating Wingfield andtelling the crowd that if Wingfield showedup, he would kill him. Wingfield steppedout of the crowd and told the man he wasavailable, and to go ahead and kill him. Theorganizer backed down and, that evening, leftthe premises for parts unknown. So Wingfieldwas not at all bashful of backing off from afight.

A Career in Journalism: Overview19And wherever you saw Wingfield,somewhere nearby were Bill Graham andJimmy McKay. I am not certain when therelationship among the three became aspersonal as it was, but when I was firstcognizant of it in Reno, they were wellestablished.Wingfield, of course, was the politicalleader of the state of Nevada because of hisbanking interests and the fact that he controlledboth the Republicans and Democrats. BillWoodburn—who was a partner in the lawfirm of Woodburn and Thatcher, whichrepresented Wingfield—Woodburn was thenational committeeman for the DemocraticParty. So, Wingfield, whose offices were rightacross the hail from Thatcher and Woodburnin the First National Bank building—whichat the time I think was owned by Wingfield.I’ve forgotten what the name of it was, but it ison the corner of Second and Virginia Streets.Wingfield’s offices were’ right across the hailfrom the Thatcher and Woodburn suite ofoffices. Any time any political plums had tobe picked, Wingfield would send them in toeither Woodburn or Thatcher, dependingupon their politics.I never did see McKay and Graham doanything more than hang around gamblinginstitutions. Gambling was not legal in Renoduring the time that I am most familiar withit. There were poker games and panguinguegames, and several other card games that wereallowed to flourish in the Reno area. McKayand Graham and Sullivan were the card kingsof the city of Reno.In addition, there was a nightclub at theold Rick’s Resort which was known as the“Willows.” It was run by a man by the nameof Hall. He was one of McKay’s and Graham’shenchmen, and also operated the CourtApartments on Center Street. The buildingin which the apartments were located was theold Frank Golden home, which was moved onto Center Street from Mill Street, right wherethe Holiday Hotel is now. In addition to Hall,“Shorty” King was operating the bar, and Halloperated the gambling and the restaurant.It was quite a hangout for all of the peopleduring the Prohibition era, and they had floorshows. The big social events were held at theWillows.In some manner, McKay and Grahamgot mixed up in a horseracing-swindle deal.Ted Carville was the United States Attorneyat the time, when the complaint was madeby the people who were reportedly fleeced byMcKay and Graham. These people had theirmoney in a safety deposit box at the RiversideBank, of which Roy Frisch was the chiefexecutive officer. Frisch’s direct underling,Carl Feutsch, knew the details of the fleecingwith the exception of the actual withdrawal offunds from the safety deposit box. Frisch wasthe only one, outside of McKay and Graham,that knew of the actual withdrawal and theamount withdrawn.McKay and Graham were indicted, butbefore the indictment, someone attemptedto get Frisch and Feutsch to change theirtestimony. They were not so afraid of Feutschas they were of Frisch. One night when Frischhad been to the theater and was going home,he was seen going around the corner ofthe courthouse on Court Street and startedtoward his house which was up at Court Streetand Arlington Avenue. He never arrivedhome. Ever since that time, there have beenmany searches made for his body, but it neverhas been found.Some witnesses in Reno said that justprior to the time that Frisch disappeared,“Machinegun” Kelly, a Chicago racketeer, wasseen in Reno and was chased out the backdoor of a garage in Reno, and disappeared.He later was supposed to be hiding out at the

20 John F. CahlanMt. Grant Hotel on Walker Lake, but this wasnever verified. It was alleged by many peoplein Reno that Kelly was brought to Reno byperhaps McKay, Graham, and/or Wingfield,but this was never proved.McKay and Graham were indicted by thegrand jury and found guilty of mail fraud andwere sentenced and served time in the federalpenitentiary.Shortly after McKay and Graham wereindicted and were awaiting trial, I hadwritten two or three columns about McKayand Graham in the Nevada State Journaland the Review-Journal, and had labeledthem “Billy the Kid” Graham and “Jimmythe Cinch” McKay, and castigated them fordescending to the levels of hoodlums. I wasat Santa Anita racetrack at the first SantaAnita Handicap—Santa Anita Derby—and Iwas going up the stairs from the betting ringand coming down the stairs was McKay. Hestopped me and grabbed ahold of my coatlapels and said, “God damn you, Johnny, I’veknown your father a long time, and what doyou mean by giving me the treatment yougave me in the newspapers? I will get to youlater.” With that threat, he left me. However, Iguess, after spending some time in the federalpenitentiary, he became a little calmer andmore charitable, and the next time I saw himin Reno after he had been through the—served the sentence—he was very cheerful,and we renewed our old friendship.As far as Graham was concerned, he wasalways a very good friend of mine, and in hislater years when he was in the Mapes Hotelin Reno, I stopped on many occasions andwe visited and recalled the old days—thebootlegging days, the day that he shot the manin the New Market Club in Lincoln Alley andwas never convicted. The coroner’s jury ruledit was in self-defense, and Graham was neverprosecuted.Getting back to the Nevada State Journal,when I was on the Journal, picking up a fewloose ends of this thing as it moves along,we had quite a staff. As I mentioned before,Osborne T. Buck was the editor of the paper,and Buck became quite an alcoholic. I canremember that Buck and I—because I was thecub reporter on the paper—I was supposedto stick until the paper was out and readproof. I can remember Buck, sitting on abig wastepaper barrel, drinking whiskey,and about nine or nine-thirty, falling intothe wastepaper barrel so only his feet andhis hands showed. He passed out, and I wasforced to get out the newspaper. That’s how Ibecame the editor of the Nevada State Journal.We had quite a staff: Florence Bovett, who forso long was part of the home economics or theAgricultural Extension agency, was one of thecolumnists that wrote the agricultural page;Jack Bell was a reporter— he was an old timereporter from Chicago or New York and hadcome to Reno to retire and was working on theJournal at the time I was. Then there was A. J.Moore, a very nice and kindly old man whohad gone through the Tonopah and Goldfieldbooms, and Rhyolite, and all of those boomsin that era, who was the mining editor; andthen “Smiles” Greenwalt—Ernie Greenwalt—who had gone to the University of Nevada,and graduated, was on the news staff, as wasStan Bailey, who was a real Nevada boy andhad gone through grammar school, highschool, and the University of Nevada. Thosewere the people that worked on the Journalat the time I was there.I got into the Journal just after Scrughamhad purchased it. It had been previouslyoperated by Mrs. Boyle—Mrs. Emmet D.Boyle—and she had not been very successful.She was in failing health so she decided to sellit and Jim Scrugham bought it. That was, let’ssee, just after, I think, yes, just after he had

A Career in Journalism: Overview21been defeated for reelection by Fred Balzar.Scrugham was not too much interested inthe publishing of a newspaper. He was moreinterested in getting his three-volume historyof the state of Nevada together, and used tocome down to his office and spend hours andhours. He’d come down at maybe eight or nineo’clock in the morning and wouldn’t go home’til ten or eleven o’clock at night. Any timethat there was anything that needed editorialcomment, he would tell Buck, “Well, you goahead and write the editorial.” And as a result,the strength of the Journal was not too greatat that time. It went down, stature-wise, evenunder MacLennan, whom I will mention later.He remained there only three or four months,and from then, I don’t know, the Journal kindof shifted from hand to hand, and finally wasenveloped in the Reno Newspapers, and isnow part of the Reno Newspapers.It was sometime earlier also that there wasa surging of interest in automobiles. The wholeUnited States was coming out of the horse andbuggy stages and into the automobile era.Where there were blacksmiths, they turnedthemselves into automobile repairmen, andthere were very few people in the city ofReno that understood a gasoline motor. Theylearned by hit and miss proposition. One ofthe greatest things that ever hit the UnitedStates, for that matter, was when Ford madehis Model A—brought out his Model A Ford.That was the one that put America on wheels.And I can well remember that Myron “Paddy”Doyle and his brother had the Ford Agency upon Virginia Street about, oh, between Fourthand Fifth. When the Model A came out, thatwas when all the dealers started in makingmoney, and the Doyles surely did.Well, I might get back to the city councilin Reno when I was there from 1926 to 1929.The boss of the city council was William“Rags” Justi. He ran a bar down on Lakeand Second Streets and was the councilmanfrom Ward I, which was the downtown areaof the city of Reno. And Justi was the manwho put out all of the special political favorsfrom the city.Ed Roberts was mayor at the time, andhe had been a congressman from the stateof Nevada. If there was anybody that lookedlike a congressman, it was Ed Roberts. Healways walked down the street, and alwaysappeared on the street in a frock coat with abig heavy gold chain draped across the frontof his vest, and carried a cane, and wore aderby hat, which was quite a deal in Renobecause very few people ever saw derbyhats in Reno. It was like spats. I don’t knowthat Ed ever wore spats, I think he did, but Iwouldn’t say so for sure. But he was quite adandy. During Prohibition, the city councilwas talking about how the Prohibition lawwas not being enforced in the city of Reno.And Ed said, “It’d be all right with me; I willput a barrel of whiskey on each corner of thedowntown area and the tourists can come upand I’ll give ‘em a tin cup, and they can drinkthe whiskey out of the barrels. That’s howmuch we think of Prohibition in the state ofNevada,” which was just about right, becauseNevada never did accept Prohibition; afterthe first month, it just died down and nobodypaid any attention to it.As I have said, the Reno area wascontrolled by George Wingfield, Woodburn,and Thatcher, and the Prohibition agents hadno opportunity to enforce the laws in Renobecause of the political pressure that was puton them. In the rest of the state of Nevada,the distances were so far that there was an“early warning system,” so called, to let allof the bootleggers around the state knowwhen the Prohibition agents were comingin. In Las Vegas, the boys used to get at leasta day’s notice that they were coming in, and

22 John F. Cahlanby the time the agents got in to Las Vegas,there was no whiskey in sight, no liquor insight, everything was closed up. The samething went for Tonopah and Goldfield,and all the way along, because you mustremember, that in those days, there were nopaved roads between Reno and Las Vegas—the last pavement ran out either at Fallon orYerington. And from then on, you were onyour own. It’d usually take you two days toget between Fallon and Las Vegas, and thatwas plenty of time to warn the people thatthe “prohi’s” were on their way.In 1929, Scrugham sold the Journal to aman by the name of Arthur MacLennan. Atthat time I had become editor, ex officio, ofthe Journal because Mr. Buck had becomequite an alcoholic and was not able to carryon. I might say that one of the last acts of hisnewspaper career in Reno was that he wascovering the legislature in Carson City, andstarted back to Reno and ran off the roadsomewhere in Washoe Valley and bustedhimself up. I mean, he wasn’t terribly hurt, buthe was skinned and bruised and everything,and he came into the Journal about eleveno’clock the night that the legislature adjournedand wrote his story, and had the legislatureclosed up with no great fanfare or anything. Sothe next afternoon, the Gazette came out withthe story that the legislature at its last session,which Buck was supposed to cover, had relegalizedgambling in the state of Nevada. Sothis was one story that Mr. Buck missed andhe also missed his job the next day.But Scrugham sold the newspaper in1929 to MacLennan and being the editor ofthe newspaper— it is tradition that wheneverany new publisher is in the act, he chooseshis own editor. So rather than tell me that Iwas fired, Mr. MacLennan told me to taketwo weeks’ vacation and come back at theend of two weeks and then see what wecould work out. Well, after the end of thefirst week, I went down to Mr. MacLennan,and Mr. MacLennan told me that he neverpromised me anything of this sort, and thatI was through!So about that time, the Review-Journal,of which my brother was half-owner, andhad been since 1926, was figuring on goingdaily. It was a tri-weekly at the time, and theyplanned to go daily. In the next few months,my brother notified me to come down—if I’dlike to—and go to work here (in Las Vegas).I told him as far as I was concerned, sure, I’dcome to Las Vegas and stay for a year ’til I goton my feet—having been married just a fewmonths before, and his offer of fifty dollars aweek was quite a step. So I said I’d come downand go to work down here, until I could getinto something in Los Angeles or New York,or someplace. I had big ideas as to what kindof newspaperman I was.So I made the first airplane flight betweenReno and Las Vegas, with a guy by the nameof Ray Boggs, who had ideas of setting up anairplane route between Reno and Las Vegas.He also had a mining claim down in Carrara.So they were coming down. Roscoe Turner, afamous flier who was quite a character as faras flying was concerned, was the pilot. He washired by Gilmore—Gilmore Oil Companyto publicize their products. Turner had avery dashing powder blue uniform, and hada lion club on a leash that he took with himwherever he went. The cub flew in the planewith him and then he would walk up anddown the street with the cub on a leash. Oh, adashing guy. He had a waxed mustache, veryhandsome. He flew the plane from Reno toLas Vegas, and back again, of course. It wasa Lockheed-Vega. Those Lockheed-Vegasland at a very fast rate—or did land at a fastrate. We got over Las Vegas to land here andthe field was about where the Sahara Hotel

A Career in Journalism: Overview23is now. It was a small field, and it was beingused by the Western Air Lines on their flightsfrom Los Angeles to Salt Lake City with themail. Turner was a real good flier after he gotthe plane up in the air, and when he tried toland in Vegas he overshot the field out herethree times. This being my first venture in anairplane, I tell you, I wasn’t very happy.But we finally landed, and I came intotown and went up to see my brother andthe plant at the Review-Journal—or it wasthe Review at that time, the Clark CountyReview—to see the plant that they had. It wasin a flat-roofed, one-story building. The frontwas all glass. And on one side of the buildingwas a real estate office. On the other side wasthe business office of the Review-Journal.That was at 113 south First Street. And in therear of the building, there were two linotypemachines where the newspaper was made up.And no ventilation whatever in the building.The only way we could get ventilated wasto open the door—both doors—and see if abreeze’d come through. And one of the oldwooden-bladed fans, going around lazily inthe air. Well, this was about April when I camedown to Las Vegas on that trip, and it wasn’ttoo warm. We had left Reno, oh, I guess it wasaround forty in Reno, and when we got downhere, it was about seventy-five. So it was quitewarm as far as we were concerned.But we made the arrangements for me tocome down to Las Vegas from Reno, and weflew back stopping en route at Carrara. AtCarrara, they had a one-way landing strip.It was just a strip that was cleaned out ofthe desert—cleared the brush and the largerboulders. Mr. Boggs wanted to see what washappening to his mine. So Turner tried to hitthe strip, and he overshot that a couple times,and then when he finally did come down, agust of wind hit us, and I would swear, that aswe were coming in, the wing tip of the planeon the side that I was in scraped the paint onthe ground. But we finally did get down. AndBoggs went to his mine and came back, andwe went back up to Reno. And Turner evenovershot the field in Reno! And finally wegot down there. That was my first experiencewith riding an airplane. Nevertheless, I stillmaintained my interest in aviation, as youwill see later.I came back to Las Vegas the latter part ofApril or the first part of May. At that time, LasVegas had a population of about five thousandpeople. I came from Reno with Percy Nash,who had been a prohibition agent in Reno andwho had also been on the police force there.He was coming down here to take over the jobof chief of police in Las Vegas. At that time, in1929, of course, they were looking forward inLas Vegas toward the construction of BoulderDam. And at that time, the Boulder Dam billhad been passed—the Swing-Johnson bill hadbeen passed—in the Congress. But no fundshad been allocated, and they were lookingahead here to the time when this constructionwould start.I might say that it has been the routineof the people in the city of Las Vegas to lookahead and be prepared for what’s comingalong. This was indicated even at that timewhen the city commission decided to set upa police force in Las Vegas to take care ofthe influx of people that was expected here.Prior to that time, they had what they called aconstable who rode a horse around the streetsof Las Vegas at night and no police protectionat all in the daytime. Of course, they didn’tneed any because, with a population offive thousand people, and everybody kneweverybody else and everybody knew whereeverybody else was at any given time in theday. If anybody did come in here and start aburglary spree or bank robbery or anything,there wasn’t any way he could get out of town,

24 John F. Cahlanbecause there were only three ways out oftown— one was toward Reno, the other wastoward Salt Lake City, and the other one wastoward Los Angeles. And if anybody came inhere, and wanted to get away, they could becaught, either at Mesquite, Beatty, or Barstow,because the roads, in those days, were notpaved, they didn’t have any airplanes, andwhen somebody left town, they used to haveto take a supply of water and a couple ofextra tires, and so forth and so on, so theycouldn’t get very far before somebody’d catch’em. And we never had any crime problems,even during Boulder Dam days. No crimeproblems at all because of the fact that it wasso tough to get out of here.So when I got to Las Vegas, they werestarting a road— or a street—project in LasVegas. Fremont Street was the paved street inthe community when I came down here. Theyhad just started an assessment district over onCarson and Bridger Streets, and Koebig andKoebig were the contractors on the project.At that time, the engineers tried to changethe entire drainage of Las Vegas. There werepeople that said that the only reason theydid this was because of the profit that wasavailable in excavation, So, from Main Streetdown to Fifth Street, and on Carson andBridger Streets, they excavated about threefeet down for the paving. And for many years,they had a three-foot curbing on Carsonand Bridger Streets, and it still—or, until thefederal building was built over on Fourthstreet, we still had the high curbs. And thiswas one of the biggest scandals that rockedthe community in Those early days. However,nobody ever proved that there was anythingthat was wrong with it. There was nobody thatwas ever prosecuted, or anything of that sort.The mayor of Las Vegas was Fred Hesse,who was brought here originally by theStetson family, of the Stetson hat outfit. Itwas planned to put in a dam on the ColoradoRiver, by private financing, and Mr. Hesse wassent in here—to do this early survey work.Well, World War I came along, and just putthe kibosh on the private enterprise dam. Mr.Hesse remained here, and he later was electedmayor. Very highly regarded and highlyrespected person in Las Vegas. Then the citycommissioners, if I can remember them, wereRoscoe Thomas, who had a haberdasherystore in Las Vegas and later became a partnerin the Golden Nugget; Bill German, who wasconnected with the Union Pacific Railroadas a telegrapher; and Lon Hansell, who wasa railroad man—I think he was an engineer;and O. J. Smith, who ran the laundry over onMain Street where the—let’s see, I guess it’sthe Mint—Mint parking lot is now, across thestreet from Cashman’s garage. They were thecommissioners when I first came to Las Vegas.As the one-man news staff of the Review-Journal, I became very well acquainted withall of the local politicians, and most of thosewho represented the state of Nevada. WhenI was in Carson City, I told you that I knewGovernor John Sparks, and when he died,Denver Dickerson, who was the lieutenantgovernor, went in as governor. Then there wasTasker L. Oddie, who came out of Tonopahand Goldfield to become governor, and later,a United States Senator. And Emmet D.Boyle, who was governor and later becamepublisher of the Nevada State Journal in Reno.And Jim Scrugham, who was an engineeringprofessor at the University of Nevada beforehe decided to run for governor, and waselected, and later became Congressman andSenator, of course. And then Fred Balzar, whowas a conductor on the shortline railroaddown around Hawthorne and later becamesheriff and then was elected governor. Thatwas the year— Balzar’s year—was the yearthat Scrugham was confronted with the big

A Career in Journalism: Overview25Cole-Malley defalcation in the treasurer andcontroller’s office. Malley was the treasurer,and Cole was the controller. Between the twoof them, they started borrowing money fromthe state coffers to put in oil wells in Texas.And the deeper the oil wells went, the deeperthey got into debt with the state of Nevada. Itbecame the only scandal that happened openlyin the state of Nevada. It was a defalcation ofmany thousands of dollars. And Cole andMalley went to prison but were paroled afteronly a short tine in prison, and Malley went toCalifornia. I think Cole stuck around the stateof Nevada, but I lost track of him. Scrughamwas defeated by Balzar because of that bigscandal. Then Griswold who was MorleyGriswold from Elko—who was lieutenantgovernor, took over from Balzar, who diedin office. And then Dick Kirman from Renofollowed him; Ted Carville from Elko followedhim; and then, of course, Vail Pittman,Charlie Russell, and Grant Sawyer. I was verypersonally acquainted with all of them exceptJohn Sparks, who, you might say, knew me, butI didn’t know him very well because I was soyoung when I was in Carson City.But it was while I was in Las Vegas thatmy acquaintanceship, or my friendship, withall the types of people I told you about at thestart of this little piece of history, came of age.The Presidents I knew—Herbert Hoover, who,of course, came to Las Vegas for the start ofBoulder, later called Hoover Dam; Franklin D.Roosevelt, who came here for the dedicationof the dam (and incidentally, I have the pitcherand the two glasses that were used by Rooseveltat the dedication of the dam at my home now);Harry S. Truman, who came here originallywith the Truman war profits investigation, whowas a Senator and I met and became very wellacquainted with, during an interview at the ElRancho Vegas during the time that he was outhere taking a look at the Basic Magnesium Plant.But now to get to Las Vegas. I think thatI said that I got to Las Vegas in 1929, andcame down with Percy Nash. I left Reno in asnowstorm, and when I got to Las Vegas, thetemperature was between the 80’s and the90’s, and it was quite a change for a countryboy from Reno. In addition, they had no airconditioning in the city of Las Vegas at all.The only air conditioning that they had wasin the home of Joe May, who was a policeofficer, and he lived on the Westside. Hehad to work nights and sleep in the daytime.And as the temperatures got up around 120[degrees] in the daytime in summer, he hadto arrange to cool his house off. So he got theidea of hanging a blanket over his bedroomwindow, and placing a fan behind the blanket,and keeping the blanket soaked with water,and thus blowing the cool air in through theblanket into the bedroom. That was the firstbasis of the evaporative cooler, now known asthe swamp cooler, which is in use all over thesouthwestern part of the country. If Joe’d onlyhad the brains, or I could have advised him atthe time, we’d’ve gone into the cooler businessand made a million dollars. But then, thosewere the things that pass you by.And at the Review-Journal, as I havesaid, the roof was flat, no circulation in thebuilding. And with the two linotype machinesheating up lead into a molten state, the heatin the composing room of the Review-Journalwas—along about two o’clock in the afternoonin midsummer—was around 140 [degrees].And in the front office where I was working, atleast 120 [degrees]. The first air conditioningunit that we had in the Review-Journal waswhen I talked the boss into cutting a holein the ceiling and put a cupola on the topof the roof so that the hot air could escapeup through the vent. It was stirred up by thewooden fan that turned about four revolutionsa minute. It did cool it down, maybe, to 130

26 John F. Cahlan[degrees). I can remember any number ofdays going home from the Review-Journaloffice in the summertime and getting into thebathtub, filling it with cold water and readingnewspapers and magazines until the sun wentdown, when it’d get a little cooler.Most of the women of the communitywent to the southern California beaches.They’d leave as soon as school was out thelast part of May and come back the first ofSeptember. So in the summertime here, itwas practically a male population-operatedcommunity. Only those that couldn’t makethe trip to California would stay.And in that era, of course, it was duringProhibition, as I have said, Las Vegas had itsshare of bootlegging establishments. Probablythe most famous was the Golden Camel,which was located on the alley betweenFremont Street and Ogden Street on FirstStreet. It was operated by Fred Rump, whocame here from Colorado. This was thegathering place for the entire community ona Saturday night. The Golden Camel usedto, every Saturday night, provide the womanwith orchids, which was the forerunner of thevarious giveaways which the gambling casinosand hotels went in for in a later date.There also was the Nevada Club, whichwas run by Sammy and Dave Stearns, acrossthe street and a little north of the GoldenCamel. And across the street again from theNevada Club was the Tivoli Bar and the LaSalle Club. There was a place on FremontStreet, between Main and First Street, that wasknown as the Barrel House. This was ownedby Art Schriver and Wes Westmoreland. ThenJoe Morgan had his Silver Club on First Street,right off of Fremont Street.When I first came here, I’ll give you a littlepicture of Las Vegas. From Main Street toFourth Street was the business district of thecommunity, and from Fourth to Fifth Streetwas where all of the so-called palatial homesof the local residents were located—whereRonzone’ s stands now and both ways, eastand west. On Fourth street—Fourth andFremont—was the stone house of the Ferrons.Bill Ferron was the pioneer druggist in thecommunity. The house next to him was theBracken house; Walter Bracken was the firstpostmaster and head of the Las Vegas Landand Water Company here for many years, aspart of the Union Pacific Railroad. And nextto that was the McNamee home—Leo A.McNamee home. Leo was an attorney for theUnion Pacific Railroad here, and his familystill resides in Las Vegas. On the corner wasa house that belonged to Albert Duffill, whowas an assemblyman from Las Vegas. Duringhis first term at Carson City, Duffill, who wasquite wealthy, shipped a carload of whiskeyto Carson City and had it stored in CarsonCity for the benefit of the legislators and thelobbyists and any other assorted people whomight come around to the legislative session.He probably was the best liked assemblymanthat Clark County ever had in the legislaturein Carson City. He was available any time,anywhere, and supplied his own liquor. Onthe south side of Fremont Street, at the cornerof Fourth on the southeast corner was theSina Norris house. Next to that was the C. P.Squires home, and next to that was the LasVegas Age newspaper building. C. P. “Pop”Squires was the editor of the Age, and one ofthe real old timers of Las Vegas. Then the NickWilliams house, and at the corner of Fifth andFremont was the Harley A. Harmon home. Itlater was turned into a mortuary.Of course, we were trying to run anewspaper. As I said, I was the first and onlyreporter or newsman in the Review-Journal,and it was my job to cover the city hall and thepolice station, and the courthouse, and writea sports column and make up the newspaper.

A Career in Journalism: Overview27I was a lot younger then than I am now andcould make all those stops.We used to have quite a time with thepolice department and the sheriff ’s office.Getting into the police department, I was overthere so much that when the municipal judge,Frank McNamee, took his vacation, theymade me municipal judge for the two weeksthat McNamee was gone. So they decidedat the time that they were going to make acleanup of all the bums that were around thecommunity here. The two police officers whowere on the force at that time, Mark Condoand A. R. “Two Gun” Smith, raided all thetramp camps around here. The main one wasover in the Union Pacific property area, overwhere the switchyards now are, and over bythe—where the Sun building is on Highland. Ihave spent, oh, three or four hours just gettingone vagrant after another in front of me, andbeing a court of summary justice, wherejustice was dispatched with speed if not right.I suppose that under the present situationthe United States Supreme Court would saythat we were not operating the court as itshould be operated. But, nonetheless, it waseffective. The defendants would come up andplead guilty, and I’d give ’em four hours to getout of town. And after two weeks, we didn’thave very many left around the community,panhandling, stuff of that sort.Again, getting back to the newspaperbusiness, the first employee of the newsdepartment, outside of myself, was FlorenceLee Jones, who was a graduate of the Universityof Missouri. her father and mother, Mr. andMrs. B. M. Jones, came here in 1931 andhad a service station and tourist court out atWhitney. Mrs. Jones became very friendlywith Mrs. Garside, whose husband, FrankGarside, was my brother’s partner in theReview-Journal. In fact, Garside bought thenewspaper in 1926 when my brother camedown from Elko and became associated as apartner with him in publication of the paper.Mrs. Garside asked Frank to put Florence towork on the newspaper as a proofreader. Shestarted in 1933 as a proofreader and laterbecame a general reporter, feature writer, andwomen’s editor, and after that, she became mywife. So it was a very fortuitous circumstancethat this partnership was developed betweenGarside and my brother!Well, anyway, she was assigned to coverthe construction of Boulder Dam. She usedto make two trips a week out to Boulder Cityand the dam, and was accepted out there byeverybody who was in an executive capacity.She could go anywhere on the dam anytime, day or night, and would be admitted toany part of the project. She wrote all of theprogress stories for the Review-Journal, andalso was the AP correspondent in Las Vegas.The Salt Lake Tribune, Los Angeles Times,and the Christian Science Monitor hired heras a stringer. So, most of the stories that werepublished nationwide about the city of LasVegas came right out of the Review-Journal.At that time, the Review-Journal was theonly daily newspaper in the city. The Las VegasAge, then a weekly, published by Squires, wasbought by the Review in, oh, I guess 1947 orsomewhere around there. In the early 1920’s,Jim Scrugham, who owned the Journal inReno, decided to come down to Las Vegasand establish a weekly newspaper. He calledit the Journal. That lasted about six monthsand was sold to the Review, and the Reviewbecame the Review-Journal.All during the construction of BoulderDam, we used the Journal portion of the namefor the Boulder City Journal and published theBoulder City paper in the Las Vegas plant.We had Elton Garrett, who now is a realestate man of Boulder City, as our BoulderCity correspondent, and we started the first

28 John F. Cahlanmultiple-edition newspaper with the BoulderCity Journal. We would change the masthead,or put on the masthead of the Boulder CityJournal and usually lead off with the oneBoulder City story that would be a banner.And when we made it up for the Las Vegasconsumption, we would take that off thebanner and put in whatever was local news ornational news, and put on the Review-Journalmasthead.Looking back at the thing, I am amazedthat we were able to get these newspapers out,because we had only two linotype machinesdown at the Review-Journal office. One of ’emwas operated by Charles Keeler, whose wife,Dorothy, was assistant county clerk in LasVegas. He came down here a year before I didfrom Reno and had worked in the composingroom when I was working in the news roomof the newspaper in Reno. And the other onewas Smith—who came here from somewherein the South, Texas, I think. B. N. Smith. Heran the B. N. together when he talked, so thatwe called him “Ben” Smith. We had a onemancomposing room force, Dick Lochrie,who had worked on newspapers for Garsidein Tonopah before coming to Las Vegas, whowould put the paper together, and as I say, itwas eight pages. Page one was, of course, Pageone, and Page two was usually the nationalnews, We put all the local news on the frontpage that we could, and then filled in withnational news. Page three would probablybe a society page with personals and stuffof that sort. Page four’d be the sport page,which I was editing in addition to all my beatsand local stories. Page five and six would bethe legal notices and classified pages, whichdidn’t have to be made up new every day.We just changed the classified ads, insertingsome and removing some. And Page sevenand eight would probably be most anythingwe could come up with—seven probablywould be the comic page. Page eight would bewhatever we had to fill it with. It was usuallylegal notices, county bills, voter lists, localads and such.We got the thing out every day, and howwe did it, I don’t know, because that’s a realtough job. It was a lot of fun, and it was alot of work. But as we went along, I thinkwe can take pride in the development of thecommunity. Everybody that was associatedwith the Review-Journal was interested inmaking Las Vegas grow.As I have said before, we assimilated theLas Vegas Journal of Jim Scrugham and theLas Vegas Age of C. P. Squires, and put outthe newspaper under the hyphenated nameof Las Vegas Review-Journal.After Florence Lee Jones was hired, one ofthe first news reporters that came into the areawas Clarence Heckethorne, who was a highschool student here, and after graduation,worked for part-time in our newspaper office.He later became the head of the NevadaIndustrial Commission in Carson City underGovernor Grant Sawyer.Another one of the news room employeeswas Dennis Schieck, who at the time wasworking for the Western Union, deliveringtelegrams. During his delivery periods,Schieck had a box camera which he used onmany occasions to get breaking news storiesand he brought the pictures in to us for useif we desired them. He was such a goodphotographer that, as soon as we were able toget engraving facilities in the Review-Journal,he was hired as a full-time photographer, andis on the Review-Journal at the present time inthe capacity of composing room manager—ormanager of production, I guess it is called.I’ll just give some background of what itused to be like to put out a newspaper in thecity of Las Vegas. When I first came downhere, remember that there was no long-

A Career in Journalism: Overview29distance telephone service in the city of LasVegas. The Western Union telegrams werehandled out of the Union Pacific telegraphoffice. After they got through with theirrailroad business, they’d take care of theWestern Union telegrams, and some days, itwould get out until—if you put a telegram inat eight o’clock in the morning, it might getout at noon, and it might get out at four o’clockin the afternoon. And that was the kind ofservice that they had.As anybody knows, you have to get yournational news from some place. So we hadwhat they called a United Press “pony,” whichwas about a 200-word telegram that was sentfrom Los Angeles usually at seven o’clockin the morning, and this did get real goodservice because we were very friendly withthe telegrapher—Bill Mundy, who was theUnion Pacific telegrapher— and he cleared itpretty well for us. There was one sent from LosAngeles at seven o’clock in the morning, andit was at the railroad office for me to pick upwhen I came down to work about 7:15-7:30.And it usually contained sports news.So I would go down and make up stories—the sports stories— and this is why I probablybecame able to make sports characters livefor the local people. Because I had to do a lotof reading and become well acquainted withthe sports figures I would have to write about.From a story of about twenty-five words, Iwould have to build a story of maybe threeor four inches, which would be two hundredand fifty words. I always had been an avidsports fan, knew the majority of the thingsthat were going on in all phases of sports, soit was fairly easy for me to do; and the samewent for national figures.We would get another “pony” from theUnited Press about eleven o’clock in themorning, which would take in national andregional news, and from that, I would haveto write the stories. Usually, we’d have to geta banner out of it, if there wasn’t somethinglocal. We’d try every time we could to get abanner of local stories, or if we couldn’t, we’dbuild it up from the “pony.”One thing that has always amazed mywife is the fact that when Huey Long wasshot in Louisiana, they held his funeral downthere, and we got, oh, about a hundred wordson the funeral. I had to expand the thing,because a hundred words means about twoparagraphs. I had to expand the thing, soI put myself in the place of the pastor whowas giving the eulogy for Huey Long, and Iinvented the eulogy from two or three wordsthat had been in the United Press pony. Mywife read the story that I had written, andthen, the following day, she read the storythat was written in the Los Angeles Timesby the staff correspondent who was there.The similarity between the two would haveindicated that I was at the funeral! Well, itwas—as I say—you have to be inventive in thenewspaper business. There were only certainthings that anybody could say about HueyLong, and having known his history, I justindicated that this was what the pastor hadsaid, and it turned out right. Sometimes thosegambles don’t turn out as well as that. But itwas interesting, because it kept me on my toesand made me well aware of what was going onin the other parts of the United States.Following the “pony” situation—thatlasted for about two or three years— finallythey got airplane service in here, and Iarranged for the United Press to fly the—whatwe call the—overnight file off the teletypeprinters which were installed in Los Angelesand were not in this area because they didn’thave any telegraph lines in to take care ofthem. But that would beat—the overnightfile would be sent up by airplane and getinto Las Vegas, oh, at eight or nine o’clock,

30 John F. Cahlanand we would have it available for servicein the afternoon. And then that would beaugmented by the telegraph pony and laterdevelopments, So this made it very easy. Asthe paper was expanded from eight to ten totwelve to sixteen pages, we needed this stuff,and it turned out to be very satisfactory. Andwe used that until—well, in fact, until we putin the teletypes in Las Vegas. And when theteletypes came, of course, that was—we hadbecome metropolitan, and it was very easy toget out a newspaper.And, of course, we had expanded our staff.I was no longer the one-man editorial staff. Asthe thing—as the newspaper—grew and myresponsibilities as editor took other forms,I got away from the desk and the teletypemachines.I can recall also, speaking of teletypemachines, during World War II on theinvasion of France. We had a blackout here inLas Vegas. Of course, we had a little room thatwas off from the main composing room wherethe teletypes were, and I can remember it waslate at night when I came down to the teletyperoom. We had a little blue light that showndirectly on the teletype machines so that itwould meet the blackout requirements. AndI can remember sitting there; the first flashthat came on the invasion of France didn’tcome from the United States headquarters.It came from German headquarters. I calledmy brother and asked him if we could put outan extra because they were invading the area,and he said, “Where’d you get it?”And I said, “It came out of Germany.”And he said, “No, we’d better wait until weget it from the United States forces.Well, about two hours or three hours later,it was confirmed that the invasion was on,and I always have regretted that we didn’t beateverybody else out by two or three hours withan extra because we could’ve taken it from theflash from Germany that—this was it. But wedidn’t get it out, so—.And, as I say, after the war, I drifted awayfrom the news desk and took over the dutiesof managing editor which were more or lessof supervision of the news staff and hiringnew people and firing old people—oh, I didn’tfire very many. I’m very proud of the fact that,except during the war when help was so scarceand people were coming and going and wehad to get new people to take the old peoples’places who went into the service, that whenI left the Review-Journal, I left people in theservice who had been there anywhere fromfive years to fifteen years. Some of the peoplewho went into the armed services came back,and the people that I had recruited myselfduring the war were still there. And I thinkthat—at least it proved to me that—they likedworking for the Review-Journal and the guythat was the managing editor.I’m very proud of some of the people thatI broke in in the newspaper business—peoplelike Joe McClain, who now is working forthe Sun; Cohn McKinley, who has workedmany years for the Review-Journal; JimLeavy, who later became managing editorof the Review-Journal; John Romero, whomI brought down just after he was graduatedfrom San Jose State College and made himsports editor of the Review-Journal—nowhe is one of the vice presidents of the DelWebb Corporation in charge of publicrelations; Clarence Heckethorne. Oh, thereare numerous guys that I broke in to thenewspaper business. Some of ’em are still inthe newspaper business, some of ’em are outand have very fine jobs.But it was an experience that I enjoyed. Ilooked upon the Review-Journal as my baby,because when I first came down here, theyhad no—it was just a newspaper and nobodyhad any direction or anything. Whatever

A Career in Journalism: Overview31the Review-Journal was up until 1961, Imade. Because it was—more or less—mybrother was the business manager and paidvery little attention to the daily publicationof the newspaper, I mean the news end ofthe newspaper. Oh, he did write a column,and kept his hand in the operation of thenewspaper. It was, as I say, I who guided thepaper all the way through every day.I think at might be well at this time to talka little about election returns. When I camedown to Las Vegas, of course, there were notelegraphs and no long-distance telephones.And during the elections previous to 1929,the Clark County returns were the very lastto get into the central area in Reno where thevotes were being counted to determine whowas elected. And this was just a physical thingbecause you just had to wait.There was nobody that was too interestedin elections—if they could find out today,they could find out a week from now, so, whatdifference did it make? They were all in theballot box and they couldn’t change at, so theywouldn’t worry about it too much. Of course,in the northern part of the state, they worriedabout it because sometimes the races were soclose that Clark and Lincoln counties couldchange the entire result.So when my brother came down in 1926,he decided that this thing would have to bechanged. He was cognizant of how importantit was to get the votes to a central countingarea. So he set up a framework for collectingthe votes. And through the Union PacificRailroad and their cooperation with thetelegraph, we could, or he could telegraphSloan, and the areas along the Union PacificRailroad, and then have somebody at Nelsonand Eldorado Canyon deposit their vote totalsat some place where they could be picked upby a runner and taken to the closest telegramstation.Of course, that was before Henderson,before Boulder City, and before North LasVegas. The areas that were voting at that timewere Las Vegas, Sloan, Goodsprings, EldoradoCanyon, Searchlight, Nelson, Jean—thoseareas were completely isolated. You couldget Sloan, Jean, and probably Goodspringsthrough the Union Pacific Railroad telegraphsystem, and it was much faster than it hadbeen before.When I came down in 1929, the deal hadbeen expanded so that we would dispatchpeople in automobiles to these various areas.One runner would pick up Goodsprings, Jean,and Sloan. Another one would go over intothe Eldorado Canyon and pick up Nelson andEldorado Canyon and that area and bringthem into the newspaper. Of course, you mustremember, too, that the roads in those dayswere all dirt roads and the automobiles werenot as good as they are now, and anybodywho went over to Sloan or over to Nelson,Eldorado Canyon faced the four-hour rideback to Las Vegas, because there wasn’ta paved road all the way. I mean, you goout there now, you can go out through theBoulder City highway and cut off and go upinto Nelson and that area over paved roads;it’d probably take you an hour— at the most,an hour and a half. And then, it was a four- orfive-hour ride. And as the polls didn’t closeuntil six o’clock at night, that meant that bythe time the fellow got into the office, it wasten, eleven o’clock, providing he didn’t haveany flat tires or anything of that sort. But wegot to a situation where we could usually sendin our totals by midnight at the latest. And asfar as the Las Vegas returns were concerned,we would be able to get them up fairly well,by, oh, midnight.But as the community grew and they wareusing, of course, hand-stamped ballots andhand-counted ballots. Sometimes, if they got

32 John F. Cahlana big registration or a big vote, it would takeuntil four or five o’clock in the morning beforethey even got through. This has been prettywell eliminated now by the voting machinesas far as Las Vegas proper is concerned—LasVegas and North Las Vegas. I think they’restill using paper ballots in Boulder City andHenderson and in the smaller communities.But the area in Las Vegas and North Las Vegasare all handled by voting machines whichgive you the totals right after the votes havebeen cast.It was quite a triumph when we could getthe vote from the Las Vegas area into Reno intime that they could predict the winner by atleast one o’clock in the morning. And that’sstill being done now.Speaking now of movie stars, it wasquite interesting when I was working for theReview-Journal. I was also correspondent forthe United Press, and I would get calls fromthe United Press that, so-and-so was comingup here from Los Angeles to get married, andcover the story. As a result, I was probablybest man for more movie stars than any oneman in the United States. They would comeup to get married, and I would go over tothe courthouse to get the story, end wouldbe brought into the picture as one of thewitnesses in the marriage ceremonies thatwere performed either by the justice of thepeace or by the then district judge.Some of the people whose weddings Ihave witnessed are Herbert Marshall, AndyDevine, Fred MacMurray, Bob Burns— the“bazooka King” that was with Bing Crosbyin “Sweet Lelani.” And I’ll have to tell youa story about Burns when he came here toget married. Wherever Burns and Crosbyappeared at any function at all, or when theywould walk into a nightclub in Los Angeles,whenever they were spotted, the orchestrawould play “Sweet Lelani.” It was the songthat was featured in the movie, “Sweet Lelani.”It was a very beautiful tune. I was a witnessfor Burns’s wedding, which, incidentally,was held in North Las Vegas, which was justblossoming at that time as a community. Andafter the ceremony, which occurred aboutthree o’clock in the afternoon, we decidedthat we would go out to the Yucca Club tohave dinner before Burns and his new bridewent back to Los Angeles. We went out to theYucca Club in my car and stopped in frontof the door. And as we were walking in thedoor, Burns and his bride were walking in.And unbeknownst to anybody—nobody inthe city of Las Vegas knew that (except me)Burns was in town. And unbeknownst toBurns, on the other side was the guy that wasworking the jukebox. Just as Burns and hisbride walked into the door, the fellow insidehad put a nickel into the nickelodeon, pusheda button, and out came “Sweet Lelani”! AndBurns thought the thing had been stagedor something, until I told him it was just acoincidence.Another time, about this time, we hadsome contact with the Paramount Studiosin Los Angeles. The Paramount Studiowas preparing to release the movie, “TheLady Eve,” and they wanted some kind ofa gimmick to promote the thing. So BobGriffith and I went down to Los Angelesto Paramount Studios and sat down at thepublicity department for several hours, andfinally came up with the idea that they oughtto discover a nude gal running around thedesert, outside Las Vegas. And when wecaptured the girl, she would be taken to LosAngeles, given a movie test, and given a rolein some movie, and she would be “the LadyEve.” It worked out much better than anybodyever expected. I came back to Las Vegas. Andas I say, I was the correspondent for UnitedPress, and somebody else in the office was the

A Career in Journalism: Overview33correspondent for the Associated Press, so wecooked up the deal and sent out a story overboth the wire services that somebody that hadbeen out in Paradise Valley and seen a nudewoman running around out there. It didn’tcause much sensation until the second storywe put out that this woman had come outand accosted somebody in an automobile thatwas out there. And it was getting a little hairyat the time. And we started in getting phonecalls and telegraph messages from as far awayas England wanting to know if we could getan interview with the nude girl at ParadiseValley. And it went on for about four or fivedays, and it was about time for the girl to bediscovered and taken back to Hollywood. Igot ahold of the public relations man whowas on this particular story in Los Angeles,and he said, “Johnny, I’m sorry, we can’t getthe gal because our attorneys figure that if wedo, we’ll be violating the white slave law. Andwe can’t come up and get her.”So here I was with the stories coming outof Las Vegas and no ending to the thing. Ididn’t know how the dickens the story wasgoing to end. However, Fate came into thepicture when the sheriff got a letter that wasturned over to him by a prominent localattorney. And the letter read, “Dear So and So:They have discovered our sunbathing site. Seewhat you can do.” It seems that this attorneyand his client had been sunbathing out on thesand dune out in the Paradise Valley, and itwas not to our knowledge that they were there.And as a result, I sent out a final story thatwe had discovered who the nude woman ofParadise Valley was—that she was a divorceewho was sunbathing out on the sand dune. Sothe story turned out all right, but I never wentthrough another publicity hoax like that one!You have heard about the water situation,and that there was a controversy over thehotels and how much water they could useand whether they could reprocess their owneffluents, and so forth. Did I get involved inthat? Well, not at all, except just generally.That was during the time that Las Vegaswas on water rationing, and everybody wassquawking about the fact that the hotelswere getting water for golf courses, when theresidents couldn’t get water for their homes.This was more or less of a feud that developedbetween Hank Greenspun of the Las VegasSun and the owner of the Paradise ValleyCountry Club, and some of the hotels.Greenspun was trying to get water for hisParadise Valley Country Club, and the LasVegas Valley Water District wasn’t about tolay the lines out there for his country club,and he couldn’t get any well permit, so hestarted in raging on the hotels to force the LasVegas Valley Water District to give him waterfor his golf course. And nobody in the city ofLas Vegas was too concerned about the thing.It’s a sad commentary—and I say thiswith all charity— that a man with the writingability and the things that Hank Greenspunhas had does such a poor job of communityrelations. Greenspun came to the city of LasVegas, oh, it was in ’45, ’46, sometime aroundthere, He came in here out of New York City,and had a little less than nothing. He startedas a public relations man for Milton Prell ofthe Club Bingo, and then launched into amagazine, much like the Hollywood Reporterin Los Angeles, where some rather peculiarideas were used to get advertising into themagazine. And he was floating around LasVegas as a public relations man.There was a strike of the linotype operatorsin the Review-Journal, and picket lines wereset up around the Review-Journal for, oh, Ithink that the Review-Journal still is “unfairto organized labor”—I’m not sure that theyhave ever settled their labor dispute. Butanyway, the typographical union set up a

34 John F. Cahlannew newspaper here, called the Las VegasSun to fight the Review-Journal. And all of theoperators from the Review-Journal went towork for the Sun, and we had—in the Review-Journal—we had strike breakers come in thereand operate the paper.Shortly after that happened, Greenspunbought control of the newspaper fromthe typographical union and started thenewspaper himself. This was about thetime that Don Reynolds bought into theReview-Journal. He bought out Mr. F. F.Garside, who was my brother’s partner, andimmediately, Mr. Reynolds decided he wouldput in teletype machines, which are automatictypesetting machines, in violation of theunion contract. So that’s when the strike washeld, and they started the Las Vegas Sun. AsI say, Greenspun bought control from thetypographical union and has been runningthe newspaper ever since.As a result of his purchase of the newspaper,he started on a role of crusader who was goingto slay the big dragon and the sheet down thestreet, namely the Review-Journal, and startedto do most anything he could to discreditthe Review-Journal. My brother and myself,having been in the city of Las Vegas for many,many years, knew the trend of the communityand tried to be progressive along with thecommunity.While the Review-Journal was the onlynewspaper in the city of Las Vegas andcontrolled, certainly, the news emanatingfrom Las Vegas, we could, more or less,control the news that went out of the city. Butwhether this was good or whether it was bad,I don’t know. But it certainly redounded to thebenefit of the city of Las Vegas. Any of the badstuff that was merely for local consumption,we never sent out over the wires. When wewere working for datelines in Las Vegas in theearly days of the community before BoulderDam. It was this sort of cooperation betweenthe community and the newspaper that builtthis community. And I am sure that mybrother and I both had a great deal to do withthe growth of Las Vegas through this idea ofcontrolled news going out of the community.But I’ll tell you one incident that I knowcould’ve broken completely out in the openas far as race relations were concerned. Ithappened during World War II out at NellisAir Force Base. The Negroes on the Westsidewere—the male Negroes over there were—mad because the mate Negroes from theair base would come in and steal their girls.And they were getting real restless, and therewere things that could’ve happened had anymatch been struck. The Review-Journal nevermentioned at all any idea of a march on thecity of Las Vegas— which was planned. Theywanted publicity for the thing and got none.And as a result, nothing developed.Now, this has been demonstrated onmany occasions to me, and that’s why these—the way the newspapers and the televisioncameras are handling these race troublesjust sickens me. Because the majority of thepeople that are in these race riots are in therefor one purpose alone, and that’s to get theirfaces on television or get their names in thepaper. And the first thing that happens whenthey have a riot, you get these televisionpeople sticking a microphone under someNegro’s face and asking him what his nameis, and what he’s doing, and so forth and soon, and giving him nationwide exposure.As I say, I would say that ninety percent ofthe people that are demonstrating in thesemarches and so forth are publicity seekers.But ninety percent of ’em are real devotedpeople and wouldn’t riot or wouldn’t burndown buildings or loot buildings if they hadthe opportunity. It’s the ten percent that areirresponsible.

A Career in Journalism: Overview35I don’t only criticize the Negroes, don’tmisunderstand me. It’s the same way withthe hippies. I mean, there’s no— in myestimation, there’s no—reason for the hippiesor the Negro hippies, or whatever you have,because the majority of them, as I say, arepublicity seekers. And certainly if theyknow that they’re getting their faces on thecameras of the television, they’re going todo whatever is necessary. I think that youcan—anybody can—see that any athleticevent, say, or horse race, or anything, thatthe young kids in the background of the guythat is being interviewed are always wavingat the camera. And when somebody hits afoul ball out into the outfield, everybody’srunning up and waving their hands or makingfaces or something of that sort, and it’s just apublicity seeking outfit. You pull the publicityaway from these guys, and they’re got goinganywhere. I am firmly convinced that a heavy,heavy burden falls upon the news media ofthe nation today for responsibility for muchof the rioting and looting and stuff of that sortis due to the news media of the United States.And I got on this, this I say, because we’vegone through the thing down here, withthe so-called feud that developed betweenthe Review-Journal and the Sun, I hold noanimosity for Hank Greenspun, believe me. :think the guy has accomplished a great dealduring the time that he has been in the city ofLas Vegas. But he could’ve accomplished somuch more if he had not been eaten up by thefeud that he started with the Review-Journal.And don’t misunderstand me, I workedfor Hank Greenspun for about three or fourmonths, putting out a special edition forthe Las Vegas Sun after I quit the Review-Journal. I found him to be a very able boss,knew what he was doing, knew how to run anewspaper, and as I say, I think he had done atremendous lot more good had he not had somuch bitterness in his heart for the Review-Journal. It was an economic matter, entirely,because he was fighting for his life in the Sun.The Review-Journal had a big lead, and theonly thing that he succeeded in doing—nothe, but his newspaper, succeeded in doing—isto put doubt in people’s minds as to what youcould believe by reading it in the newspaper.And since we have left—since my brotherand I have left— the Review-Journal, I wouldsay very frankly that the city of Las Vegas—the citizens of the city of Las Vegas—haveno editorial voice. Because Don Reynoldsis five times worse than Hank Greenspun.He has, no other thing is his god but money.Here, again, I don’t say this critically ofReynolds. But I’m stating facts. I tried towork for Reynolds after my brother left, andI just found it impossible. And I think that,as far as I am concerned, I worked for a lotof people, and a lot of bastards. But I justcouldn’t work for Reynolds any more. Theway he runs his newspapers, he is out of town,it’s a foreign operation, he’d go down to theReview-Journal— it’s the same way at the Sun,I guess—I’m not as familiar with the Sun asI am with the Review-Journal—but you’dgo into either one of the newspapers todayand see one set of people that are workingthere, and go in a month from now and seean entirely different set of people workingthere. And having been in the newspaperbusiness, this isn’t—this doesn’t do any goodfor the continuity, and it doesn’t do any goodfor the community because the people don’tstay long enough to know the communityproblem—the community leaders and whatthey’re trying to do to solve them. And as aresult, you’ve got something that—-it’s justimpossible. I say this from a long experiencein the newspaper business.I started in the newspaper business in1927. While I have only worked in Reno

36 John F. Cahlanand Las Vegas, I have been in contact withpeople all over the United States in the pressassociations, Frank H. Bartholomew of theUnited Press—the President of the UnitedPress; Jack Bell, of the Associated Press; BobConsidine, International News Service; oh,Ron Wagoner, United Press in Los Angeles,and numerous, widely known people that areleaders in the newspaper field, and have hadlong talks with them many times, and I thinkthat I have a pretty good idea of what a goodnewspaperman is. And, certainly, I don’t thinkthat you have very many in the city of LasVegas at the present time. And I’ll probablyget crucified for saying that, but that’s the wayI feel personally.The Review-Journal and the Sun survivedthe big feud, and now are going forward in agood financial position. The newspapers arefilled with ads, and the Review-Journal fillsthe rest of the stuff up with columnists thatthey pay $2.50 a week for, rather than havelocal people working as reporters at $85 or$90 or $100 a week. It’s an operation that justisn’t good for the city of Las Vegas. I don’tknow what the future will be. I understandthat Howard Hughes tried to buy both theReview-Journal and the morning Sun. Butwhen Hughes bought the television stationthat was owned by Hank Greenspun, hepaid $3,600,000 for it and gave Greenspunas much money as he’ll ever need, and noreason why he should sell the Sun. Reynoldshas so much money that he doesn’t knowwhat to do with it, and when he was offered$4,000,000 for the Review-Journal, he askedMr. Hughes’ representative, “That’ll I do withthe $4,000,000? I got all the money I needfrom now on, and I would only have to payUncle Sam.” So there’s no possibility now thatthe newspapers will be sold. What’ll happenif either one of them—either Reynolds orGreenspun—dies, I don’t know. Perhaps itmight be well if they moved to some othercountry and let somebody take over thenewspapers that knew what they were doing.Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but that’s theway I feel, anyway.Along with other people, I probablymet many, many famous people. Peoplelike Herbert Marshall, the movie star; AndyDevine; Bob Hope; Jack Benny; Paul Lucas, theAustrian actor who was an Academy Awardwinner; Ava Gardner; Fred MacMurray; BobBurns—I told you about Bob Burns. One ofthe most interesting characters that I met andwho has been in the local news very greatlyin the past is Howard Hughes.It was during World War II that Howardfirst came to Las Vegas. He came here fromLos Angeles and stayed at El Rancho Vegas,and he was quite a familiar figure around ElRancho, and he was not at all reticent aboutmeeting people. lie would come down intothe breakfast room, dressed in dirty khakipants, and then he had on tennis shoes, andlooked like anything but the millionaire hewas. However, he was very easy to approach,and I had several conversations with him .atthat time and found him a very very fine chap.He had several airplanes that he wastesting out. One of them he was testing outhere in Las Vegas. That was one of the reasonsthat he was here. And one afternoon, I wasout with the public relations man of TWA,of which at that time Howard Hughes waspresident, when I got a telephone call from theReview-Journal, saying that Hughes’ airplanehad gone into Lake Mead, and that AvaGardner was aboard, and United Press in LosAngeles wanted a story on it. So I went backinto the bar where the TWA public relationsman was and told him the story, and he said,“Oh, my God, let’s go.”So we went out to Boulder City, and therewe met Johnny Myers, who was the overall

A Career in Journalism: Overview37public relations man for Hughes’ operationand TWA. And we told him what we hadheard, and he said, “No, Ava Gardner was noton the plane. However, the plane did go intothe lake, and they rescued the pilot.”So I went to the closest phone and calledand told the newspapers that Ava Gardnerwas not on board, and that I would give themthe full details of the story later. So we wentin to see the pilot, who was not badly injured,despite the fact that the plane sank in thewater. And they rescued him and pulled himout. I got a story as to what happened and sentthat out over the wire. I don’t know whetherHughes is cognizant of the fact that we knewthe story on Ava Gardner or not. But she wasnot in the plane, and she was not supposedto be in the city of Las Vegas, which we knewwas not true. But at any rate, that’s neitherhere nor there.The next day or two—or the next two orthree days—they brought divers up here togo down into the lake for the plane becausethere was a lot of secret instrumentation inthe airplane, and they wanted to get that, ifthey couldn’t get anything else, so they pulledthe plane out of the lake and took it down toLos Angeles. And Hughes was around thecity of Las Vegas occasionally for, oh, maybea year or two.He came back here later, after the FlamingoHotel was built and had—it was just after he hadpurchased all the property up in the Red Rockarea. And he came back here, and apparently,at that time, was going to do something withthe land that he purchased. He went out tothe Flamingo and hired the penthouse outthere and was living in the penthouse whensome general from Washington, who was avery good friend of Benny Siegel’s, came totown. The hotel people told Hughes he’d haveto move out of the penthouse. And he said,“This is fine,” and he left Las Vegas and nevercame back until about 1966, when he didcome back to stay. His activities now are in thenewspapers every once in a while, but at thattime, we were sure that Hughes was going todo something in the city of Las Vegas. But—hejust got mad and left. We hope the same thingdoesn’t happen again.Another thing that I had a lot of fun withwas when I attended the legislative sessions,I first went up to the legislature as a reporterfor the Review-Journal in 1954. And from1954 until 1962, I covered eight sessions ofthe legislature. I think there were six regularsessions and two special sessions.Attending a legislative session after youget the swing of it—after the first legislativesession—is much like attending collegeagain. You’re living in a separate world in thelegislature, just the same as when you’re goingto college, and if you’re in the fraternity of thelegislators, you’ve got it made.It’s interesting to see the processes oflegislation and to learn how little most of thecitizens know about legislative action. I haveseen in the legislature the state of Nevadafrom 1954 until 1962 grow double—triple, Iguess. I can recall when the slogan of the stateof Nevada used to be “One square man forone square mile,” because we had a hundredthousand population and a hundred thousandsquare miles. Now we’ve got that many people,or better than that, in the city of Las Vegasalone, And the whole tenor of the legislativeprocesses has changed. Naturally, it’s changedbecause of the reapportionment.People will tell you that they don’t have thesame kind of leadership that they used to havein years gone by, citing people like, oh, DougTandy, Getchell, Ken Johnson, and the bigpeople of the past who ruled the legislature.Well, I’ll put guys like Fred Settelmeyer, FloydLamb, John Fransway, Melvin B. “Bode”Howard, the last two from Winnemucca,

38 John F. CahlanCarl Dodge, some of the boys that served inthe legislature from Washoe County—I’ll putthem up against the old-time legislators.However, there have been, and I thinkwill be, increasing action on the part of a lotof the people that are in the legislature now tolegislate for areas and classes rather than thestate as a whole. The people that I mentionedas the old-time leaders believed in the state asa whole, and believed that legislation shouldbe made for the citizens of the state ratherthan for any class or any area.There always has been the thought thatthe north and the south were divided. Thisprobably is true when you get into the politicalfield, I mean, the elections and state centralcommittee things. But in the legislature,this pretty well smoothes itself out. Thelegislatures that I attended have broughtabout real fine cooperation between the northand the south, and the east and west, andthe east and the south, and all over. You getinto a committee meeting, into the—say, thefinance committee which is passing on billsthat need finances—they don’t take a look atwhether it’s in northern Nevada or southernNevada, the thing that they take a look at,is it needed? If it is needed, have we got themoney that can be appropriated to take careof it? And you would be surprised, I think, ifyou could go to the legislature and see howindustrious these various committees are. It’snot something that is just passed over lightly,that they’re passing bills just because the billsare introduced. But statesmanship is prettywell-developed in the legislature—in the pastlegislatures I have noticed in the legislaturesince it has been reapportioned that we arenot getting the same kind of action that we didprior to reapportionment. In my estimation,the small counties of the state have practicallybeen buried by the overwhelming weight ofthe membership that the large counties have.And we’re going to get this; they’re going tohave the urban problems presented to themrather than the suburban, and this is goingto—as I say, the suburban areas are going tobe buried.As a general rule, the people in thelegislature, or in the Nevada state legislature,at least, from the smaller counties wereconservative people that had brought about“one sound state,” a slogan that came upduring the Kirman administration. Andnobody ever had to worry about whetheryou were going overboard on welfare oraid to dependent children, or stuff of thatsort. While these are very good programs,if you will recall, if you listen to your TVor your radio, you find out that there aredrives for money for everything from atoothache to kidney stones. They’re all very,very fine projects and should be supported.But sooner or later, you’re going to reachin your pocket and find out that you don’thave any money if you contribute to all ofthem.And this is the thing that concerns memore than anything else. Perhaps it’s becauseI was raised by a very conservative family.Our family was not excessively wealthy, andwe had to work for everything we earnedand everything we got. And when you dothat for thirty-five or forty years, you cometo the conclusion that—well, my fatheralways used to say, “If you don’t take care ofyourself, nobody’s going to take care of you.”I’m afraid that if my father were alive today,he would become a very violent, right-wingRepublican. He was a Republican, but not aviolent right-wing.But in looking back over the legislativesessions, we’re losing the thing that madethis country great, in reliability of one’s ownself and the helping of one another. I canremember when anybody was going to raise

A Career in Journalism: Overview39a barn or do something, oh, thresh wheat, orstuff of that sort, all the neighbors would comein and help ’em put the barn up or thresh thewheat. And the wheat threshers would gofrom one ranch to the other, and the guys thatwere on the ranch that first used the wheatthreshers would move down themselves withall their kids and help the guy down the road.And this is something you don’t get any more.You find out that people just don’t want to getinvolved. And it’s something that I just can’tunderstand. Perhaps the “New Thought” cantell me what it’s all about, but I don’t think theycan, because as I say, I was raised differentthan they are now.But getting back to the legislature, theleaders of the legislature, of course, have beenfrom all over the state. There’s no one sectionthat has had any monopoly on leadership. Itmight be interesting to know that all of thebills passed in the legislature are not passedeither in committee or on the floor of eitherhouse. Whether they pass or die, on manyoccasions, is decided somewhere off the floor,like the Melody Lane bar, or the old Senatorbar, or, across the street from the capitol, itused to be, or the Arlington Hotel, or someplace like that. And it’s only natural becausethe majority of your legislators like to havea good time, in addition to working hard.And the harder they work, the harder theyplay, on some occasions. And when you willget down in this area outside the capitol, youlose all of the formality that is shown in thecapitol and on the floor and in the committeemeetings, and relax and discuss these billsto a great extent in these sessions. Don’tmisunderstand, I don’t say that the decisionon the bills is made in an alcoholic haze. It’sfar from it. This is incidental. But you have aspirit of camaraderie in the legislature thatevidences itself off the floor and out of thecommittee rooms. Perhaps it used to be in thecloak rooms that these bills were discussed,and now it’s in even more relaxing areas.Some of the big things of the legislature, ofcourse— the past legislatures—is the big “redcarpet party” that is put on by George Vargasevery session of the legislature. George is thelobbyist for many of the larger corporationsin the United States. One of them is the S andH Green Stamp organization, and it used tobe that, if anybody wanted to be assured ofgood treatment on the part of the lobbyists,it was to introduce a bill in the legislature tooutlaw green stamps. And there has beenmuch conversation that, any time anybodygot broke at the legislature, all they had todo was introduce such a bill, and suddenlysomewhere, they would find succor, let ussay (that’s s-u-c-c-o-r). Nobody ever claimedthat anybody ever got paid off, but there wereinstances that the rumors were rife, let ussay. I do not charge—don’t misunderstandme—I do not charge George Vargas with thatbecause there were others before him whowere lobbyists for the S and H Green Stamps.One of the great characters of thelegislature—and there have been many—wasJohn Mueller, who was—oh, he was, as far asI can remember, always in politics. He wasone of Scrugham’s very fine right-hand menand then he has been lobbyist—or he waslobbyist— for several of the local interestsin Washoe County at the legislature and hadalso served as a “senator” in the legislaturefor several years—John was known duringthe lobbying days as “the eighteenth senator”because any bill that was introduced that wasunfavorable to his clients—he knew eitherhow to get it passed or get it killed, or have itheld in committee or something of the sort, sothat it never did have a chance to get throughthe legislature as a whole. John did have greatcontrol over the senate of the state of Nevada.Any bill that was passed by the assembly, if

40 John F. Cahlanthey wanted it passed by the senate, they’dbetter see John. John had enough moneyof his own so that he did not have to doanything about taking money for his job. Sofar as I know, John never did exert any undueinfluence on these guys. By that, I meanputting much pressure on them. John neverhad to. He was the type of a guy that had,always, nine senators that were committedto vote his way, and with nine senators, hehad the control of the majority. And had Johnnot been a very devoted citizen of the state ofNevada, this could have been real dangerous.But so far as I have been able to determine,there was never a bill that was either passedor killed that wasn’t something that wouldbenefit the state of Nevada, or, if it was killed,it would have been of detriment to the state.I think John Mueller was one of the mostloyal Nevadans that has ever been aroundthe legislative halls. When John Mueller died,something went out of the legislature.I guess, fortunately, for me, when Johndied, I more or less inherited his mantle.And for the last two sessions that I was upthere at the legislature, I, too, I think, exertedsome influence on the legislature as a whole.I attended most of the meetings of thefinance committee and most of the meetingsof the ways and means committee, two ofthe most important money committees inthe legislature. And I think, as far as I amconcerned, I have always tried to be a goodcitizen of the state of Nevada, and I think thatmy record that I have put on tape here, hasproven that I have been.There isn’t any organization that I havejoined, with the exception of the 20-30 Cluband the Demolay (and this for the reason thatI left Reno before it could be accomplished),there isn’t any organization that I havejoined but I have been the ultimate leader.In addition to being District Deputy GrandExalted Ruler of the Elks lodge, the highestposition that anybody can get in the Elkslodge, and Exalted Ruler, vice-president ofthe State Elks Association, president of theLas Vegas and Nevada State Junior Chamberof Commerce, and a winner of the Pall Mallnewspaper award, which was awarded forexcellence in journalism, president of theNevada State Press Association, memberof the National Press Club in Washington,member of the Los Angeles Press Club. Andall of this, I think, indicates that I certainlyhave the state of Nevada at heart and that myactivities have indicated that I more or lesshave been a leader in my field, if I may be sobold as to say so.And that is why, I suppose, that JohnnyMueller’s mantle fell on me. I had been inthe legislature—around the legislature, from1954, and I think John died in 1963; for thelast two sessions of the legislature, I was inhis shoes. And certainly these people in thelegislature sought my advice, and by this, Igathered that they certainly appreciated thatI would give them an unbiased deal. I thinkthe State Archives bill indicates the type of aperson that I was at the legislature, because,certainly, I was not looking for anything otherthan to save the Archives for the people thatare coming along later. And having a deeplove for the state of Nevada and its history,I expected no great praise for the thing.Certainly, I did it, and I’m very proud of it andglad that it got dons. But as far as any greatwhoop and hoorah, why, this doesn’t meananything. Your actions do more than goingaround waving a flag.I might say that as far as the newspapersare concerned— the newspapers for whichI worked are concerned—we certainlycontributed to the advancement of the city,the country, and the state. A newspaper iskind of a peculiar—occupies kind of a peculiar

A Career in Journalism: Overview41position, and especially in a small town likeLas Vegas when we were growing up herewith the newspaper. As I say, we had the onlynewspaper in the city of Las Vegas and whilein later years people came in and said that amonopoly was certainly a very bad deal forthe community and that the community wasnot allowed to grow because of the monopoly,I only say to them that a monopoly is bad ifit’s in the wrong hands.We felt—my brother and I felt—and wemore or less guided the policy of the Review-Journal—that we had an obligation to thecommunity to do the best job we could to notonly promote the community, hut certainlygive the people the newspaper that could beread and without any feeling that there wasbias. It was my idea that we should have, forinstance on the editorial page, all types offeeling on the part of the columnists. And asa result, we would get on one side WestbrookPegler, and on the other side Drew Pearson.And if you can get any poles that are moreopposite than they were when they werewriting, I’ll put in with you. And then we’dhave the middle-of-the-line group. So we triedto present the news in a manner that peoplecould read and make up their own minds.We never tried to lead them except onevents that were either good or bad—wefelt—for the city, county, or state. And believeme, before we ever got into any crusadeor anything of that sort, we had plenty ofadvice from people in all steps of life. Someof our confidants were people like Ed Clark,who was the big banker in Las Vegas at thattime and was also Democratic NationalCommitteeman. And Father J. J. Lambe ofthe Catholic church, and Charlie Sloan ofthe Baptist church, and Archie Grant, whois a prominent businessman here. It wasour feeling that, in our obligation to thecommunity, we should have solid reasons foreither opposing or supporting any event orany thing that was to be of benefit.As I told you, we supported many causes.Had it not been for the Review-Journal, Idoubt very much that the original Las VegasValley Water District plan would have gonethrough. I can tell you now that we did doa little finagling, for which we’re not sorry,but it wasn’t exactly honest, let us say. Therewas a deal in the Las Vegas Valley WaterDistrict proposal where we knew—we inthe newspaper knew— that it provided formeters on the water lines. We did not at thetime dwell too much on the meter situation,which probably would have been one of thethings that the newspapers of today wouldhave done, and they’d probably have defeatedthe bond issue. This is the thing that I justcan’t understand. Because certainly, had wenot passed the Las Vegas Valley Water Districtbond issue, Las Vegas would have been acommunity of ten thousand people fromhere on out. Because in this desert area, youjust can’t survive without water. And havingthe water available, certainly it was up to thepeople of the community to bring water inhere so the community could expand. This isonly one of the things that we accomplished,during the tenure that we had in the Review-Journal.My brother took the attitude of “Don’t eversell Las Vegas short,” and it was optimistic. Thenewspaper’s attitude was optimistic all the wayalong. We didn’t—in our news columns or oureditorial columns, we didn’t—pick fights withanybody. We had the broad view that whatwas good for the community was good for thepeople. So many events that have become partof the Las Vegas community, some of themwere inaugurated by the Las Vegas Review-Journal; many of them were supported. It wasour feeling that the Review-Journal should beclose to the Chamber of Commerce, and as a

42 John F. Cahlanresult four members of the staff of the Review-Journal were all members of the Chamber ofCommerce. I was a director of the Chamberof Commerce at one time. The Review-Journalwas, as I say, in everything. My brother waspresident of the Rotary Club here. As I havealready said, I was president of the JuniorChamber of Commerce and guided some ofthese organizations through a lot of trouble,but overall for the development of the city ofLas Vegas.Looking at the newspapers of today, theonly thing that I can say—and this is notconfined to the city of Las Vegas or the stateof Nevada, it’s everybody everywhere in theUnited States, every newspaper—everybodywants to be a columnist, and comment onthe events of the day. If somebody gets killed,there isn’t a factual story that is written.Everybody wants to be a chief and nobodywants to be an Indian. And that is the reasonthat I think that the newspapers are sinkingrapidly in their influence on the community.I look often at the Los Angeles Times.The Los Angeles Times is supposed to bea Republican newspaper, and when I wasgrowing up in the newspaper business, whenyou were a Republican, you were a Republican.And when you were a Democrat, you were aDemocrat. The Times did everything thatthey could to elect Ronald Reagan governorof the state of California, and knew whathis campaign pledges were before they eversupported him. They get him into the Capitolat Sacramento, and cut out and ran—just leave’em there, hanging. Well, this is a helluva wayto run a railroad—I mean, what is a politiciansupposed to do when a powerful newspaperlike the Los Angeles Times supports all of hisviews before he gets in, and then when he getsin, they run off and leave him. Who does hehave? Isn’t there any loyalty anywhere in theworld any more? This is one thing that worriesme, as I—I’m on the downhill grade now. I amover the top and going down.But looking back over this whole thing,this is the thing that disturbs me so muchtoday. You have none of the fundamentalsthat our forefathers had. You have no loyalties,you have no integrity. Truth doesn’t mean athing any more. Whether this came out ofHitler’s “big lie,” I don’t know. And there isno compassion in the world. Everybody’sfighting everybody else. This isn’t the way itwas when I was growing up. Perhaps I grewup in a beautiful era—I don’t know.But looking back at it, you see the varioussteps that came along that probably pointedthe way to what’s going on now. I have thetheory that the Prohibition law was the onething that broke down the moral attitudes ofthe United States of America. It was a greatdream of some poorly informed people.They were able to inflict this dream on thepeople of the United States, and they triedto legislate morals into the people of thecountry. And having seen the legislatureand a lot of the congressional sessions, I amconvinced that there is no possibility that youcan legislate morals in the people. They’regoing to live the way they want to live, andthe hell with the laws. And that was provedby the Prohibition law. For the first, not morethan two months, the Prohibition law was asuccess. And then they started in breaking it.You could get alcohol from the drugstores.You could make home brew. You could getany of this stuff, and as a result, bootlegginggrew to be quite a deal in the United Statesof America. And I can remember when I wasa kid, growing up, that if any woman wasseen on the streets drunk, or was seen in abar drinking, she was definitely an outcast,or a woman from the houses of prostitution.Good women just didn’t do that sort of thing.And I get quite a bang out of some of the beer

A Career in Journalism: Overview43commercials now, showing the women—the1890’s quaffing beer. If any of the womenwould—at least, in the area that I got intowhen I was growing up, ever drink any beer,they wouldn’t be invited to a party again. Thiswas strictly a man’s activity.Well, as it went along, you had the—itbecame the thing to do to go to speakeasiesand nightclubs that featured booze. Even thesociety girls from New York and Chicagoand elsewhere thought they were a great bigsuccess when they became singers in thebootlegging joints of their communities. Andas a result, your moral attitude broke down. Itused to be that the high school kids would geta couple pints of liquor and take a girl out andfeed her liquor, and what happened? And, asI say, the moral attitudes of the United Statesbroke down, and one step has led to anotheruntil it seems to me in looking back at it, thatwe don’t have the strength that the pioneershad—maybe we don’t need it, but I thinkthat the problems that the modern peopleare facing today are a great deal worse thanthe pioneers faced when they were comingacross the continent, along unbroken trails.Certainly, you’d shoot an Indian and protectyourself, everybody banding together forself-preservation. But today, as I say, youget people that don’t want to get involved inanything. Oh, isn’t this what we’re all here for,to help each other? I don’t know.I have delivered quite a sermon onthis thing from getting into the newspaperbusiness. But as I say, I do feel that thenewspaper has a responsibility and whetherthey are meeting that responsibility, I don’tknow.

3Some of My ImportantFeature Stories AboutSouthern NevadaBoulder DamThose days in Las Vegas were probably themost hectic that I have seen. As you will recall,the Boulder Dam bill was passed in December,1928, and ratified by six states in 1929, andit was funded in 1930. And the constructionwork, or the contracts, were let in 1931. It’san interesting sidelight on the constructionof Boulder Dam that Frank Crowe, who laterbecame general superintendent for the SixCompanies, who built the dam, spent abouta year in this area going up and down theColorado River to determine just how thedam could be built. As you probably know,the canyons were straight up and down andthere were very, very few people who knewhow this dam could be built, Crowe being oneof them. It was necessary for the constructorsof Boulder Dam to put up a million dollarcompletion bond, which during that time, theDepression, was more than any one companycould make. So Frank Crowe went out andformed the Six Companies.Let’s see if I can name ’em for you: UtahConstruction Company, Henry J. Kaiser andW. A. Bechtel Company, I used to be ableto name ’em, but those are two of the mostimportant members of the Six Companies.Pacific Bridge Company was another one, aswas MacDonald-Kuhn Company. The othertwo were Morrison-Knudson Company, andthe J. F. Shea Company. They were calledthe “Big Six,” but were officially the SixCompanies, Incorporated, of San Francisco.They put in a joint bid and won the contractfor $48,890,000, the largest labor contractawarded by the United States government upto that time.During the early part of the summer of theyear that the contract was let, 1931, the UnitedStates government put up an employmentbuilding here in Las Vegas; it was across thestreet from the present county courthouse.It was just a one-room shack which wasoperated by Leonard Blood, and all hiring hadto come through that one building. And youwould have— for many months, you would

46 John F. Cahlanhave—lines of men a block, or a block and ahalf long, waiting to get in for applications foremployment. And people were coming fromall over the United States. It was during theDepression, of course, and everybody sawBoulder Dam as a place where they could getwork. And during the construction—the earlydays of construction of Boulder Dam—wewould have Ph.D.’s working on a muck stick,in the mines or in the tunnels down there, andpeople that used to be on Wall Street drivingtrucks. And there was a general immigrationinto the city of Las Vegas by all these people.As a result, there were many shack townsthat sprang up. Probably the most notoriouswas known as Hooverville, which is rightdown at the bottom of the hill that leadsinto North Las Vegas. In fact, it was justbelow the cemetery, and it had a populationof maybe, oh, a thousand people. And theshacks were built out of most anything—tincans, cardboard boxes, piano boxes, anythingthat they could find to live in. And then therewere two communities out on the road toBoulder Dam. One of ’em was Oklahoma City,and the other was Pitcher, named after thecommunities in the southwest from whencecame the people that populated the two towns.One was on one side of the road, and the otherone was on the other side of the road, nearRailroad Pass. And this was the focal pointof most of the disturbances that we had andmost of the murders that occurred during theearly days of Boulder Dam.At one time, Harley A. Harmon, who wasthe district attorney of Clark County, had fivemurder charges going on at the district court,one right after the other. They convicted andsentenced to death all five of ’em, and as aresult, they didn’t have much more troublewith murders in the community.Of course, you must understand that thesheriff ’s office was responsible for that areaout there, and the sheriff had three deputies.One of ’em was Tony Marteletti, and the sheriffwas Joe Keate—Sheriff Keate—and TonyMarteletti and Ray Griffith, and Frank Waitewere deputies. And they ran a pretty tightship, combined with the assistance that wasgiven by the security force at Boulder Dam.They had a security force out there. Originally,the government sent in U. S. marshals intothe area, and, the first marshal in here was afellow by the name of Claude Williams. Andthe first shanty town out around Boulder Damwas named Williamsville after him.There are a thousand and six stories thathave teen told about the construction ofBoulder Dam, some of them true, and mostof tern false. It is a fact that there were a greatmany heat deaths in the canyon during thefirst summer down there. That was for tworeasons. One was because of the heat, andthe second was that the people working inthe canyons had been on one or less mealsper day for quite some time. And whenthey got down there and saw the AndersonCommissary there, :4th all this food stackedup to eat, they just couldn’t believe it. Theyjust gorged themselves and then went down inthe canyon, and the heat’d hit ’em, and they’dkeel over. The government, at that time, whenall the deaths were occurring, asked HarvardUniversity to send out some scientists to seewhat could be done to combat the heat. Andthey came up with the salt tablets to helpprevent dehydration. And every employee atthe dam working in the canyon and those thatweren’t, too, I guess, were required to havesalt tablets in their possession at all times,and to take about one an hour. And it wasdetermined that this did a great deal towardscombating the heat prostration, although,once the people got used to eating regularlyand not quite as much as they did when theyfirst came there, it was all right.

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada47I can remember Boulder City and theBoulder Darn area when, well, on the river,the Colorado River, up above the darn, aboutwhere, oh, I would say where the marina isnow, in that area—it was what they calledthe “big bend.” And it was a sandy bend inthe river where the river wound around andthen went down into Black Canyon whereBoulder Dam was built. And many times,we’d go down there for a picnic. It was rathertreacherous because, while it might not havebeen quicksand, the sand on the beach there atthe big bend was so undermined by water thatyou could sink right down in. So everybodystayed away from the beach on the big bend.I was out there once with Frank Crowe andWalker Young. Walker Young was the projectengineer for the Bureau of Reclamation. Butthey were laying out Boulder City.There is quite a story regarding whyBoulder City was set where it was. At thetime, Ray Lyman Wilbur was Secretary ofthe Interior and in charge of the Bureau ofReclamation, which was building the dam.And Wilbur came out to see what was goingon in this area. Las Vegas was being consideredas the railhead for the dam supplies. Wilburcame out here, and being a President ofStanford University some years before, he wassupposed to be quite blue-nosed. The peopleof Las Vegas, wanting the city to become therailhead, because of the business that wouldattend the settlement of the community, werevery interested in seeing that Wilbur didn’t seeany of the vices that were so rampant in thecity of Las Vegas at the time.On the day scheduled for Wilbur’s arrivalin a private car, the word went out from thepolice department that all of the houses ofprostitution on North First Street would beclosed, and there would be no liquor sold inthe community until Wilbur got out of thecity. So he was taken on a trip through thecity of Las Vegas and out to the dam site. Andduring the time that he was on the trip, PaulShoup, who was the son of the president ofthe Southern Pacific Railroad, upon whosespecial car Wilbur was traveling, and severalnewspapermen who were with the Secretary,wanted to know if there wasn’t a possibilitythat we could get him some whiskey, or adrink or something. They were dry. So, beingvery obliging to the newspaper people and theson of the president of the Southern PacificRailroad, we arranged to have the ArizonaClub, which was one of the places on BlockSixteen, which was the prostitution area ofLas Vegas, opened up. We all went down andhad several libations and went back to the carshortly before Wilbur arrived. So we all saidour goodbyes and everything seemed to beall right until Wilbur announced the next daythat he was putting in a model city at BoulderCity to house the workmen, because Las Vegaswas no place for people to live during theconstruction of the dam. I never did find outwhether Shoup and all the newspaper boystold him about the visit down to Block Sixteenand the whiskey they got, or not. Anyway, theydidn’t get the railhead in Las Vegas.And as I say, I was out there when WalkerYoung and Frank Crowe laid out the city.They first built the barracks, and then, ofcourse, came the commissary. For a whilethey had a big tent out there where theywere feeding people. After the commissaryand barracks were constructed, then theybuilt the houses. Meantime, the businessdistrict was developing, with merchantsconstructing buildings on land leased fromthe government. The government owned allthe land in Boulder City and would only leaseit, not sell it.Now understand that before they couldstart the actual construction of Boulder Dam,there were two other major contracts that

48 John F. Cahlanhad to be completed. One was the road fromBoulder City to the dam site; and the secondwas a railroad line from the Union PacificRailroad out to Boulder City. That is the spurline that took off the Union Pacific main lineabout ten miles south of Las Vegas and wentout to Boulder City. The railroad line is stillin service, and the Union Pacific is servicingHenderson with that Boulder City line.At that time, there was no paved highwaybetween Las Vegas and Boulder City. It wasa dirt road and was nothing more than just aplace cleared out, between here and BoulderCity, so the cars could drive, if necessary. Asthey drove, ruts were dug into the dirt, abouta foot or a foot and a half deep. You got yourtires in the ruts, and that’s where you had tostay. If somebody came along in the otherdirection, it was a major project to get one ofthe automobiles out of the rut so that the otherone could pass it. But in 1932 the highwaydepartment put in a two-lane paved roadwhich generally follows the same road thatis there today.That road was the beginning of one of theworst eras of carnage that has happened here,because the dam workers would come to LasVegas, visit the bootlegging joints and startback to Boulder City. Often they would windup underneath an automobile some place outon the desert. And numerous people werekilled on the highway out there.Boulder Dam. As I told you, there werevery many stories out there that were toldand there still are stories that could be told.There are hundreds of people who died inaccidents at Boulder Dam. At one time, abucket supposedly broke loose and buriedabout fifty people beneath tons of concrete;oh, that is a bunch of fancy because it neverhappened.However, there were some very spectacularaccidents up there. There was one about highscalers who worked out there— these werepeople that were dangled over the walls ofthe canyon on a sort of a boatswain’s chair,and handled the jackhammer, and knockedoff all of the overhanging rock that mightfall—the loose rock that might fall—duringthe construction of the dam, and after thedam was completed. And one day, there wasa tourist out there that ventured too close tothe edge, and he started slipping over. This guythat was underneath him saw the guy that wasfalling, and he pushed himself away from thewall of the canyon, and as this guy went by,he grabbed him by the legs and managed toget him back up onto the top of the canyon.Saved him a fall clear down to the bottom ofthe canyon.But there was this—another guy thatwasn’t quite so lucky. He was riding a—theyhad these big cableways across the top of thecanyon that were used to lower and raisethe buckets of cement that went down. Thecement plants were up on top of the canyon,and they would lower the batches of cementdown by these huge buckets. They were ona big hook, and they’d just lower ’em rightdown from the top of the canyon. And theguys used to ride these—ride the hook up anddown and pay no attention to it. It’s just likeconstruction on some of these skyscrapers.They never think anything of riding thosehooks. This fellow was on with a big bucketof cement. They were about—oh, they juststarted in to drop when the hook broke. Ashe was going down, he waved to the boysgoodbye, and they dug him out of about fouror five feet of dirt. He hit down at the bottomof the canyon, and just dug a big hole in there.They finally got him, but he, as I say, he neverwavered for a moment. He was just wavin’ theboys goodbye!And, another time down there, they hadwhat they called a monkey-slide, which was

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada49a sort of an elevator, an open-air elevator. Itwent up the side of the dam—or the face ofthe dam when they built the thing. There wereabout ten or twelve people that were on themonkey-slide, and it broke about halfway upthe face of the dam and dumped them downonto a lot of steel piled on end. It just impaledthree or four of these guys and bruised andinjured the other people that were on the slide.The river was running through thediversion tunnels around the dam site, at,oh, about twenty or thirty miles an hour. Thescaffolding on which two men were workingbroke and threw them down into the riverin the diversion tunnel some fifty feet below.They rode through the tunnel on the scaffolddebris and came out at the other end of thetunnel below the dam and never had a scratchon tern!So, those were some of the things thatwere done during the construction of thedam.There were a lot of fine people at theDam. I will never forget, one of them wasFrank Crowe, who, as I say, was the generalsuperintendent of the whole project. And oneof the strange things about the project wasthat the Six Companies had figured that theywere going to have to timber the diversiontunnels, which were about a thousand feet inlength, I guess. And when they got into it, itwas solid rock, and they didn’t have to use oneinch of timber. And on that thing alone, theysaved about a million dollars. So they madea pretty good profit on it.There was a fellow down there by thename of “River Joe” Whitney, who held therecord for arrests in the city of Las Vegas.Every time that he’d get a pay day, Joe’d comein and get drunk and get in a fight and windup in jail. And I think the last time he was injail, we counted 264 times he had been in jailduring the time he was here. They’d put himin jail over the weekend, over the pay day, andlet him out to go back to work. There was onetime that Joe was spending quite a term in thecity jail. I guess it was along toward the end ofhis career down here. And he was incarceratedfor about thirty days, and he became a trusty.He was walking by the Apache Bar, whichwas a bar back in the Apache Hotel, whichwas where the Horseshoe Club is now. Andhe was walking by the bar when he met afellow by the name of Marion Zionchek, whowas the congressman from Washington—thestate of Washington—who had been in theheadlines for quite some time previous withrather eccentric acts that he was putting onback in the halls of Congress; he was out herefor a vacation. And just as Joe was walkingby, Zionchek came out of the bar. Zionchekstopped Joe and asked him what he was doing,and Joe told him he was a trusty in jail, andZionchek wanted to know how he was gettingalong. “Well,” he said, “fine, but we’d get alonga lot better if we had some whiskey.”Zionchek went back into the bar andbought four or five bottles of whiskey andgave them to Joe. This was after the county hadmoved out of their portion of the jail, and thecity was operating the front part of the jail aswell as the back part. And all of the prisonerswho had been sentenced were sent up to thefront part of the jail. There were about sixor eight guys in there, so Joe smuggled thewhiskey into the jail cell, and before anybodyknew it, they were having a big, wild party,and everybody was getting drunk. They gotin a fight, and some way, Joe got his throat cutfrom ear to ear, but very fortunately, it wasonly a flesh wound. The jailer took him out tothe then county hospital and had him sewedup and brought him back. Joe recovered andwent back to work out at the Dam.And the last I heard of River JoeWhitney—I was quite well acquainted with

50 John F. Cahlanhim, because on my beat in the newspaper, Iused to give him a good write-up every timehe got put in jail, so he called me his publicityagent, and I got quite well acquainted withhim. And the last I heard of him, duringWorld War II, he was working on the Al-CanHighway. Prior to that time, he was workingon the dam project up by Redding, California.And I read in the paper where Joe and some ofthe B-girls in one of the bars got out in a townfountain and disrobed and started taking abath in the fountain. So he made himself abucket up in Redding, too.There was another guy by the name of“Pickpockets,” or we called him “Pickpockets”because of the fact that his hands were as largeas the ordinary man’s two hands. They wereso large that he couldn’t get them in a pocketif he had to. Me worked out at the dam also.And his demise was caused by his bettingsomebody at the bar that he could drink aquart of whiskey without taking it from hislips. He drank the quart of whiskey, but aboutten minutes later, he dropped dead. So thatwas the last of Pickpockets.I mentioned having been out at the siteat Boulder City with Walker Young andFrank Crowe when they were laying out thetown. Did they discuss with me what was intheir minds as they tried to put together thismodel city? Oh, yes. They had a large pieceof drawing paper. Crowe would draw theplan on the ground, alongside this piece ofdrawing paper, and Young would transfer itto the drawing paper. From these very roughdrawings, which they took to the engineersin the engineering department, the plot planfor Boulder City was drawn up.What kind of advice did they have inputting together what they figured wouldbe a model community? Well, for BoulderCity they had one street that ran at the topof the hill that overlooks the lake, which wasreserved for homes for all the executives of SixCompanies and the Bureau of Reclamation.The Bureau of Reclamation office wasplaced where it is now, on top of the hillthat overlooks the valley toward the lake.And then the streets were all drawn up, andthey showed where the dormitories—thetemporary dormitories—would go and wherethey would have the business district, a park,a school, and offices, and made a model cityout of it. If you could see the original plansthat were drawn for the town, you would saythat it was a model city, because they’ve gotthe main street and other streets running insort of circles out there, and it’s real, real good.Did they have any particular sociologicalideas about how this city ought to go together;more than just from an engineering standpoint?No, no, this was just engineering. As far as thesociology of the area is concerned, the onlything that wasn’t allowed was gambling andliquor, It was a government reservation; therewas no gambling and no liquor.A great deal of the time when they werebuilding the dam, they had a stockade rightat the edge of the reservation on the highwaythat led into Boulder City. And all cars wouldbe stopped and searched for liquor, and ifthere was any liquor found in the cars, they’dimpound the cars. Then those workmenwould have to come out and get ’em the nextday, or if they were drunk, they’d impoundthe cars, too. So that’s the way they kept ’emin line.Well, the chief of police, I guess it was,was Bud Bodell, who came here from Ely,where he was chief of police in Ely. Andhe became the law in Boulder City, and hesingle-handedly prevented a strike out there.The IWW boys were talking about strike andso forth, and there was a fellow out there bythe name of Red (I’ve forgotten what his lastname is now). But he was the leader of the

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada51outfit, and they had been in the AndersonCommissary eating breakfast, and they cameout and were talking strike, and Bud told thisRed, he said, “All right, you been out heretalking strike, now,” and he said, “You canwhup me, you go ahead ‘n take your strike. IfI whup you, then you git off the reservationand don’t come back,”And so Red says, “It’s okay with me.”So they got out there and fought for, oh,an hour, or an hour and a half, and just beatthe dickens out of each other, but Bud finallygot him to admit that he was whipped, and hewalked off the job and never came back. Ofcourse, they never had too much labor troubleout there—out there in the Dam— because itwas during the Depression; nobody was aboutto lose a job that was paying real good moneyat that time by any union activity. So theynever had any union problems out there at all.They did have several people out therewho were working in the tunnels whofiled suit against Six Companies because ofthe—oh, they charged that because of thecarbon monoxide gas that was in the tunnelsthat they had been seriously affected oneway or another. One guy charged that hehad lost his sexual powers because of thecarbon monoxide gas. The same attorneywas representing all of these clients, and hefigured that if he could win one suit, then theSix Companies would settle the rest of ’em. Sothe Six Companies decided, well, all right, ifwe’re going to fight this thing, we’re goin’ tofight the toughest one to beat, and they pickedthis one. The trial went on for weeks andweeks and weeks. Bud Bodell, who was theinvestigator for the Six Companies, tied thisguy up in knots because the plaintiff had goneto Los Angeles and made dates with women. Aspecial investigator followed the complainantto the hotels and listened in on conversationswith these women, proving the guy was justas potent as anybody could be. So he lost thecase. They had a parade of witnesses at thetrial and all these women that he had madeprogress with, and it was quite a case. Thecourt dismissed all the rest of the complaints.They never even tried to fight them.Entertainment and TourismIt was about the time the darn was started,that the Cornero brothers became interestedin the city of Las Vegas. And I might say thateverybody thought at the time that if therewere ever to be any nightclubs or anythingof that sort, they would be established on theBoulder Dam Highway, just outside of thecity of Las Vegas. And as a result, there wereseveral pretty nice nightclubs for the time thatwere out in the area of where Fremont Streetand Charleston Boulevard come togetheron the eastern edge of the community. Andthere was, well, the Green Shack was one ofthe best eating places in Las Vegas at the time,and you could go out there and get a largeT-bone steak and French fried potatoes andbiscuit and honey and dessert and coffee forabout a dollar and a .half. And there was theYucca Club, which was run by Paul Warner,who later became an assemblyman from LasVegas. And there was the L. A. Deer Parlor,the Bull Pen, the Red Mill. After the Corneroswere in here, there was a group that set up theColony Club, which was in operation duringWorld War II. I’ll get back to the Colony Clubwhen I talk about Nellis Air Force Base.But the Corneros decided that they weregoing to put in a nightclub, or resort hotel, inLas Vegas, and they chose a place out aboutwhere the Montgomery Ward store is now.That was way out in the country, as far as LasVegas was concerned back there in those days.Tony Cornero, at that time, was serving timein the federal penitentiary in Washington

52 John F. Cahlanon some sort of a charge, I guess it wasbootlegging or rum running. And Frankieand Louis, his two brothers, were up here incharge of construction.The story that went around the city ofLas Vegas at the time they came up here wasthat the then powers that be in the city of LasVegas promised them that if they would comeup and build the nightclub here in Las Vegas,that they could have exclusive rights to theprostitution. The city of Las Vegas would closedown prostitution on Block Sixteen, move itup to their hotel, and that they could set upgambling out there. At that time, gamblingwas not legal. But they could set up gamblingout there and run gambling, liquor, andprostitution exclusively in this area. So theygot the hotel started out there, and startedconstruction, and the city commissionersbacked off from closing off Block Sixteen andclosing all the bootlegging joints downtown.So, these powers that be, so-called, had toback off from their promise, if any, to theCorneros.And the Corneros weren’t averse to takinganybody for a ride. So one of the people whowas involved in the thing, who later became adistrict judge in the northern part of the stateof Nevada, disappeared, overnight. He wasa scapegoat for the other people who madethese promises. And the Corneros had to besatisfied because they had their place aboutthree quarters completed, and couldn’t pullout.It was quite an establishment. They hadthe gaming casino in the south wing of theclub room, and around the walls, they hadlittle parapets behind which sat guys with30-30 rifles. They had about four of them upthere, so that if anybody ever came in andstarted to heist the joint, they were ready totake care of ’em. One guard always sat there, allduring the time that the gambling was goingon. There was a bar right off the gamblingcasino, and the dining room was across thelobby from the gambling casino to the north.And this was the popular place for Las Vegansto go for as long as the place was open.When they had the opening night, Tonywasn’t here. He was still in Washington. ButFrankie and Louie were there in their tuxedos,and Mrs. Cornero, their mother, was there,too. Incidentally, their names were Stralla.That was their right names, and their aliaseswere Cornero. And everybody who went tothe opening that night had to wear a tux.Now this was in 1929, and there were veryfew people outside the members of the LasVegas Elks Lodge who had tuxes. So therewas a grand scurrying to get the tuxes in forthe opening. And that is the opening that setthe stage for all future openings in the city ofLas Vegas by the resort hotels.I became very well acquainted withFrankie Cornero. He was a real nice littleItalian guy. He was about five feet seveninches tall, and had a very dashing mustache,which he waxed. The last time I saw him—mywife and I went up to Mt. Charleston for aweekend, and as we went up to our cottageand were going in, Frankie was coming out.He had had the cottage for a couple of weeksand was just getting out on the weekend, andwe took it over. And we talked for a littlewhile, and he said goodbye. He then starteddriving down the hill and lost control of hisautomobile and was killed. So that was how Iknew Frankie Cornero.Getting back to the police station also, itwas over on Second Street behind what nowis the Horseshoe restaurant on the north sideof the alley that runs between Second Streetand First Street. This was a small building;the front of the building was operated byClark County as a county jail, and the backportion of the jail was known as the famous

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada53“Blue Room” of the city. It was a room, oh, Ishould judge it was about fifty by thirty, andhad very limited—and when I say limited, Ido mean limited—sanitary facilities. And itcould comfortably hold about, oh, twenty-fivepeople. And on Saturday nights, or on pay daynights, from the dam, they’d have as manyas a hundred or a hundred and fifty in there,stacked up like cordwood. And it was a realmess. If they had it today, Las Vegas probablywould be credited with being, oh, I don’t knowwhat, but, not favorable to anybody. I mean ifwe had had any Negro problem in the city ofLas Vegas like we have in the country today,we’d have had some real bad riots.Most of our colored people were living onNorth First Street, across the street from BlockSixteen, and I guess there were, oh, twentyfive,thirty people, maybe fifty, and they wereall part of the community. I can rememberseveral of the people. There was Art “Shorty”Hodges, who was the shoe shine boy at ArtHarris’s barber shop. He used to attend theAmerican Legion-sponsored prizefights overon Third Street by the courthouse and justhave a real big time; he was accepted by allof the local people. There wasn’t anybody inthe whole Negro population that wasn’t likedand respected in the community. MammyPinkston used to have what she called a“plantation kitchen” down on let’s see, it wasThird Street, I guess, between Ogden andStewart. The local people used to go there toget southern fried chicken, and it was. We hadno real problems with the colored people atthat time. They were a part of any celebrationthat we had in the community, and everythingwas all right.After World War II, it was quite evidentthat everybody in the United States was readyfor travel. I might digress for a moment bysaying that around 1938, a man by the nameof Tom Hull, who was a hotel man fromCalifornia, came to Las Vegas to visit, andwhen he was returning to Los Angeles, he gotout where El Rancho now stands and had aflat tire. While he was waiting for somebodyto come out and fix the flat tire, he noticedhow many automobiles were passing the siteand decided that he would build a motel inLas Vegas to take advantage of the touristtravel, which he was sure would become evengreater than it was at that time. So he puttogether a plan to build this motel. Then someof the local people suggested to him that, totake advantage of legalized gambling, that heshould build a gambling casino with motelrooms around it. And as a result, the HotelEl Rancho was constructed, where it stoodso many years before being burned down, asthe start of the Strip.Shortly after El Rancho was opened, aman by the name of D. W. Griffith, a Texas andOklahoma theater chain operator, came to LasVegas for a visit, and he saw the success ElRancho had had, so he decided that he wouldbuild a hotel and name it the Last Frontier.“The early West in modern splendor” as theslogan for his hotel. And he built the HotelLast Frontier on the site of the Hotel Frontierof the present day.The property which Griffith bought forthe Hotel Last Frontier had been developedin the Boulder Dam construction era, with. awell drilled to provide water and a nightclubbuilding erected there. The building was asubstantial one, but the nightclub was not asuccess in the dam era. Then Guy McAfee,who had come to Las Vegas from LosAngeles, and later was to become a big timeLas Vegas gambler, had leased the nightcluband operated it for a while as the “91 Club.”However, he had closed it before Griffithbecame interested in the property.Griffith incorporated the nightclubstructure with its large stone fireplace into

54 John F. Cahlanthe main hotel building, making it a bar areaand part of the gambling casino of his hotel.When Tommy Hull built his El Ranchoand opened it in 1940, all of the people in thecity of Las Vegas said the thing would nevergo because it was too far out of town. At thetime he started in 1939, the city of Las Vegasended at Fifth and Charleston Streets, andfrom there on in it was just mainly desert.The road out on the Strip—on what is nowknown as the Strip—was the two-lane pavedstate highway 91, leading to the Nevada-California state line. So when El Ranchobecame a success, and the Last Frontier wasconstructed, some of the people of Las Vegas,the same ones that were criticizing El Rancho,said that well, maybe one hotel might go, buttwo will—they’ll both go broke. And when“Bugsy” Siegel came in to put the FlamingoHotel clear out of town, “halfway to LosAngeles,” these same people said that he wasnuts and that all three hotels would go broke.And it’s been that way with every hotel thathas been built—they all would go broke—butI think the present day picture will show thatthe potential is still there.Tommy Hull undoubtedly was the fatherof tourism in the city of Las Vegas, becausethe movie stars and the people of Hollywoodfound Las Vegas was an excellent place torelax. And as a result, they used to come uphere. As the movie stars came, others cameto see the movie stars, and others came to seethe others, and pretty soon we had a real greattourist industry going on, which still is goingon and probably will go on forever.When the Flamingo Hotel was built, theChamber of Commerce and everybody justwelcomed the National Distillers’ money intothe development of the Flamingo Hotel. Andat that time, the community did not know, nordid the state know, that the money that wasin the National Distillers was the money thatMurder, Incorporated, had gone legitimatewith. They had bought the National Distillersso that they could pour their gang money intoa legitimate proposition. And, of course, atthat time, there was not enough gambling inthe state of Nevada so that there would not beany necessity for great controls. Most of thecontrols were left to the cities and countiesthemselves, and there was no need to go intothe background of any of these people, likethey do now.The front man for the National Distillerswas Benny Siegel, more commonly known as“Bugsy,” and he was one of the executionersfor Murder, Incorporated. I became quite wellacquainted with Benny, because he used togo up to the health club that was above theWesterner on Fremont Street, between Mainand First Street. It was run by Lenny Shafer,who now is the vice president of the HaciendaHotel. Benny and I used to meet in the steamroom of Lenny’s health club a couple of timesa week, and as I say, I became quite wellacquainted with him.At the time, the county commissionershad not been approached for a license forthe Flamingo Hotel. I had learned from oneof the members of the county commissionersthat he was going to vote against the licensefor the hotel. And I told Benny that he wasgonna have to do some homework and fencemending, and I told him who the member ofthe county commission was, and he asked meif I could arrange a meeting between him andthis county commissioner. I told him I would,and so I brought this county commissioner upto the health club, which had an office in front,and introduced him to Benny Siegel. I did notstay for the meeting that they had, but at thenext meeting of the county commissioners, apermit for gambling and liquor was issued toBenny Siegel for the Flamingo Hotel. I merelystate that I left the meeting; I don’t know what

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada55went on, but I do know that they got theirpermit, so that’s that.Well, I might say that Benny Siegelprobably was one of the most—he was avery dapper chap, very good looking, darkcomplexion, deep colored eyes—I’ve forgottenwhether they were brown or black—blackhair; and he was very careful about his dressand his whole body. He was very perturbedwhenever he got a blemish on his body at all,a pimple on his face, or some skin eruptionon his body, or something of that sort. And Icouldn’t help but think when I saw a pictureof Benny Siegel after he had been shot in theBeverly Hills residence of his girl friend, withhis one eye dangling down, where the bullethad knocked his eye out, and his face wasall over blood, and I thought, at the time, “IfBenny could only see himself now,” because hewas so careful about his personal appearance,and the picture didn’t do him justice.I think that one of the last times that I sawBenny was at the Flamingo Hotel when hisgirl friend, Virginia Hill, and he entertaineda group of businessmen, all of the city of LasVegas. There was myself and my wife, and mybrother and his wife, and Mr. Frank Garsideand his wife, and a couple of city officialswho were entertained by Benny. And I canremember Benny coming down to the dinnerin a shirt with no tie on, and no jacket on.Virginia met him at the door and just raisedthe dickens with him, because he was thehost of a party of local people and showed upwithout a tie and a coat on. She sent him—chased him—back up to the suite to get acoat and tie.My wife sat alongside of Virginia Hill atthe dinner party. She told me afterwards thatshe was a typical mob moll. In fact, she got theimpression that Virginia might have been aprostitute. And this is the reputation that shehad—that she was one of the best prostitutesin the whole Murder, Incorporated outfit,and Benny Siegel had glommed onto her andmade her his. That party was about a weekbefore Benny was murdered in Beverly Hills.George Raft was a very good friend ofBenny’ s, and he came up for the opening ofthe Flamingo Hotel and was one of the bigstars at the opening, which incidentally—andin all due respect to Benny Siegel—the LasVegas tourist trade and the availability of goodaccommodations were publicized nationallyas a result of Benny Siegel coming into LasVegas and the Flamingo Hotel. There isn’t anydoubt in the world that the National Distillersand Murder, Incorporated, had connectionswith the press all over the United States, andthe opening of the Flamingo Hotel drewpeople from all over the eastern part of thenation and gave exposure to Las Vegas andits resort industry as a direct result of theconstruction of the Flamingo Hotel. Prior tothat time, the Last Frontier and El RanchoVegas had become known regionally, mostlyin Hollywood and Los Angeles. The Flamingocertainly gave rise to national publicity.Then, after the Flamingo came the DesertInn and Thunderbird, then the old Bingo Clubwas turned into the Sahara. Then the hotelscame so fast and furiously that I lost track ofthe sequence in which they came. However,the original tourist area along the Strip was ElRancho, the Last Frontier, and the Flamingo.Then the others came along until now, you seewhat we’ve got on the Strip. When I first cameto Las Vegas, the property out on where theStrip is now could’ve been bought for twentyfivedollars an acre or for taxes. Now, the landis selling for thousands of dollars a front foot.People would always ask me why I didn’tcash in on all of that boom that went on outon the Strip. My only answer is that when Ifirst came down here, there was a Depression,and who’d have had twenty-five dollars? The

56 John F. Cahlansecond answer is, sure, I could’ve picked thestuff up for let’s say a hundred dollars an acre.If somebody’d come along two or three yearslater and offered me five hundred dollars anacre, I would have said, “Look what a suckerI’ve got!” Because there was no developmentout there on the Strip up until 1939, ’40, and,as I said before, who knew the hotels weregoing to develop out there? It wasn’t the guythat made the first investment in propertyout there that made the money; it was aboutthe fourth or fifth turnover. Because you payfifty dollars an acre for it, you sell it for ahundred, the next guy sells it for two hundred,and the next guy sells it for five hundred, andeverybody’s made money and everybody’shappy. This thousand dollars a front footout there certainly did not obtain during thetime that we were growing up in the city ofLas Vegas.And, then there is the fact that nobodyever told us we were going to get old whenwe were in—around the 1930’s and ’35.Tomorrow was a long way off, next weekwas further, and next year didn’t ever seemto come. Who put away anything for a rainyday in those days? If you lived a good life andhad three square meals a day and a good time,that was all that was necessary. And as I say,nobody ever told us we were going to get old.So that’s about the story as far as thedevelopment of the Strip is concerned. It’svery interesting to know these people whodeveloped the Strip. I might call attentionespecially to William J. Moore, “Bill” Moore,who was the builder of the Last Frontier.He was Griffith’s nephew, and a graduatearchitect. Be laid out the plans for the LastFrontier, which was a long, rambling buildingwith a center lobby and rooms to the rear andthrough the—you left the lobby and went tothe south into the main dining room—theRamona Room. And this was the—the placeto be for any event in the, oh, between 1941and after the War. A lot of wedding receptionswere held there, dinner parties for luminaries,the Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club met atthe Last Frontier Hotel. The Carillo Room,which was named for Leo Carillo, was a veryintimate little bar with a fireplace at the endof it, and this was the fireplace I was talkingabout when they gave the Christmas party forthe kids out at the air base. Then the gamblingcasino was in between the Carillo Room andthe Horn Room.The Horn Room was the farthest southof any of the rooms in the hotel. And thiswas called the Horn Room because it wasdecorated with horns of all types—longhornsteers and, oh, all kinds of animal horns werescattered around the walls of the room. Andat the west end of the room was a huge muraldepicting a card game with the worst-lookinghag a man has ever seen either intimatelyor portrayed on canvas, who had a bottle ofwhiskey in her hand and a glass in the other,indicating that she was nothing more thanan alcoholic. What happened was, the guywho painted the mural had indicated thatthis was his wife. And this was the way thathe got even with her, because he exposed herto the eyes of all the people who came in tothe Last Frontier barroom. And it was quitea mural, and dominated the entire room,despite the fact that it was decorated all overwith the horns.As I started to say, Bill Moore built thehotel, and after it was finished, he remainedhere to manage the hotel. He made a realgreat success of the thing, and at the time,he was probably the number one citizen ofClark County. He was elected president ofthe Chamber of Commerce twice, and as Isay, he was an outstanding gentleman. Andit only goes to show how fickle fame may be,because Bill got himself mixed up with some

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada57unfortunate investments. After Mr. Griffithdied, the other members of the Griffith familywere opposed to operating the hotel andgambling. They said that they were theateroperators and didn’t know anything aboutoperating a hotel, so they sold the hotel. But itjust went down and down and changed handsfour or five times.And one of the tragedies of the LastFrontier Hotel was that in the Ramona Room,there was some very beautiful stonework. TheHopi Indians from Arizona were brought inhere to put the stonework in place, and it wasbeautifully done. It was—all one wall was thisstonework and when the new owner, JakeKozloff, came into the picture, he couldn’tstand the stonework, so he painted it. I’veforgotten whether he painted it white, or whatit was, but he just ruined the most beautifulpiece of stonework that was ever in the cityof Las Vegas.And also in the Horn Room, they had thebar that came out of the Arizona Club, whichwas one of the places on Block Sixteen—thatwas the largest place on Block Sixteen. Andthe bar that they had there was a beautifulmahogany bar, and the back bar was beautifulmahogany, carved, and it was, oh, about,maybe fifty, seventy-five feet long. And theback bar, of course, had the mirrors in it,and it was a typical, old Western bar. It hadbeen specially made and brought by trainfrom New York City in 1905 when Las Vegasbecame a town. The Arizona Club on NorthFirst Street was the first permanent buildingin Las Vegas, and as I say, it was a beautifulbar. And the front of the entrance to the HornRoom was leaded, beveled glass, colored glass,from the front of the Arizona Club. And whenKozloff got control of the Last Frontier, he notonly painted the Ramona Room stonework,but he also covered over the bar with a dirty,dun-colored paint that just killed the beautyof the bar of highly polished mahogany. I don’tknow where the bar is now. We did have apossibility that when they tore down that partof the Frontier to build the present Frontier,that we would get the bar for a museumeither in Carson City or Reno. But MauriceFriedman, who built the building—or, builtthe Frontier—put the kibosh on ever lettingthat out to anybody. And he, I suppose, hasit. That he did with it, I don’t know.Las Vegas Valley Water ProblemsNow, one of the greatest questions thatI am asked, as managing director of theSouthern Nevada Industrial Foundation bythese people that might be coming in to thestate is, “What is your water situation?” Well,our water situation at the present time is okay.It hasn’t been, in the past.And to get into the past history of thewater situation in the state of Nevada, or insouthern Nevada, I might say that even thepioneers in this area—Kit Carson and JohnC. Fremont and those early travelers intothe Las Vegas area, found this to be a largeartesian basin. The word las vegas in Spanishmeans “the meadows,” “the green plains.” Andthis came about because of two large naturalsprings which fed a large stream which flowedfrom west to east in the Las Vegas Valley area.When the San Pedro-Los Angeles-Salt LakeRailroad established Las Vegas in 1905 as adivision point on the new railroad line, thecompany formed a subsidiary known as theLas Vegas Land and Water Company. TheBig Springs were tapped for the communitywater supply and wooden pipes carried theflow to the business and housing district in“Clark’s Original Townsite,” which was LasVegas proper, now the downtown area. As thetown grew, wells were drilled in the vicinityof the Springs and reservoirs were erected to

58 John F. Cahlanincrease the water supply from the artesianbasin.The springs and wells are located outwhere the Las Vegas Valley Water Districtoffices are, out west of town, approximately amile and a half from the railroad underpass.And these were bubbling springs; I mean thatthe water came to the surface with powerfulforce. The story is told that the Indiansused to take their youngsters out to the BigSprings and throw them into the water, andthe children would not sink, and wouldbounce around on the surface of the water.So the water has been there for many, manycenturies.There are many theories as to wherethe water comes from. One of them whicheverybody knows who has read anythingabout the state of Nevada is that there aretwo sinks, Humboldt Sink and Carson Sink,in the northern part of the state. These sinksnever rise or never fall. They stay about thesame level despite the fact that there areseveral streams that empty into these sinks.And some people feel that water from theHumboldt Sink and the Carson Sink comesthrough aquifers, down, running southwardthrough the Amargosa Desert and form theAmargosa River. The Amargosa River—usedto be, that is— it used to run along the top ofthe ground for maybe four or five miles, andthen disappear and be gone for five or sixmiles, and then reappear, and then disappearagain. That’s one theory of the source of thewater that comes in to the underground tablehere.I do know that Dr. William S. Parkhad a theory on the source. He was quitean archaeologist, collected Indian artifactsand knew this area very, very well. Dr. Parktold Jimmy Down, who now is a real estateman in the city of Las Vegas but at thattime was president of the Junior Chamberof Commerce, that he had found a cavesomewhere around here in which, when youwent in a certain distance, you could hear theroar of a river. And he was certain that thiswas an underground river that was flowinginto this area, and whether the river went intothe Colorado River or where it went, nobodyknew. He never did show anybody where thisriver was.However, just recently, there were twokids who went out to the Ash Meadows areaand entered what was called Devil’s Hole.And they were scuba divers, and went downto investigate what was down underneathin the Devil’s Hole, and never came back. Itwas impossible to recover their bodies, eventhough other scuba divers from this areawent up there and explored all of the fingersof this Devil’s Hole. They came back with theinformation that this is a tremendous area,filled with water, and there were fingers thatdart off in all directions. And it is somethingthat nobody knows where the water comesfrom; nobody knows where it goes, but it’sthere.Another theory, of course, is that theunderground basin here is fed by the runofffrom Charleston Mountains. Well, to me,this doesn’t make sense, because certainly, ofcourse, the springs in Charleston Mountainsthat might be fed by the snow on Charlestonfluctuate with the depth of the snow in thewintertime. However, Devil’s Hole and therest of these places never fluctuate. They’restill there, no matter how or what the snowfallis. So I don’t know where the water comesfrom. However, that is neither here nor there.We were very highly blessed with havingan artesian basin in the city of Las Vegasand in this valley. The San Pedro-Salt LakeRailroad, now the Union Pacific, chose thiscommunity as a division point on the railroadmainly because of the Big Springs and the

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada59availability of water for their steam engines,steam engines being in use at that time. Thiswas a very good division point—from SanBernardino to Las Vegas, and then from LasVegas to Milford, and Milford to Ogden. Sothat is why the Los-Angeles-San Pedro-SaltLake Railroad chose this as a division point.And that goes to the foundation of the cityof Las Vegas.In 1905, in May, it was May 15, 1905,the L. A., San Pedro, and Salt Lake Railroadheld an auction in Las Vegas in which lotsin the Clarks Original Townsite would go tothe highest bidder. The lots along FremontStreet were sold for $225-$250. Of course, atthat time in 1905, $250 was a lot of money.However, when you now figure that they’renow selling for $250 or more a front foot, itmakes a big difference.To supply the residents of the new town,the Union Pacific Railroad set up the LasVegas Land and Water Company, of whichWalter Bracken was made the manager. Andthe railroad company laid the mains andlaterals in the downtown area to serve the thengrowing community. And the mains were allwooden mains, and this developed into quitea problem later on when the wood started torot and leaks would appear in the woodenpipe and break down streets and flood houses,and so forth and so on. This was quite a dealin the early days. And incidentally, nobodykept a record of where the mains were afterthey were laid, because it wasn’t important asthere weren’t very many people being servedby the mains.The Las Vegas Land and Water Companymaintained its control on the water supply inthe city of Las Vegas until, oh, about 1940,when it was decided that the town was gettingso large that the Union Pacific couldn’t financethe water company because of the expandingnecessity for laterals and mains and new wells.I might say that the water was supplied upto that time from the Big Springs and wellsup where the Las Vegas Land and WaterCompany offices are now. And the city of LasVegas was expanding so fast that the UnionPacific just wasn’t about to take on the job ofsupplying the city of Las Vegas with water.So the Las Vegas Valley Water District wasformed at that time, and they took over thewater system. Well, the wooden mains at thattime were getting so rotten, and they’d breakout often, causing floods and so forth, So thefirst job of the Las Vegas Valley Water Districtwas to put in mains and laterals to take careof the area that had been served by the LasVegas Land and Water Company. This hadto be done despite the fact that when the LasVegas Valley Water District was formed as apublic corporation, it was supposed to be runby the revenues from the water distributionand sale.The city of Las Vegas continued to expand,and there was a necessity for bringing inwater from Lake Mead. And this is where theforesight of Johnny Mueller and Al Cahlan ofthe Colorado River Commission and HowardEells, builder of the Basic Magnesium,Incorporated, plant at Henderson, came in.When They were building the pipeline intoBasic from Lake Head, they decided it wouldbe necessary to bring in water from LakeMead to Las Vegas to take care of the growingdemand for water.The fact of the matter is, that after—orthe first four or five years that the WaterDistrict was in business here, we had waterrationing. And you could water your lawns,one side of the street one day, and the otherside, the next. And they were quite strict inenforcing the thing, because water was reallyshort. And that was the time when they werestill using swamp coolers and practicallyevery home in the city of Las Vegas had a

60 John F. Cahlanswamp cooler—including the business housesdowntown. And those swamp coolers used alot of water. And it was about that time, too,that the people in the city of Las Vegas becameinterested in lawns and gardens. And thisincreased the demand on water.So it was decided that they were going tohave to bring water in from Lake Mead and inorder to do so, they put meters— they startedmetering the water—and there was a real bigscream about metering water because, priorto the time that the Las Vegas Valley WaterDistrict went into operation, the Union Pacificwas supplying water for the people of the cityof Las Vegas at a flat rate of three dollars amonth, no matter how much was used. Andthis was quite a deal for a desert country whenyou-could get your water for three dollars amonth. So it was decided that they would putmeters on, despite the fact that the peoplewere squawking.The first meter formula zoomed waterbills to around forty or fifty dollars a monthfor some people in the city of Las Vegas. Andfinally, George Ullom, who was on the WaterBoard and later became city manager of LasVegas, worked out a formula for water basedon a flat rate plus additional gallonage. Thisstarted in to equalize the water rates in theentire community, and it has been effectiveever since it was first promulgated. And whilewater bills in Las Vegas appear to be quitehigh, they are generally equitable with otherdesert areas.I have a large area of cultivated ground.I’ve got a hundred and eight feet across thefront and about a hundred feet deep in lawn,and then another hundred and eight feet withabout thirty feet deep in lawn. So that’s quitean area. My water bill in the summertime willrun twenty or twenty-two dollars, which isnot bad for all that irrigation and in the desertcountry, because water is the lifeblood of anydesert country, and if you want to make itbloom, you’ve got to use water.After the Las Vegas Valley Water Districtgot in operation and got the new mains laid,the service was much better, and everybodybecame cognizant of the fact that the WaterDistrict was doing a pretty good job ofkeeping ahead of the growth of the city of LasVegas. And now, we are faced with continuinggrowth, and if the population of this valleydoes grow to a million people in 1980, we’regoing to have to have more water. And that iswhy the Southern Nevada Water Project waspromoted before Congress by Senators Bibleand Cannon.Now this project calls for establishing anadditional pumping facility on the lake, atLake Mead, and driving a tunnel through themountain out there by the lake and runningthe pipeline through the tunnel and downinto the valley area and pumping it up into theLas Vegas section. It’s an eighty-one milliondollarproject, and the contract for the firstphase of it was let in 1968, and is underway atthe present time. This will bring enough waterinto the valley to take care of our needs untilabout the year 2000. After that, who knows?The state of Nevada is guaranteed 300,000acre feet of water out of Lake Mead under adivision of waters approved by the SupremeCourt; and the 300,000 acre feet of water hasbeen— it has been said that this will take careof us until the year 2000 unless there are someunforeseen, large developments. And so ourwater problems are in the future. After theyear 2000, who knows?There is a program underway or understudy now to link Alaska, Canada, the UnitedStates, and Mexico into a giant water diversiondeal where rivers on the west side of theRockies would be diverted into storage lakesin various areas, one in the northern part ofthe state of Nevada, and the other one at Lake

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada61Mead, and the rivers on the eastern side of theRockies would be dumped into the reservoirsthat will supply all that area. It’s somethingthat’s going to take a lot of work, but I thinkthat the necessity for water is going to sendthese people to the realization that we’ve gotto assist each other in this water thing, if weare to survive. There’s a lot of water that’ srunning from Alaska into the Bering Sea thatis wasted. There’s a lot of water that’s runningfrom the Columbia River into the PacificOcean that is wasted. Whether the politiciansof these areas can ever be convinced that theyshould share their water is something for thepoliticians to determine. But I am sure as theUnited States faces the proposition of eitherdrying up or sharing water that they’d do thelatter. By the year 2000, we may have enoughwater down here to take care of a populationof five million people—if we can get water inhere, five million is not out of the realm ofpossibility.Nellis Air Force BaseIt was just before the outbreak of WorldWar II, about 1939, that the interest of theUnited States Army Air Corps becameintense in the area for the development of anaerial gunnery school. To get the full pictureof the development of the aerial gunneryschool, we will have to get into the politicalsituation in the city of Las Vegas, which wasvery interesting and probably one of the mosttroublesome negotiation periods that I haveever entered into.Along about 1938, a new mayor of the cityof Las Vegas was elected in the person of JohnL. Russell, who was practically unknown. Andhe entered the political arena as a candidatefor mayor against Ernie Cragin and anothercandidate whose name skips my mind. Butanyway, the split between Ernie Cragin andthis other man put Johnny Russell in as mayorof the city of Las Vegas. It was only a coupleof meetings after he was sworn in that it wasevident that there was going to be a greatrift develop between the mayor and the citycommission.All of the members of the city commissionwere old timers in the city of Las Vegas,and had played a great part developing thecommunity. Russell seemed to desire tobe a dictator, and whatever he said wouldhave to go, despite the fact that there was nounanimity on the part of the city commission.The commission at that time was composedof C. V. T. Gilbert, Joe Ronnow, Al Corradetti,and the fourth member was Harve Perry. Asa result of the constant bickering, Corradetti,Gilbert, and Ronnow resigned as membersof the city commission, and the mayor tookit upon himself to find their successors.(Corradetti withdrew his resignation and wasreappointed.) And the men appointed wereCharles R. “Pat” Clark, Bill Gore, and RobertJ. Kaltenborn.Shortly after the announcement ofthe replacements was made, the originalcity commission members rescinded theirresignations, and Mayor Russell refused torecognize the withdrawal of the resignations.So at the time, there were two boards of citycommissioners acting on behalf of the cityof Las Vegas, and the two commissions werefighting desperately at all times.It was into this double city commissionsituation that the Army Air Force came tostart negotiations for the air base site, whichwas located where Nellis Air Force Base isnow located. The field was being used byWestern Air Express as a commercial air field.It was necessary for the owner of the air field,who was P. A. “Pop” Simon, a very highlyrespected citizen of Las Vegas, who ownedthe place; Western Air Express who leased

62 John F. Cahlanit; and the city of Las Vegas, who wanted topurchase it, to get into a three-cornered fightfor the ownership of the area. It was necessaryfor the Army to send in the negotiatorsto whip out all of the details necessary fortransfer of ownership to the United Statesgovernment. Simon was perfectly willing tosell the property; Western Air was convincedthat it would be for the best interests for notonly the city of Las Vegas but the air linesas well to share the air field with the federalgovernment, providing the city of Las Vegaswould give title to another airport that couldbe used after the Air Force kicked ’em off theair field that was being used.So it was necessary to find a new site foran airport in the city of Las Vegas. At thattime, Robert B. “Bob” Griffith, Al Corradetti,and I were very instrumental in selecting thenew site for the new airport to be provided forWestern Air. There were three sites suggested.One was in the western section of the cityabout where the present North Las VegasAirport is located; the second one was downat the bottom of the hill where Fremont andCharleston come together, where the cityowned some land; and the third site was wherethe present McCarran Field stands. The CAAwas brought into the picture, and after a greatdeal of survey, decided that the McCarranAir Field site was the best for the general useof Western Air. It must be remembered thatat the time, Western Air was the only air linethat was using the old McCarran Field whereNellis Air Force Base is now.Then it became necessary for the federalgovernment to come in here and negotiatewith the city of Las Vegas for the operationof the air field where Nellis is. They sent inengineers, and their lowest grade was a major,and the top grade was a major general. Andfor four or five days, these people met withthe two city commissions. And every step ofthe way, it took action on the part of both citycommissions to work out the leases.Al Corradetti was a member of bothcommissions as he originally withdrew hisresignation before the others did and wasreplaced on the original board. And heworked as a liaison man between the twoboards.One board would meet in the east end ofthe city hall, which then was in the old librarybuilding on the grounds of the courthouse,and the other commission would meet at thewest end, with Mayor Russell in the middle.And every step, as I say, every step of the way,the two commissions acted on the terms ofthe lease, and at last, the lease was workedout, and both city commissions signed, andthe mayor signed the lease. And I think ifyou go back to the archives of the Army AirForce, you’ll see the lease that was signed byboth commissions.And for the first time in many, manymonths, at the conclusion of the lease signing,the two commissions plus the Air Force, orArmy Air Force officers, got together at theGreen Shack for a celebration of the signing ofthe lease. And it was one of the wildest partiesthat had been put on in the city of Las Vegasfor many, many months.After the lease was signed, the Air Forcesent the original cadre to Las Vegas to startconstruction of the gunnery school. MartinesStenseth was the commanding officer. He wasa colonel at the time, and he brought in as hisstaff officers Major Herbert “Andy” Anderson,Major Robbie Robertson, Captain HarveyHuglin, Lieutenant Robert “Bob” Gardner,Major Swanson, and Captain Harry Billings.And they established headquarters in thebasement of the post office building at theend of Third Street.It was my privilege to be in on thedevelopment of the gunnery school from

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada63the very first, as I was the “unofficial” housingofficer of the city of Las Vegas. When theoriginal cadre came in to Las Vegas, theycame into the Review-Journal office and wereinquiring for housing. They wanted to putads in the paper regarding housing facilities.As I was interested in the development of theoriginal lease on the airport, I became veryinterested in the establishment of the gunneryschool. It was about the time, in the latespring, when school was letting out, and veryfortunately, many of the teachers in the cityschools (which were not nearly as large as theyare now—the schools, I’m talking about) wereleaving for their summer vacations or furthereducation—educational activity in otheruniversities—and houses were being leased orrented for the summer term, while they weregone to pursue their summer activities. In thisway, we had about a three months’ break andgot the entire cadre established in residencesin the city of Las Vegas. Those who were notestablished there were Colonel Stenseth, MajorAnderson and Major Robertson, who werestaying at El Rancho, and they remained at ElRancho during their entire stay in the city ofLas Vegas. However, the others were placedin homes that could be rented in the summer,and that gave us three months to look for newplaces as they developed. And then, too, therewere some homes being built out at the air base.But all during the time that the peoplewere here during the War, there was noproblem as far as housing was concerned.It was quite interesting that, if a colonel wastransferred out of Las Vegas to some otherpost, the lieutenant colonel would move intothe colonel’s house, a major would move intothe lieutenant colonel’s house, a captain wouldmove into the major’s house, and it’d go cleardown to the second lieutenant. And on eachmove, they would have better quarters, ofcourse.It was quite interesting that thedevelopment of the gunnery school was notfinanced, or the equipment was not financed,through the federal government. About theonly thing that the government did was tobuild the base. Of course, the runways were inand there were some buildings out there. Butthey just built the buildings for the housingof the troops, and as far as equipment wasconcerned, there was no appropriation madefor equipment, except, of course, the airplanesthat were brought in here.The gunnery school started their studentsthrough a routine that—it was a flexiblegunnery school, and it was meant to trainguards for the big flying fortresses that werebeing used in World War II. The trainingstarted with B-B guns, worked on through .22rifles, then on to skeet and shotguns, and fromshotguns up to machine guns—fifty-calibermachine guns. In this way, the students weretaught how to hit (1) slowly moving targets,and then moving up to faster moving targets,and into the fifty-caliber machine gun type.There was quite a drive on in the city ofLas Vegas for B-B guns and .22 rifles andskeet guns. And the citizens of the city of LasVegas provided most of the guns that wereused in the early training of the students.Of course, after the base got going out there,appropriations were made to take care of suchequipment, but it was quite a crash program,because they needed gunners for the airplanesflying over Germany. And they had to getunder way, and this was the only way thatthey could do it.The skeet guns were used by the studentswho were loaded into trucks and driven past astill target, so that they could practice on theirfiring, simulating a moving target. However,the target was stationary, and the vehiclewas moving. But it turned out to be quite atraining gimmick. And the entire operation—

64 John F. Cahlanearly operation—of the gunnery school outthere was one of innovation.Harvey Huglin, who was the gunnerytraining officer and a West Point graduate inengineering, was the main moving force indeveloping all of these training gadgets thatthey had at the base. One of the things thathe did was to set up a small railroad in theopen spaces to the west of the gunnery school,which was a flat railroad track upon whicha moving target was placed and ran aroundthe track in circles. The railroad engineerssaid that he’d never make it because the turnswere too sharp, not banked, and so forth, buthe made the thing work when everybody saidit just wouldn’t work. The students would bestationed along the track, and as the railroadcar that was the target went around the track,they would fire with the machine gun bullets,and this was another simulated moving target.Then, in the later, oh, the later days ofthe war, they built out on the western edgeof the base a covey of B-29’s— simulated, ofcourse, in wood. And it was a formation offour B-29’s, simulated, and a small airplanewould fly around in between the simulatedairplanes—the B-29’s—and the gunnerystudents would fire camera “bullets” at thesmall Piper Cub airplane, and their score keptas a result of the pictures that were taken andhits that were made on the Piper Cub. Whileit was not as satisfactory as the later trainingwhich developed in air-to-air combat withpictures, camera, and guns, it was about assatisfactory as you could find for training inthose early days.At the time they were flying P-38’s over atthe air base, and everybody thought that thatwas the latest thing and the last developmentof the airplane. They were the fastest and mosteasily maneuverable, and the fliers who flewthem said that they were the hottest things inthe air. Well, of course, now you’ve got yourjets that’re doing mach two and coming up tomach three, and they think nothing about it.And thinking back, Huglin and someof the rest of the pilots at the air base usedto talk about how they were going to breakthe barrier of sound and what would happenwhen they did. We, today, know that there isno problem, that they just go through barrierof sound and have a sonic boom, and that’sit. But in those days, there were very manyschools of thought as to what would happenwhen they broke the sound barrier. One of’em was that it would be just like running intoa brick wall and they didn’t know whetherthey could ever get through it. Huglin alwaysmaintained that there would be no problem,and that it would develop just the way ithas. Others said that when they were goingthrough the sound barrier, the plane probablywould shake itself to pieces, and the pilotwould have to come down in a parachute. Ithink that Huglin probably knew more aboutit than anybody else and did predict that theway it is now was what would happen.Henderson and BMIAt about the same time that the training forthe air base was going on, it became necessaryto find some place for the production ofmagnesium for incendiary bombs for theconduct of the war in Germany. The plantin England, which had been supplying mostof the magnesium to the governments, wasunder constant threat of bombing by theGermans, and it was necessary to attemptto find some place in the United States todevelop the magnesium. There were severalsites under consideration, but the most logicalone seemed to be out on the flats betweenLas Vegas and Boulder City. Howard Eells,who was the head of the Basic Refractoriesin Cleveland, Ohio, had some ore deposits

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada65around Gabbs, which he was certain couldbe used for the manufacture of magnesium.And he got the contract for development ofthe magnesium plant. He decided on the siteat what now is Henderson.And it was quite interesting that the plantat Henderson, as it stands now, was copiedfrom the plant in England. Blueprints ofthe plant in England were dispatched to theUnited States—one set of plans by submarine,one by boat, and one by airplane, so that it wascertain that one of the three vehicles wouldbring the plans safely to the United States. It’squite interesting that two of the three plansgot to the United States—the one by thesubmarine and the one by the airplane, but theplans that were carried by boat are somewheredown in the bottom of the Atlantic now. Theboat was sunk by a German submarine.But the plant was started out at Hendersonabout 1940. At the time the Basic Magnesiumplant needed a great deal of water. So thefederal government built a water line fromLake Mead to Henderson and the plant. Atthe time, the plant was using only so muchwater—I’ve forgotten the gallonage, acre feet,or whatever it was. But my brother, who wasthen on the Colorado River Commission,and Mr. Eells got together. And they came upwith a plan that, if they were going to buildthe pipeline from the lake to the Basic plant,that they might as well build it large enoughso that in the future if the Las Vegas Valleyneeded water, the pipeline from the lake tothe plant would be available and that thecompany that would be supplying the LasVegas Valley with water would be able to tapon to the line at Henderson. This proved to bequite a visionary step, because at the presenttime, or just after the War, it was apparentthat the underground water that was servingLas Vegas was not going to be sufficient forthe growth of the population, and that it wasnecessary to hook on to the line. And thecity of Las Vegas, or the Las Vegas Valley, didnot have to pay for the pumping facilitiesout of the lake into the Henderson line, andthe line was large enough to take care of theimmediate needs of a growing Las Vegas. Allthat the valley had to do was to pay for the linefrom Henderson into the Las Vegas Valley.Well, they were building the plant atHenderson. The McNeil ConstructionCompany from Los Angeles, headed byLawrence G. McNeil, won the contract forconstruction of the plant. They’d gotten abouttwo-thirds finished with the administrationbuilding, which was the heart of the plantitself, and necessary for the operation of theplant, when a fire broke out and destroyed theentire constructed part of the office building.It was very complicated at that time. Atelephone switchboard was in the plant andwas also destroyed by fire and it was quite atragedy because during the War, there weren’tvery many of those switchboards available.And this one had been made especially for theBasic Magnesium plant, and it was destroyedby fire. However, as the McNeil ConstructionCompany moved in—the embers were noteven cooled yet, but they moved in—withtheir bulldozers and everything and clearedthe debris away in a twenty-four-hourworking day, and then started rebuildingthe administration building. They workedtwenty-four hours a day, around the clock,to reconstruct the building. At the sametime, the government was looking for a newswitchboard to take care of the telephoneexchange in the administration building.The reason that the switchboard was of suchgreat import was the fact that the seat ofgovernment in Washington had to be kept incontact with the local plant to determine theorders, and so forth, that were necessary toget the magnesium for the bouts.

66 John F. CahlanThe McNeil Construction Company setall kinds of construction records during therebuilding of the administration building.And when it was dedicated, it was onlyabout three weeks late, which was quite anaccomplishment in construction work. Threeweeks after the original scheduled finishingdate, the new building was up and dedicated.Many of the local people were employedat the Basic plant. One of the reasons for theincrease in the Negro population in the cityof Las Vegas was that the federal governmentofficials, having heard of the heat situationin Las Vegas during the summertime, wereconvinced that the white people couldn’tstand working in the Basic Magnesium plant,and many colored people were recruited forjobs in the plant. It’s a little hard to understandhow the federal government figured thepeople of the city of Las Vegas had lived in thearea from 1905 until 1940 and seemed to haveno trouble, but that’s the way they figured.They brought in the Negroes, mostly fromaround the Tallulah, Alabama area. From apopulation of about a hundred and fifty, theNegro group grew to around two thousand.And as the Negroes came here and worked,they sent back for other members of theirfamily, because Las Vegas was, they figured,such a nice place to live—as have the majorityof other people who came here to make theirhome. And as a result, there has been a steadyincrease of the Negro population, along witha steady increase of the white population inLas Vegas.After the war was ended, or the Germanpart of the war was ended, there became lessand less need for the magnesium. And as aresult, the operation was phased out. And theGeneral Services Administration was givenorders to cannibalize the plant—sell it to thehighest bidder for junk.However, John Mueller and my brother, A.E. Cahlan, who were on the Colorado RiverCommission at the time, decided that thiswould be a very fine deal if the state of Nevadacould purchase the property from the federalgovernment and turn it into a chemical plant.This was negotiated through the efforts of PatMcCarran, mainly, and the plant was sold tothe state of Nevada for one dollar. GovernorVail Pittman and Lieutenant GovernorClifford A. Jones also played an importantpart in the negotiations for the purchase ofthe plant by the state. The estimated value ofthe plant would be paid off when, as, and ifthe state of Nevada got lessees for the variousplant areas. As a result of negotiations byMueller and Mr. Henderson, who was thenconnected with the GSA and after whom thecity of Henderson was named, [we] attractedseven of the better chemical outfits in theUnited States to come in and take over theproperty. This was based on a very favorableelectrical rate out of Boulder Dam—Nevada’sallocation for Boulder Dam power, which upto that time, had not been used to any greatdegree— and also a favorable water contract.And as a result, we had the birth of a newcommunity which has been growing andprospering ever since.The AECAnd another phase of the life in the cityof Las Vegas was when the Atomic EnergyCommission started to set off its atomicdevices in this area in 1952. And here againthe Review-Journal played a large part inpreparing the people of the city of Las Vegasfor this atomic experimentation at thethen Frenchman’s Flat. The Atomic EnergyCommission, and mainly through DickElliott, who was the public relations man for

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada67the Atomic Energy Commission, set up ameeting with all of the news people. At thattime, we had a couple of TV stations. Wehad a meeting down at El Cortez Hotel, atwhich time members of the Atomic Energyoutfit were here, along with Army and Navyofficials—everybody that knew anythingabout the Atomic Energy program—andthey outlined to the community, or to thepress of the community—the informationmedia—what was expected, and the results ofthe radiation. They said at the time that therewould be, naturally, some radiation and thatit would not come into any populated areas.This was the reason that they had chosenFrenchman’s Flat—because the prevailingwinds were from the south, and the radiationwould be carried over unpopulated areas.They explained the reason for the atomicenergy development, and pleaded with usto make the people of the city of Las Vegascognizant of what was going on and the lackof danger that they could pledge to the peopleof Las Vegas.So as a result, we ran a series of articlesthat they were going to explode these deviceshere, that there would be radiation, but itwouldn’t be any worse than—if it did cometo Las Vegas—it wouldn’t be any worse thantaking an x-ray treatment. It was mostlybecause of the unknown that the people wereat least a little reticent to accept the AtomicEnergy Commission project. However, weplayed on the role that patriotism played inthis thing, and that this was going to unlocknew eras—as it has for the people of theUnited States, we conditioned the local peoplefor the explosions that were to follow.The first device was set off in the greatestof secrecy. Nobody knew when it was goingto be, or really what effect it would have. TheAEC took every precaution that they could toallow the governor of the state of Nevada, whoat that time was Charlie Russell, to announcethat the atomic bomb had been set off.Unfortunately, however, the AtomicEnergy Commission could not control traffic,which was very heavy from Los Angeles overto here, and a truckdriver saw the explosion ashe was coming down the hill toward Statelineout south of Las Vegas, and he got into Jean,and very nicely called the Review-Journal,and we got an eye-witness account of theblast and what it looked like from afar. Andwe put out an extra, and about two or threehours later, Russell announced that the firstatomic bomb had been set off in the state ofNevada at Frenchman’s Flat. So we were abouttwo hours ahead of the official announcement.Of course, I don’t know how they couldhide the thing because the intense light thatit spreads was seen from as far off as SanFrancisco, Los Angeles, and these areas.However, they were very secretive.At one time, along about the secondor third blast, we had FBI people in here,investigating me and my news staff, becausethey wanted to find out where the leak was—that we knew that the atomic device wasgoing to be set off. Well, it was very simple.These scientists would all of a sudden startflying in to Las Vegas from Alamogordo orAlbuquerque, and there would be a great dealof activity at both Nellis Air Force Base andIndian Springs. And the scientists would bebilleted at the Hotel Last Frontier and wouldleave calls for two o’clock in the morning.Well, when ten or fifteen scientists leavecalls for two o’clock in the morning, thensomething’s going to happen. So when the FBIcame in, I just told ’em it was very simple, that,we’ve got a bellhop out at the Last Frontier thatcalls us and says there have been calls left fortwo or three in the morning—or two o’clock

68 John F. Cahlanin the morning—you can make the best of it.So we were able to pinpoint the shots, at leastthe day that they were set off. We never couldpinpoint the hour, because a lot of times, theweather conditions postpone it—sometimesthey postponed it as much as a day or two.I can remember that half the city of LasVegas would get up in the morning and go outon the flat above the valley out there, to watchthe blasts go off and had a very good view ofthem. You couldn’t see the blasts themselves,but you could see the effect, and you could seethe mushroom cloud, and so forth, so the firstthree or four became quite interesting for theatom bomb watchers. And after that, nobodypaid any attention to them. The people in thecasinos would be gambling and so forth, andthey’d see the big flash of light, and they’d say,“Well, there goes another one,” and go backto their crap games, and so forth.One of the most interesting atomic devicesset off out there was known as OperationDoorstep. And this was the explosion thatwas carried on the TV into the living roomsin practically the entire United States. Andthis was the start of the television programscoming into Las Vegas from Los Angeles,because before that time, there was no waythat they could get television in here becausethe programs developed in Los Angeles, andthey had no way of getting them here. Theydid come up—I believe one network did comethrough the repeater station out here andconducted those programs.There’s a fellow in Los Angeles—had aGerman name, and I have forgotten whatit is right now, I think Kurt was his firstname—but anyway, he got the idea of puttingrepeaters— repeater towers. I think there arethree between here and Los Angeles. One isup on Charleston Mountain, there’s anotherone out on Mountain Pass, and another onedown at Halloran Wells that took the impulsedown to Los Angeles. And they built thesethree towers on the mountains, and all of theequipment that was brought in was broughtin by helicopter and dropped on the top of themountains. Then the crews climbed up to thetop of the mountains and put them together. Ithink it was about a six months’ proposition.This was how they did the job when they setoff this Operation Doorstep device. And afterthat, the towers were maintained and now arebeing used—either them, or similar ones arebeing used—to get a lot of the programs inhere from Los Angeles.And very fortunately, I was able to attendthis session, and it is the eeriest thing thatanybody can imagine. When we left Las Vegasabout two-thirty in the morning, it was inthe spring, as I recall it, and it was cold as thedickens. We were all wrapped up in—well,the fact of the matter is, I had on a ski suit togo up there. And as the sun came up abovethe mountains and it started in to warm up,you could just see the fellows peeling off theirclothes in order to get a little cool.This was the experiment that was todetermine how the atomic blast reacted onvarious types of houses and what happenedon the inside of the houses, and so forth andso on. And it was a part of the Civil Defenseoperation, and all of the Civil Defense peoplefrom all over the United States were here forthat thing. And then the Marines were here.It was another maneuver to see how theMarines would react and what could be donein the event of atomic war. So it was quite agroup out there in the—out at Frenchman’sFlat.And they only had a certain number oflead glasses. You had to look through thisheavily-leaded glass so that your eyes wouldn’tbe damaged with the brightness of the atomicblast. And everybody who didn’t get a pair ofthose glasses was warned to turn their back on

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada69the blast and close their eyes. And as I say, Iwas fortunate enough to pick up a pair of theleaded glasses and I certainly was very gladthat I did. Because I saw the whole operationfrom the time that the first flash went off untilall of the color of the explosion disappearedinto the atomic cloud.It is the most awesome thing that I haveever seen. The device is exploded, and yousee this terrific flash of white light, and thenthere is a roiling purple ball that the smokejust seems to roil around the ball, and as theball grows bigger, it turns into all colors ofthe rainbow, and then all of a sudden, thesound of the shock wave’d hit you, and it’sjust as if somebody took a bat and hit youin the stomach. It’s just that potent. It couldvery easily knock a man over if he weren’texpecting it. And all the time, this roiling,boiling cloud—or fireball—is rising in theair and picking up the dirt of the ground.It seems to suck the dirt from the groundinto the stem of the mushroom, and verydefinitely, the cloud is in the form of amushroom and just maintains that until itgets up into the air—or into the wind—andthen is dissipated. But if there is any colorin the rainbow that is not in that atomicexplosion, I can’t recall because I saw ’emall. The overall and the most awesome thingis the red fire, because it looks like the firesthat Dante describes in his Inferno. Andcertainly, Dante must have had this in mind,because it is the most awesome thing I haveever seen. It’s too bad that these people can’tsee the atomic explosion—these people thatare thinking about starting a war—becauseif they’d ever see that, they’d back off in ahurry.We, of course, maintained coverage ofthe atomic energy blasts as long as there wasany interest in it, but after the OperationDoorstep, and everybody in the basin hadseen it and were able to see it on television,much of the interest died, simply because thepeople saw that it wasn’t—it was no longersomething unknown. They had seen the blast,and they had survived, their television setsdidn’t blow up as a result of the explosion,and so forth, and a lot of the terror of theunknown was removed. Now, of course, nowsome of it is going underground—or, all ofit is going underground, and there is no fearany more.It’s my understanding—I have keptfairly well in touch with the Atomic EnergyCommission and their operation in the stateof Nevada to know—that they are doing somevery fantastic things. The last operation thatthey set off was to see what could be donetoward digging a trench with atomic power.They tell me that the operation was a hugesuccess, that it did exactly what the scientistssaid it would do, and there is every possibilitythat they’ll be able to dig canals and buildharbors, and so forth and so on with atomicenergy, and revitalize or rechange the entireworld.Sports InterestsI mentioned being an avid sports fan.Looking back over my history in Reno andLas Vegas, I can recall real well one of my bigheroes—big athletic hero—that I met wasa guy by the name of Frank “Ping” Bodie,who played baseball for the Chicago WhiteSox. The Chicago White Sox used to comethrough Reno. They trained in Californiain their spring training and held exhibitiongames all the way back to Chicago until thestart of the season. And I can recall, MoanaSprings—standing outside the baseball fieldthere, and this big, tubby, fat guy coming up tome and saying, “Well, look, aren’t you comin’in to see the ball game?”

70 John F. CahlanAnd I said, “No, I haven’t got any money.I can’t go in.”So he said, “Well, you stand outside thecenter field fence out there when the ball gamestarts, and I’ll knock the ball over the fence,and you can come in on the baseball.”So I stationed myself out near the centerfield fence, and sure enough, Bodie came up;he knocked one over the fence, and I took itaround the front entrance, and they let mein. So that’s how I saw my first big leaguebaseball game—through the compliments ofone Ping Bodie.And I can recall, also, when I was in theRichmond area and working for StandardOil one fall, I became a member of a semiproball club down there, out of Richmond, andwe were playing ball games all out of thearea. And one Sunday, we went up to Rodeo,California, and the guy who was pitching forRodeo was a high school kid by the name of“Lefty” Gomez, who later went to the SanFrancisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League,and later than that, went to the New YorkYankees and became one of the big stars ofthe New York Yankees. And it is a very fineboast of mine that I faced Lefty Gomez inone baseball game and got three hits out offour times at bat, which was about a .750percentage. And that isn’t bad for gettinghits off the star of the New York Yankees! Ofcourse, the thing is, he was in high school atthe time, but it still was Lefty Gomez.And one of the earliest opportunities thatI had to meet Jack Kramer, the former tennisgreat, amateur and professional, was here inLas Vegas. When I came down from Reno tolive and work in Las Vegas, there wasn’t verymuch to do athletic-wise in the summertime,because it was so darn hot that nobody playedbaseball—or, they did play baseball, but Ididn’t participate because of the heat. Butin the evening it cooled off quite a bit, andthere were some lighted tennis courts over onthe Union Pacific grounds about where theGreyhound depot is now. And it was operatedby the Union Pacific Employees AthleticAssociation. And that was about all therewas to do at night in Las Vegas. So we used togo over and play tennis, and Jack Kramer, atthat time, was probably a, oh, ten-year-old oreleven-year-old and his father, Dave Kramer,was quite a tennis player himself. He hadtaught Jack to play tennis, and we used to playdoubles and singles with Jack Kramer. Andthen they moved to California, and Dave gaveJack the benefit of the best tennis instructorsin that area, and he went on to become aWimbledon favorite and amateur tennis star,and then later promoted professional tennis.The tennis troop he had toured the world. ButJack Kramer was a native-born Las Vegan, andif you ever see him and ask him about it, he’lltell you about how he learned to play tennisin Las Vegas.I can always remember Buck Shaw, whowas a football coach at the University ofNevada and later on became the footballcoach of the San Francisco Forty-Niners andlater the Philadelphia Eagles. Buck originallycame to the University of Nevada from NotreDame. “Corky” Courtwright was the coachat the University, and he brought Buck in asthe line coach. Buck was right out of NotreDame, and I guess he was, oh, twenty-one,twenty-two years old. I was a freshman,I guess. So, we used to—Buck and I usedto—be very good friends. And then he wentback to North Carolina and later came backto Nevada as head coach when I was a junior,and stayed there during my senior year, andwe became very, very well acquainted. Wewould go out to dinner together, his wife andmy wife. Marge Shaw was a very charminggirl. I have maintained my interest or myacquaintanceship with Buck for all these

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada71years. I think he’s now in California in the Bayarea and has retired from coaching.I was at the Shrine football game downin San Francisco the afternoon that Buckwas fired by Tony Morabito of the SanFrancisco Forty-Niners. I was sitting in thepress box with some of my very good friendsof the United Press Association office in SanFrancisco. Well, Buck and Marge walkedby, and I stopped them and spoke, and wehad several minutes of conversation. Inbetween halves, we went back into the coffeeroom—refreshment room—and Morabitowas there. And he announced to the press inthe half time that he had fired Buck Shaw asthe football coach of the Forty-Niners. It wasover the public address system, and Buck andMarge got up and walked out of the stadium,and I didn’t see them for four or five years afterthat. But he told me the story about Morabitofiring him, and, it was really something.Because, to see a man cut down that way, withno notice whatever, it was real bad.I became very well acquainted with JackDempsey. The first time I met him was inReno, when he was promoting the Max Baer-Paulino Uzcudum fight there in Reno. He wasa promoter, although his associate—I’ll thinkof his name—was the actual promoter. Jackwas the front man, and would be the referee.So I went up to cover the fight for theReview-Journal. Being around the trainingcamps of the two people and into the officeof the fight promoter, I became acquaintedwith Dempsey then. The next year, I went upfor the Baer-”Kingfish” Levinsky fight, whichwas also promoted by Dempsey, and becamevery well acquainted with Jack on those twooccasions. And this has maintained throughthe years.Jack Dempsey’s manager at that time wasa man by the name of Leonard Sacks, and as Isay, I became very well acquainted with bothof them during the time that I was in Reno.Following those fights, Sacks and Dempseywent down to Mexico and then came backthrough Las Vegas.It so happened that the night that Dempseywas here, they were having a fight card at theLegion Arena, and on the fight card weretwo local fighters by the name of “Poison”Smith and Joe Morales. Dempsey was quiteinterested in the two of them and thoughtthey were pretty good fighters, so he askedme if I could get them under contract forhim, and I told him I thought I could; I’d seewhat I could do.So I got the two of them under contractto Dempsey. And he ordered the kids downto southern California for further training.Poison Smith was a great big Negro boy aboutsix feet two and had very long arms and a verysmall head, and when he got his arms up infront of his head, nobody could get throughto him, He was a very good fighter but didn’thave any killer instinct. He went down toLos Angeles and went under the wing downthere of one of the promoters in that area andgot several fights and did very well until heran up against “Hank” Hankensen, who atthat time was quite a Swedish fighter downaround the Los Angeles area. And Poisonhad Hankensen on the deck two or threetimes during the first couple of rounds, butdidn’t move in to knock him out, and finally,Hankensen knocked Smith out. And theDempsey representative under whose wingSmith was fighting, said that this—he justdidn’t have it, and was shipping him back. SoPoison Smith came back here, and the last Iheard of him, he was driving a garbage truckin the city of Las Vegas, but he’s still around.Here was a kid that had a real good chance,and with Dempsey’s backing probablycould’ve gone somewhere if he had only hadthe heart to fight.

72 John F. CahlanJoe Morales was quite a different type kid.He was a little Mexican boy, weighed arounda hundred and twenty-five or a hundred andthirty pounds, and a real good fighter. Thefella in Los Angeles who trained him said thatthey could’ve made him the featherweighttitleholder—featherweight champion—within two or three years. He was that good.But unfortunately, the World War broke out,and he enlisted in the Army, and Joe now isover on Anzio Beach under a cross. He waskilled in the invasion of Anzio, during WorldWar II.Observations on Population GrowthI want to speak for a few minutes aboutthe sudden growth of our community andsummarize some of the causes for the growth.As most of the people know, North Las Vegasis about the fourth largest community in thestate of Nevada. And this growth has comesince 1939-40. When I first came to Las Vegasin 1929, North Las Vegas was just known asa flat place at the bottom of a hill. One ofits more potent attractions was Nell “Ma”Glancy’s place down there. “Ma” Glancy wasa very good brewer of home brew beer, andher place attracted very many people from thecity of Las Vegas to partake of the brew shemade. I can well remember Frank McNamee,the late supreme court judge, and myself goingdown to Ma Glancy’s on a Saturday afternoonand listening to a radio broadcast of Stanfordfootball games, mainly because we couldn’tget the football games in Las Vegas becauseof the interference in the radio, and therewas no interference in North Las Vegas. Sowe combined beer and football on Saturdayafternoon at Ma Glancy’ s. That just gives youan indication of what North Las Vegas wasduring the building of Boulder Dam rightdown at the bottom of the hill. And SouthMain Street—where we call “five points,” it’swhere Las Vegas Boulevard North and NorthMain Street run in together and continue onas the Salt Lake Highway—was the site ofHooverville, the poverty area of Las Vegasduring the construction of Boulder Dam.At that time, the land in Las Vegas wasselling from anywhere from five hundred toa thousand dollars for a twenty-five-foot lot.And the lots in North Las Vegas were pricedanywhere from fifty dollars to two hundredand fifty dollars. So as a result, a lot of peoplewho couldn’t afford the lots in Las Vegasmoved to North Las Vegas and the town justgrew like Topsy. It was not an incorporatedtown and was under the jurisdiction of thecounty commissioners and a town board. Butnobody paid any attention—in Las Vegas—nobody paid any attention to North Las Vegas,and it just grew and grew. And that’s one ofthe tragedies of a lack of foresight on the partof some of the politicians. At the time it wasgrowing, it was not annexed by the city ofLas Vegas. You have the same situation herebetween Las Vegas and North Las Vegas thatyou have between Reno and Sparks. There isno definite line of division between the twoof them. They might just as well be operatedby one government to save everybody a lotof money. But it wasn’t done, and that’s theanswer.In 1940, when Nellis Air Force Base wasestablished as the Las Vegas Aerial GunnerySchool, more houses started to spring up.I’ve forgotten the year it was incorporated,but it hasn’t been too long—when it wasincorporated—and even then, it didn’t appearto be any great amount of competition to LasVegas until a guy by the name of Clay Lynchwas made city manager down there. AndClay Lynch has lit a fire under those guysdown there in North Las Vegas, and they arereally going to town as far as trying to attract

Some of My Important Feature Stories About Southern Nevada73new businesses and new industry and newresidents into the area. While the communityis a community of, oh, middle-class houses—Idon’t say that in a derogatory way at all, it’sstill—it’s one of the areas where you can gethouses within the. income of the middleclasspeople. And naturally, they are going to gowhere they can get the most for their money.North Las Vegas has expanded. HowardHughes has bought the North Las Vegasairport, and North Las Vegas is expectinggreat things from him as far as industrialdevelopment is concerned.I think in the ordinary course of events,North Las Vegas and Las Vegas are going tobecome one. And I am sure that you’re goingto find that Las Vegas will annex the Strip areain the coming years. This should have beendone, too, when there were not so many placesout there. But nobody knew it was goingto grow so much, and unfortunately, this iswhere all, or a great deal, of the tax revenuegenerates—from the Strip area—and none ofthat money goes into the coffers of the city ofLas Vegas.Winchester and Paradise townshipsout there are probably two of the richesttownships in the whole United States. Theyare in the county, and don’t pay any citytaxes, and it necessitates the hiring of countyfiremen to protect the big investment that ison the Strip; it’s a duplication of effort; thecity department could do the same job forthem, probably at a cheaper rate. The sameway with the police protection. The sheriff ’sdepartment has to supply the Strip area withpolice protection. And as a result, the costof the law enforcement and fire preventionin the Las Vegas area, including the Stripand North Las Vegas is, of course, threetimes what it should be, if one entity wereoperating the entire deal. I don’t know thatit’s three times as much, but it’s at least twiceas much. You can’t figure those things by thefact that there are three entities where therecould be one.But I think that you’re going to findthat within the next ten years, there willbe a megalopolis here which will extendfrom south of Nellis Air Force Base to atleast Sunset Road, and from the base of themountains, Red Rock Mountains out here, toat least as far as Whitney, or East Las Vegas,and probably to Henderson. If we’re goingto have a million people in this valley, we’regoing to have to expand the boundaries, andit looks to me that it’s going to go all fourways. So that is the problem that we havein Las Vegas in the future. But we’re goingto have to think about this megalopolis andprepare for it.How do I explain the current overbuildingin North Las Vegas? I don’t know that thereis any. There was a great overbuilding in thecity of Las Vegas, and that was caused mainlyby the greed of lending institutions. Moneywas very cheap. Four or five years ago, youcould get money to build most anything, andall of the savings and loans and some of thebanks had money that they could loan out,and they would lend the money to almostanybody who came in here. A lot of thesepeople who came in here as contractors wouldget property in the city of Las Vegas and starta subdivision and borrow 150 percent of whatthe subdivision was going to cost them andpocket the 50 percent extra and go ahead andbuild the houses and build them as cheaply aspossible and then subdivide one area and thenmove out, so that when the houses started infalling down, nobody’d catch ’em. And this iswhat happened, that money was so cheap, andeverybody wanted to get into the constructionbusiness.I might give you a concrete story of whathappened during the building boom: There

74 John F. Cahlanwas a young kid here whom I knew very well,who got his start by peddling pots and pansand going to the homes of people to cooktheir meals so that he could demonstratethose pots and pans. He was very successfuland worked his way through college and cameback to Las Vegas became a schoolteacherand was continuing his sale of pots and pansand making himself a very fine living. In fact,he made himself enough money to buildan apartment house here. And he built theapartment house, and, oh, it was during thetime when everybody was standing in linefor apartments, and he said, “How long hasthis been going on?” So he decided he wouldbecome a building contractor. Well, now,he had as much business being a buildingcontractor as I have becoming an astronaut,because he didn’t know the first details aboutbuilding or the value of the land, and soforth and so on. He just kept getting himselfin deeper and deeper. The first two or threeapartment houses that he built sold, and hedid very well. Then, suddenly the town wasoverbuilt and the economy started to getslowed down, and he was out on a lint. Butall this money had been borrowed, and he notonly went broke himself, but he pulled downhis mother and father, who had quite a lotof money. He just hit the bottom. He’s back,again, now, teaching school and selling potsand pans and he’s going to pay these debts off;I don’t think there’s any doubt about it becausehe’s that kind of a guy. But this just shows youwho was going into the building businessin the city of Las Vegas—people who didn’tknow any more about it than I do. And thefinancial institutions were overlending, and asa result, there was overbuilding everywhere,and perhaps, overbuilding in North Las Vegas.And we’re just coming out of it in 1968.We’re just where, as President Johnson says,“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”And I don’t think there’s any doubt in theworld that all these homes and apartmenthouses that the savings and loan companieshave been forced to foreclose on will all besold; they’ll have to take a loss on ’em, butthey’re going to realize some money ontem, except those that have been damagedcompletely by vandals.But I think that it was a good thing,because, fortunately, none of the savingsand loans, or any of the financial institutionshere went down the drain. There was a lotof swapping going on around the variousfinancial institutions that nobody knew aboutthat probably saved two or three of them fromgoing under. Had one of them gone under,it would have been a real panic down herebecause the—one of the larger savings andloans was just on the verge of going broke,and the other financial institutions pulledthem out of it, and they’re coming along allright now. And I don’t think there’s any doubtin the world but what you’ve got the futureof Las Vegas assured. I can’t see anything butfuture. You’ve got a situation that everybodysays you can’t make any money in the city ofLas Vegas on land any more. I’d like to say tothem that as far as that’s concerned, you’vegot the same opportunities I had when I camedown here in 1929. The only thing is, it costsyou more money to get in. It’s a bigger pokergame and that’s the answer.

4Southern Nevada Civic Affairsand Public ServiceOf course, there wasn’t anything that wasdone in the community that either my brotheror myself or Florence, and later, Jim Down,who became advertising manager of theReview-Journal in 1932 or ’33, weren’t activein. My brother was a member of the Chamberof Commerce, as were Florence and myself.About 1935, there was a fellow over inBeckley’s shoe store, which was on the cornerof First and Fremont Street on the southwestcorner, where the Pioneer Club is now; afellow by the name of Bill Stenwick, who hadcome here from California, and had beenactive in the Junior Chamber of Commercework down there. Jimmy Down was callingon him for advertising from the store. Hewas more or less the advertising man forBill Beckley, and Jimmy used to call on himevery day, and they got to talking about theJunior Chamber of Commerce movement,and Jimmy came over and talked to me, andI thought it was a good idea. So we got severalof the young people of Las Vegas together,and formed the local chapter of the JuniorChamber of Commerce. At that time, thesenior Chamber of Commerce was composedof both men and women. So we went aheadand formed the charter membership withthe women present, and among them wereFlorence Lee Jones, now my wife; SonyaWorthy, now Mrs. Earl Honrath; Dalton Buck,now Mrs. Eric Jamieson; Ellen Ainnerty,now Mrs. George Albright, and several otherwomen. And we received our charter in 1935.Shortly after we received the charter,we took on the job of hosting a regionalconvention of the Junior Chamber ofCommerce in Las Vegas. The region consistedof San Diego, Los Angeles, as far up as SantaBarbara, and a lot of the smaller communitiesaround Los Angeles, and all together, thedelegate membership who would come to theconvention would amount to from eighty to ahundred. So we decided we would attempt toget the regional convention up here.The convention that year was in SanDiego, so about ten or twelve of us wentdown to San Diego and made a bid for theconvention. And during the bid for theconvention, we had a hospitality suite in the

76 John F. CahlanU. S. Grant Hotel down there, and we invitedall of the delegates at the convention to cometo the suite sometime. We had entertainment,including the stripteasers. We had a model ofBoulder Dam that had been built by GeorgeAlbright and Jack Albright and had thaton display out in front of the hotel. And sowhen we made our bid for the conventionin San Diego, everybody else withdrew, andwe got it!And then we didn’t know what to do withit, because in Las Vegas, at that time, therewere big hotels—the Nevada Hotel which nowis the Sal Sagev, and the Apache Hotel. Theywere in the course of expanding the Sal Sagev(Las Vegas spelled backward), and I thinkthere were about thirty rooms in the hotel.And as we had to take care of somewherearound eighty to ninety delegates, we didn’tknow where we were going to put ’em. But asit turned out, the entire community of LasVegas was very, very fine. They all opened upthe extra bedrooms that they had for us whenwe called around to the various homes in thecommunity.Another thing that we had problems withwas no place to feed these people. There wereno great eating places in the city of Las Vegasat the time. Probably the one that could feedthe most people was the Union Pacific dininghall, which could seat about forty or fiftypeople. And that was it! And we had to havearound, oh, two or three hundred, includingthe local people who would have to be servedat the banquet. So they had just finished theWar Memorial Building, which is now the LasVegas City Hall. Robert J. “Bob” Kaltenborn,who was an associate member of the JuniorChamber of Commerce, said that he wouldsee that they got food to the building overthere. I didn’t know how he was going to do it,but he did get some restaurants here in townto cook the food. And he transported it overthere by truck. Some of the Junior Chamberof Commerce members’ wives and some ofthe local citizens served as waitresses, andwe got the dinner served and real well doneand never had a complaint. All of the peoplefrom California said it was one of the bestconventions that they ever had. And it wasthe first convention that was ever held in thecity of Las Vegas, which goes to show you thatthe Junior Chamber of Commerce sowed theseed of the convention business that is beingdone now in Las Vegas.Paul Ralli was the first president ofthe Junior Chamber of Commerce; thenFrank McNamee was second; I was third.Shortly after I became president of the localorganization, they established clubs in Renoand in Ely, and we held a state meeting inReno, and I was elected first state president ofthe Junior Chamber of Commerce, of whichI am very proud.But getting back to the Las Vegas eraaround 1935, the Dam was just completedand President Roosevelt had dedicated theDam, and the people of the city of Las Vegaswere certain that now that the Dam had beencompleted that the bottom would drop outof the community. So in looking around toattract people to the city, the Las Vegas lodgeof Elks was approached by Mr. Clyde Zerby,who was a former carnival barker and a showpromoter, who brought the idea with him tostage a hometown Wild Western celebrationand to name it the “Helldorado.” James “Jim”Cashman, Sr., was one of the wheels of theElks lodge at that time, and one of the wheelsof southern Nevada for that matter, and FrankGusewelle was the leading Knight of the Elkslodge, and several others—Orrin Adcock wasthe Secretary. The trustees of the Elks lodgedecided that this was a real fine vehicle forattracting attention to the city of Las Vegasand to have a lot of fun, incidentally.

Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and Public Service77So it was decided that the Elks lodgewould sponsor the Helldorado. The originalHelldorado had little similarity to the onesthat are being staged now. Remember thatthe town was only about six thousand,seven thousand people. And Zerby outlinedhis plan or program for the Helldorado aseverybody getting attired in the old Westerncostumes and holding a sort of a carnival, itwould be called now, for entertainment. Andone of the highlights of the party would be thereestablishment, or reenactment, of a goldenwedding anniversary for somebody in thecity of Las Vegas that had been married forfifty years. Las Vegas was only thirty yearsold at the time, and it was a little rough tofind anybody, but they finally did find Mr.and Mrs. Peter Pauff, who were chosen Kingand Queen of the Helldorado celebrationfor 1935.Oh, and I might say, during thefirst celebration—the first Helldoradocelebration—the Pauff couple was remarriedon their fiftieth wedding anniversary, andthere was a crowd of about, oh, two thousand,three thousand people there to cheer them on.It was decided to hold the affair down atSixth and Fremont Street on a vacant lot. Sixthand Fremont Street now is occupied by theold Sears and Roebuck store, which was notthere in 1935, naturally. It was a vacant areafrom, oh, Sixth Street clear down to Ladd’sswimming pool, which was down aroundTenth Street. And all of that property wasvacant when you got past Fifth Street; therewasn’t very much between there and thedesert except some scattered homes out on thedam road. So the celebration was set at SixthStreet and Fremont, and a big tent was placedas the “Golden Gulch Saloon,” and there weretwo or three other tents scattered around thelot, for girly-girly shows and different typesof carnival acts.And everybody in the city participated inthe celebration. They even had a mock trialin the county courthouse. The judge (therewas only one then) and all the attorneys andeverybody else dressed in western costumes,and they held a trial, found a horse thief guilty,and ordered him to be hanged, and he wasto be hanged (but they never carried out thesentence). And the mayor and his wife and allof the people dressed in Western costumes,many of which have been saved by localpeople from their grandparents or parents,and others were secured from costume housesfor the movies in Los Angeles.It started on a Thursday with an old timers’parade, and this included a lot of horse-drawnvehicles that were secured from Moapa andVirgin Valleys and around this area. It wasn’tvery much of a parade, but it did have a coupleof bands and several horse-drawn vehicles,and started on Fremont and Main Streetsand worked down Fremont to Sixth Street,where it disbanded and everybody wentinto the Helldorado grounds for the eveningentertainment.Friday afternoon, they had the schoolkids’ parade—school old timers’ parade—andthis was directed by K. O. Knudsen, who atthat time was the principal of the Fifth StreetGrammar School, one of the two grammarschools in the city of Las Vegas. The otherone was way over on the Westside. And thatwas the extent of the primary education inLas Vegas. And the kids in the two grammarschools turned out for the parade, and theyalso were allowed to go into the HelldoradoVillage. The village itself was, as I say,composed of one big barroom and dancefloor, and some girly-girly shows, and stuffthat was available in the ’49’s when the bigGold Rush was on.Everybody had a real good time, andthey decided that they would hold it again,

78 John F. Cahlanso it became an annual event. At that time,there was no beauty parade in the scheduleof the Helldorado. That came the secondyear, when M. E. Ward, who owned theMesquite Grocery Store, which stood onthe southeast corner of First and FremontStreet, decided that they should have somebeauty to enliven the Helldorado celebration.He put up a fifty-dollar prize for the winnerof the beauty contest. And they decoratedautomobiles to carry the girls down the streetin the beauty contest, which was again heldin the Helldorado Village grounds at Sixthand Fremont Street. The name of the girl thatwon, has been lost in the lack of archives, asfar as the Elks lodge is concerned, and whileit probably could be found, it would takea great deal of research because there wasnot too much coverage of the Helldorado atthat time. The celebration followed the sameformat except that the beauty parade was puton on Sunday afternoon, and wound up at thesame place as the others at Helldorado Village.It was decided in the third year of thecelebration that perhaps we had something—the Elks had something—that would beentertaining to people outside of thecommunity, so it was decided to bring BobDenton, who was the Union Pacific publicrelations man in Los Angeles, to Las Vegasto whip up some interest in the Helldoradocelebration in Los Angeles. He came up withhis assistant and we in the Review-Journaloffice and members of the Elks lodge helpedhim in promoting the Helldorado in LosAngeles.It was about this time also—in fact it wasthis time also—that the Las Vegas Horsemen’sAssociation, headed by Joe Ronnow, decidedthat a rodeo should be held in conjunctionwith the Helldorado celebration. So theHorsemen’ s Association got a rodeo contractstockman, who brought the stock, andcowboys in to the city of Las Vegas. And thefirst rodeo was held in conjunction with theHelldorado the third year of its existence.The same format as previously (with theexception of three nights of rodeo) were heldat Sixth and Fremont Street. The rodeo washeld in the old city park, which now is partof the Squires Park, behind the post officebuilding at the end of Third Street. There werealready some bleachers there, where baseballwas played in the summertime. The localhorsemen built corrals and catch pens andthe rodeo chutes at the city park area. Andthe first rodeo was held there. It’s interestingto note that the Helldorado celebration is theonly celebration that has gone through fromits original inception in 1935 to the presentday, without any interruption.During the war period from 1941 to1945, of course, all of the rodeos and westerncelebrations, in fact, all sorts of celebrations,were shut down because of the war and thefact that gas was rationed and all of theseprecautions were taken for the war effort.however, through the good offices of SenatorPat McCarran and the publicity that was givento Senator McCarran by myself and membersof the Elks lodge, it was decided that thecelebration in Las Vegas should be allowed tocontinue to provide entertainment for the warworkers and the troops that were in this area.You will recall, of course, that the air basewas in operation then; Henderson was justabout to go into operation, and they had thedesert troops in this area around Needlesand Searchlight and all of that section of thesouthern part of the state of Nevada. Thedesert troops of Patton were trained there.And we convinced the OPA that we shouldbe able to hold the celebration and get gascoupons for the carnival people that wouldbe brought in here to put on the show for theHelldorado.

Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and Public Service79And it was just about this time, also,that the Helldorado Village was constructedat Bonanza and North Fifth Street, whichwas done by the cooperation of the entirecommunity. The dance hall, which was a large,bare building about two hundred feet longand about a hundred feet wide with a balconyaround two sides—around the north andsouth sides—was built out of shake lumber.Robert B. “Bob” Griffith’s late father, E. W.Griffith, had once operated a sawmill up inthe Charleston Mountains, and the sawmillwas put back into operation. Many of thetrees in the Charleston Mountains, whichwere dead and could be cleared under theForest Service regulations, were made intologs and brought down to Las Vegas throughthe generosity of the trucking interests whowere in here at that time. They donated theirtruck to run from Charleston down to LasVegas to bring the logs in. After the logs werebrought in, the entire population of the cityof Las Vegas assisted in building the dancehall and smaller buildings and fence. All ofthe carpenters—at that time there were veryfew unions in the city of Las Vegas, but therewere a lot of artisans who were available—andthey all joined with the other people to buildthe Helldorado Village.As I say, the dance hall was the mainbuilding. And then on both sides of thefrontier street there were little store-likebuildings built, in which concessions werelet to the local people—the firemen used tohave a hamburger stand, and the VFW had aring-pitching outfit, and some of the othershad their fish pond, and it was just more orless of a hometown celebration there.And then, in addition to that, the carnivalswould come in and set up outside theHelldorado Village area, not around theVillage itself, but in the general area. And asI say, during the war, we were very fortunatein being able to keep the thing going. Duringthe years of the war, the crowds on FremontStreet that watched the parades were verygenerously sprinkled with the uniforms ofthe Army, the Marines, the Air Force, andeverybody had a real fine time, and it waswell worth the government capitulation to ourrequests that we be allowed to run.Shortly after the war was over and theStrip had been more built up with the additionof the Flamingo Hotel, the Sahara, and theThunderbird, and the downtown areas—casino areas—the beauty parade becameone of the outstanding affairs on the PacificCoast. The hotels and casinos in Las Vegaswould spend as much money on their floatsto be entered in the parade as the people inthe Tournament of Roses did on their Januarythe first parade. It was—it became—such afabulous deal that the regional networks ofABC and CBS came up and televised severalof the parades to the West Coast audience.And, of course, that became—well, that aidedin the publicity for the Helldorado and eachyear it would become greater and greater. Andit has followed the same format throughoutthe years until the present time.However, it’s getting to be a real roughdeal to get any horse-drawn vehicles intothe parade of the old timers’ parade, and ithas developed into, now, a combination ofold time vehicles—horse-drawn vehicles,and early vintage automobiles— which itprobably will develop into in the years tocome because, in the first place, you don’thave the vehicles, and in the second place,there’s no place around the country youcan get horses to pull them. However, ithas been suggested that the supplier of thestock for the rodeo might be able to get thehorses and some horse-drawn vehicles in thefuture. If this will be done, nobody knows,but the Helldorado celebration has been

80 John F. Cahlanone of the real publicity generating eventsthat has developed in the city of Las Vegas,and that was entirely through the completecooperation of everybody in the community.And that’s one thing that Las Vegas can prideitself on, is the fact that when a job had to bedone that was good for the community, thegeneral public pitched in and saw that it wascarried through completely.I might say, also in passing, that the Elkslodge probably has been one of the greatestinfluences for good in the city of Las Vegas.I don’t say that because I am a member ofthe lodge and past officeholder—and I wasExalted Ruler in the local Elks lodge; I wasalso the state vice president, .and I was DistrictDeputy Grand Exalted Ruler under the GrandExalted Ruler, John E. Fenton. But I say itbecause it’s true. Before I was a member ofthe Elks lodge—the Helldorado was built upand was fairly well going when I became amember of the Elks lodge.And to show you the kind of cooperation,we used to have a public address system thatwould announce all of the entrants in theparades as they went by the corner of Secondand Fremont Streets, I manned that publicaddress system along with C. V. T. Gilbert,from the first Helldorado celebration untilthe twenty-fifth celebration, continuously.And I broke the continuity about 1961 fora couple of years and then went back in andannounced the parades for another two orthree years. Now, I have permanently retiredin 1967—last year.It was quite an added interest to the eventbecause most of the people along the paraderoute never know who the entrants are or whothey represent. So it was the feeling of the Elkslodge that they should be given the properrecognition, and as the largest crowd gatheredat Second and Fremont Street— that’s wherethe loudspeaker system was established. Later,another one was placed at Fifth and Fremont,and Then later as the parade grew, they hadthem all along Fifth Street and along FremontStreet, so the crowds would be informed as towho The entrants were for the parade.And we have had some very finerepresentation from all over The West Coast;usually the Long Beach Mounted Posse is theone that leads the parade. Of course, they’re inThe Tournament of Roses parade, and we havehad as grand marshal of the parade people like“Death Valley Scotty,” Rex Bell, who was thelate lieutenant governor of the state of Nevada(this was before he was a resident of the state;he was in the movies in Los Angeles alongwith his wife, Clara Bow), and, oh, “Curly”Fletcher, Dick Foran, “Big Boy” Williams.There was a deal in, I’ve forgotten whatyear it was, that Death Valley Scotty was tobe the grand marshal of the parade and itwas about The time that Roy Rogers and DaleEvans were making the movie “Eldorado” inLas Vegas. So the fact that Roy Rogers andDale Evans were here, and that the studiothat they were working for—I think it wasRepublic— had said that they would putin a real old time float in the parade if wewould make Roy and Dale the marshals, thegrand marshals, of the parade. Well, we’dalready asked Scotty. And Scotty was such apublicity hound that when we went to him,and told him Roy Rogers and Dale Evanswere here, and tried to explain to him thatthis was the making of a parade, and thathe and Roy and Dale would be [a] real goodcombination for the parade, that they wouldbe the grand marshal and he’d be the marshalof the second section of the parade, Scotty’sfamous statement was, “Scotty is the generalmarshal of the parade, or Scotty does notride.” Well, we finally started him out at thehead of the procession, and we turned himoff onto North Main Street and brought him

Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and Public Service81around by Carson Street and back into theparade on Fremont Street, and by the timehe got into the parade, he was marshal of thesecond division! And he wasn’t very happyabout the thing, but he finally rode it out, butthat was the last Helldorado celebration thathe attended.We did have, during the rodeo for acouple of years, a cowboy—or rancher—andIndian spectacle that had the Indians raidinga ranch house and burning the ranch housedown, a script for which I wrote. And it wasquite well received for two or three years,and then it got to be the cowboys who werein the rodeo had to get a little giggle juicebefore they went into their act, and as theact progressed, it got a little tough, and theygot out of hand and burned something elsebesides the barn—or the little house that wassupposed to be burned, so we had to cut thatout. But as I say, over the years, this has beenone of the big events of the year as far as LasVegas is concerned.During the time that the air base wasin operation here, the rapport between theArmy Air Force and the citizens of the cityof Las Vegas was as high as any, anywhere inthe United States. I well can remember oneChristmas season, when at the height of thewar—that was just after Pearl Harbor— andthey were turning out cadets out at the air baseout there—a class a month—and they wereconfined to the base during the entire month.They didn’t get off the base except at the endof their training. So several of us—myself,Bob Griffith, and some of the members ofthe Chamber of Commerce— decided that itmight be a good idea to put on a Christmasparty for the cadets at the base. We contactedthe commander, Colonel Martinus Stenseth,and he thought it would be a good idea also.And so it was set about to give this Christmasparty.There were about two thousand cadets atthe base at the time, and you can figure outwhat a job it would be to feed two thousandpeople at a Christmas party. And we cameup with the idea of getting the hotels in LasVegas and eating places around the area tostage Christmas parties. One was at El RanchoVegas, another was at the Last Frontier, bothof which were in operation during the timethat the air base was established here. Anotherone was at the Biltmore Hotel at the cornerof North Main and Bonanza, which now isthe Shamrock Furniture Store. And the otherone was held at the Green Shack, which I havementioned previously as one of the eatingplaces of the city of Las Vegas that was quitepopular at the time. Edward “Doc” Ladd, whowas a chef—chief chef—at the Last Frontier,acted as Santa Claus, and he made visits to allfour of the places, and a real big Christmasdinner was served at all of the four places.And it was quite a sight to see these kids, whowere shoving off right after the first of the yearfor God knows where, in the Japanese theateror the South Pacific theater, and maybe comeback and maybe not. I can well remembersitting at the—around the fireplace at theLast Frontier with these kids; sitting aroundthe fireplace, singing “White Christmas” andwatching tears flow down the cheeks of kids,knowing they were going out into the SouthPacific and wondering whether they’d getback or not, which nobody knew. And it wasthe last celebration for a lot of these kids thatleft here for the war zone. It made quite animpression on me, and I think it would havemade quite an impression on anybody whohad seen it.I recall, also, that I was out at El RanchoVegas one night, around with some of the airbase officers, and I met a general out there.We became very well acquainted, and I hadvery great respect for him, and we sat around

82 John F. Cahlanuntil three or four o’clock in the morning,drinking and eating. I left him at about fouro’clock in the morning, and he shook handswith me and told me he was off for Hawaii inthe next day or so, and that was the last timeI saw him. And his name was General Tinker,who was one of the upper echelon of fliersin the Air Force. He went on to Hawaii, andon his first trip as a combat pilot, never gotback to Hawaii. He was lost in action. I thinkI was the last civilian to see him in the cityof Las Vegas. General Tinker was an Indian,and had quite a career in the Air Force, andTinker Air Force Base, I think in Oklahoma,was named after him.As regards the things that happened in thecity of Las Vegas, one of the things that I amprobably the most proud of was the fact thatI assisted in bringing professional baseballto the city of Las Vegas. It was after the war,probably about 1946 or ’47, and Les Powers,who was a baseball front office man in LosAngeles, and Newt Kimball came to Las Vegaswith the idea of entering Las Vegas in theSunset League, which was to be composed ofsome teams in southern California, Arizona,and Mexico. So we decided that we wouldenter a team in the league. We formed anassociation to put professional baseball inLas Vegas and named the team the “Las VegasWranglers,” taken after the cattle wranglers ofan earlier day. We set up a baseball park in thecity park over behind the post office, becauseit had bleachers already up for Helldoradoand had a pretty good playing field. So that’swhere we started playing baseball at the time.And we had quite a good baseball club inthe city of Las Vegas. The games were prettywell attended. During the first year that theywere playing baseball in the city park, theyused to have a short right field fence, and theLas Vegas Wranglers set a record for homeruns during a season. I’ve forgotten howmany there were, but anyway, the ball thatbroke the record is back in the Baseball Hall ofFame, back in Cooperstown, with the recordinscribed on it.And after the first couple of seasons, atcity park, Cashman Field was constructeddown on North Main Street, and for twoyears, the Wranglers played there and hadsome real good ball clubs. However, theattendance fell off. (Reno was in that SunsetLeague, too.) But in the last couple of years,the attendance fell off and they had problemswith their withholding tax, and that sort ofstuff, and finally gave up as a professionalbaseball town. However, during the time thatprofessional baseball was in Las Vegas, weprovided entertainment for people during thesummer, and we really had a lot of fun duringthe four or five years that the Wranglers wereplaying ball.One of the phases of my career in LasVegas which was very interesting, was the tenyears that I served as Clark County juvenileofficer from 1931 to 1941. I got this positionwhen Francis Butcher, the athletic coach atthe Las Vegas High School, and one of thebig heroes of the entire community, waskilled in a tragic fire. I assumed this positionafter his death and had some very interestingexperiences. I did this juvenile work inaddition to my job at the Review-Journal asnews editor and sports editor.In looking at the juvenile crime situationin the present day, it is quite apparent to methat the people who are handling the juvenilecourts and the juvenile probation positionsare not completely aware of the problemsof young men. I had no problems with thejuveniles of Las Vegas when I was juvenileofficer, and I believe, I had the respect of themajority of the youngsters that I handled—atleast those who are still around (and there aremany who came under my supervision) have

Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and Public Service83thanked me many times for the understandingthat I had of their problems.I can well remember one instance wherefive of the very prominent local youngmen went to the high school graduationceremonies and proceeded to break thewindows in the high school gymnasium, andmany windows and headlights of automobiles.They were caught and turned over to me foraction. None of them had been in any troublebefore, and as I say, they were the sons of veryprominent people in the city of Las Vegas.I decided that they needed a lesson. Theywere fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old, andthey needed a lesson that would remain withthem the rest of their lives. So I went to the citycourt. Judge Frank McNamee was presidingon the bench at the time. And I told him thesituation, and that I wanted to have these kidssentenced to ten days at hard labor as a resultof their activities. Today, this probably wouldnot be possible because there would have beenattorneys that would have appealed the thingto the district court, probably to the statesupreme court, and gone up to the federalsupreme court and got a ruling that this wasnot according to law. However, at that time,there was no law that prevented what we did.Judge McNamee sentenced the boys toten days’ hard labor. So I took them over tothe Stockade, which was an honor farm, moreor less, for people that had been sentencedto serve terms in the city jail, and had themisolated away from anybody else over there.They were all by themselves. And incidentally,the sentence that Judge McNamee meted outwas that the boys were to be in custody duringthe daytime and could go home at night andstay home with their parents at night. I toldtheir parents that they were to see that theyremained home, which they did.The “hard labor” that I gave to the boyswas that they would saw mesquite wood witha dull saw, and I told “Rosie” Ward, who wasthe boss of the Stockade over there, to see thatthe boys were out in the sunshine- -this wasabout May— and not to let them get into theshade unless they started to keel over.About three hours after they were servingtheir first stint on the saw and the mesquitewood (if anybody has tried to saw mesquitewood, they know it’s even harder thanmahogany, and with a dull saw, you’reworkin’ all the time), about three hours afterthey started serving their first stint, I got atelephone call from one of the boys, saying,“Mr. Cahlan, will you come over to theStockade?”So I went over to the Stockade, and hereall four of the boys were with their handsblistered and some of ’em bleeding. Thespokesman for the crew said, “Mr. Cahlan, ifyou’ll get us out of this thing, we promise youthat we will never, never do anything to getin trouble again.”And I said, “Well, I’m sorry. There’s onlyone thing that can be done to get this sentencechanged. We’re going to have to go to the statesupreme court, and there’s nothin’ I can doabout it.” I said, “You’re goin’ to have to finishyour term.”So they went back to work, and thatafternoon about five o’clock I went over andasked them how they got along. They were,of course, all tired out and their hands wereblistered. I guess it was cruel and inhumantreatment, but I sent them home, and theystayed home. The next morning when I gotover to the Stockade, I asked them if theyhad learned the lesson that they should notdo this sort of stuff again, and they said theysure did. And I said, “Well, all right, then. Youcan go on probation, but you’re going to haveto report to me for the next ten days, once aday for the next ten days, to serve out yoursentence.” And to this day, I have never had

84 John F. Cahlanany more problems with those kids at all. Theyhave thanked me for teaching them a lesson.And so far as I know, they were never mixedup in any juvenile offenses after that.This only goes to show that if youunderstand the problems of these kids andknow what to do as a punishment for them—Ithink you can get by. The trouble is, in myopinion, as far as juveniles of this era areconcerned—the present era—they’ve justhad no supervision and no understanding.And naturally, kids get in trouble. I used totell these kids who got in trouble and weresent to me, “You can’t tell me anything aboutwhat you did, because I did the same thingwhen I was a kid that you’re doing now. Theonly thing is, there were no juvenile officersthen, and pranks are now considered lawinfractions, so I’m going to give you myexperience so that maybe it will help you tostay out of trouble.” And as I say, in all the timethat I have lived here, even today, I see someof the kids that I had under my jurisdictionthat are high in the legal field, and high in themedical field, and they always thank me forthe time that I gave them to try to understandtheir problems.I had another deal working for me untilthe parents got so mad that I had to back offfrom it. Every time a youngster was brought into me for any active malicious mischief, I hadwhat I call the paint gang. And every Saturday,these boys would report to me, and I wouldtake them over to the police station and findout which curbs downtown needed painting.And I’d take the kids over there and theywould have the supervision of a police officerto see that they worked, and they would paintthe curbs. And you would be surprised as towhat happened with these kids painting thecurbs and their schoolmates coming aroundand seeing them paint those curbs., knowingthat they were being punished.And I never had any problems withthese kids. It didn’t hurt them at all—I mean,physically, it didn’t hurt them. And of course,I guess as far as mental punishment wasconcerned, when the kids that weren’t introuble came around and started in hootin’’em while they were painting the curb— Iguess that did something to them. Butcertainly, I never had any problems with themafter I got through with them.The juvenile office certainly gave me aninsight into psychological problems. I haveseen kids that I have arrested—have beenarrested—for stealing food, and turned overto me. I made an investigation of their homeenvironment. One that I recall very well,the father would come home only everytwo or three months. When the kids wouldcome home from school, they would findtheir mother lying on the bed drunk andnot preparing any food or anything. And Icouldn’t criticize these kids for stealing whenthey were hungry. And we worked out dealsthat when these kids got hungry that theycould go to a restaurant and get food, and itwould be paid for by the county. And they—some of them who are still around—havethanked me a million times for what I didfor them when they were growing up. Butcertainly this sort of stuff gives you a real goodfeeling, when you can look at youngsters thatyou have rehabilitated and they become goodcitizens—and by good citizens, I mean someof the leaders of the state and the community.If I started in naming some of the people thatI handled when I was a juvenile officer, it’dknock your hat off.I also had some failures. There was oneyoung boy that I had problems with, and theworst—after a series of minor incidents—theworst thing that happened, he hit one of hisclose friends over the head. He hid in anautomobile and waited for his friend, a service

Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and Public Service85station operator, to close the service station.Then he hit his friend and robbed him of themoney.Prior to this time, as I say, he had been inmany, many problems, and every time I hadtried to do anything with the kid, the mother,who was quite a political figure in the city ofLas Vegas, always got him off. So this time,there wasn’t anything to do except file chargesagainst him and try to send him to Elko, tothe juvenile school in Elko. So I filed chargesand we had a hearing. And sure enough, themother was there claiming that her boy neverwould do such a thing, and so forth and soon. She pleaded for one more chance, and ifwe’d let the boy go, she’d see that he joinedthe Navy.Well, the judge was a very kindly man andknew the mother very well and had knownthe kid ever since he was born in the city ofLas Vegas, so we decided we’d give him onemore chance if he’d go into the Navy. Well, hejust kept postponing going into the Navy, andpostponing going into the Navy, and finally,he left Las Vegas and went to Fresno. Andhe and another kid stopped a motorist at astop sign and shot him—killed the man androbbed him. The police caught the guys, thetwo boys, and sent them up to San Quentin,where they were sentenced to death in thegas chamber. And the mother still would notbelieve that her boy was that kind of a boy, andshe passed a petition around in Las Vegas tosend to the governor of the state of California,asking him to commute the sentence of theboy to life imprisonment. And she asked meto sign it, and when she asked me to sign it,I told her, I said, “You’re the reason that thisboy is in the death row up there. You havetried to get him out of all kinds of trouble,”and I said, “You just—he went step after step,and each step he took was closer to the gaschamber, and it is your fault.” And she beganto cry and beat me on the chest, and so forthand so on, but I never signed the petition.Incidentally, I never would have signed thepetition anyway, because I’m not going totell—I’m not going to be a party to tellinga governor of a foreign state what he oughtto do with some person like this. But he wasexecuted in the gas chamber. That was one ofthe failures that we had, and there have beenothers, but as a general rule, kids are all rightif you can get to them at the proper time.The thing that I’m convinced about at thepresent time is that the parents or nobodyelse can get through to them. I always used tohave the theory that if you could make a kidcry, you had—you had him beat. And everytime that I talked to any of these youngsters,I gave them a real treatment, and when they’dstart in bawlin’, I’d know that I’d got throughto them. It’s a shame that people today can’trealize this.I can cite another instance. A kid herewas arrested for stealing tires, and I had himdown at the police station, and I gave him thetreatment, the same as I was talking about.He started in bawling, and admitted to methat he’d stolen the tires. Well, I called hismother and father down to the police station,and in the absence of the youngster, I told themother that the boy had been stealing tires,and it was something that we were going tohave to send him to Elko for. The mother said,“Oh, my boy couldn’t have done that becausehe was home all night. And I know he washome all night.” And I led her on and led heron, and she swore that the kid went to bedat nine o’clock; she looked in on him at ten;she was sure he was home and everything—.Well, the kid had stolen the tires about ninethirtyin the evening. She said that she hadlooked in on him at nine, nine-thirty, teno’clock, and was absolutely certain that hestayed home. I said, “Just a moment,” and I

86 John F. Cahlancalled the kid in, and I said, “Tell your motherabout the tires.”And he said, “I stole the tires.”And if you could’ve seen the look onthat mother’s face! It was one of shame; itwas one of surprise. I’ve never seen a lookon a woman’s face like that. She was veryapologetic, and she said, “I’m sorry that I liedto save this boy’s reputation.” And I think Iconvinced her that this was the wrong thingto do, because I never had any more problemswith the boy himself, and no more problemswith the parents.But overall, the ten-year period of being ajuvenile officer was really rewarding because,as I say, it wasn’t only one or two kids that Ifeel I have saved from going wrong, but it wasseveral dozen. And if I’d never accomplishedanything else in my lifetime, I’m certainlyproud of this, because it does somethingto you to be able to build kids after they’vestarted in to get off the path.And while we’re talking of service, afterI left the Nevada Centennial Commission, Itook on the job of becoming the editor of theNevada Centennial magazine, not because ofany financial rewards that I expected, becauseI didn’t get any. Despite the fact the magazinewas, I thought, an excellent magazine andgave a great deal of history of the state ofNevada, it never got off the ground and wasmuch like the Centennial celebration itself. Itwas well thought out, but never got anywhere,circulation-wise, around the country. But thiswas done as a labor of love, may we say.I might say also that while I was on theCentennial Commission, I attempted to dojust exactly what you people are doing now,and that is to get the history of the people ofthe state of Nevada on tape, or in some sort ofform so that it could be recorded somewhereor filed somewhere. That was one of the thingsthat I did when I went around to the variouscounties. I used to get the county people topick out four or five old timers to try to gettheir history in the record. This never jelled,because none of the county committees everjelled. But that’s neither here nor there. I saythat, as far as the service to the community isconcerned, the state is concerned, this is moreimportant to me than any personal glory.

5A Term with theUniversity of NevadaBoard of Regents, 1947-1951Getting into some of the political life asfar as I am concerned, I decided to run for theBoard of Regents of the University of Nevadain 1946. This was an office, at the time whenI filed, that was practically overlooked byall of the people of the state of Nevada. Yet,it is a real important position as far as thepeople of the state of Nevada are concerned,because at that time it was the guiding boardof the only higher education institution inthe state of Nevada. Of course, it is doubly sonow that Nevada Southern is in the picture. Icertainly would not care to be on the Board ofRegents at the present time because of the splitbetween the north and the south as to who isgoing to get the small amount of money thatis available for higher education in the stateof Nevada.I might say right here that at the timeanother college in southern Nevada wassuggested by several people, I was completelyagainst the establishment of the college insouthern Nevada, because it was my theorythat if one university was only fair, twouniversities would be doubly poor. I didn’tthink there was enough money in the stateof Nevada to support both institutions andgive good educations to the kids that attendedthe two universities. And for four years of myterm up there, I fought the establishment ofa university in southern Nevada, despite thefact that I am from southern Nevada myself.But I felt very strongly, as I say, that we didn’thave money enough to support one institutionthe way it should be supported, let alone two.However, looking at the picture now, I amsure that the Board of Regents is going to haveto find money to support two institutions,because there’s no doubt in the world thatthe greater population is in southern Nevada.Regarding the population in southernNevada, if everything predicted here comesto pass, there are going to be a million peoplein the Las Vegas Valley in 1980. Now, that’sonly twelve years away. Of course, if there area million people in the valley, the tax base willexpand, and probably there will be moneyenough to take care of both institutions.However, the regents are faced with theproblem of keeping pace with the growth in

88 John F. Cahlansouthern Nevada, and it is a problem that isgoing to develop schisms between the northand the south that have been healed to somedegree in the past several years. I can seethe thing coming now because you’ve got alot of people in southern Nevada who saythat the population of southern Nevada ison the increase and is much larger than thepopulation of Reno and the rest of the state.The figures certainly are right. I would say thatsixty-five percent of the population of the stateof Nevada is in southern Nevada. And the taxsituation, as it is reflected in the gamblingrevenues and the sales tax revenues, gas taxrevenues, everything indicates that this iswhere the money is. And certainly, the peopleunder the Supreme Court decision of oneperson to one vote, means that you’re goingto have to recognize the fact that southernNevada is going to dominate the picture in thestate of Nevada. I say this, knowing very wellthat I was born and raised in Reno, have manyties in Reno, and still have a very definite placein my heart for northern Nevada—not onlyReno—but Winnemucca and Elko, Sparks,Fallon, Winnemucca, Yerington, all of theseplaces. I played baseball in all of the areasthat I have talked about. I have very manyfriends in all of these areas. Having been atthe legislature for six sessions, at least sixsessions, both as a reporter and as an observer,I have developed a great number of friendsall over the state of Nevada. And I say thisabout southern Nevada and Nevada SouthernUniversity with all due respect to these people.But you’ve got to satisfy the areas where thepopulation is. It’s the same way in California.Los Angeles is certainly the population centerof the state of California, and take a look atthe education picture down there and see howmany state colleges they have in the southernpart of the state, plus a branch—a used-tobebranch—of the University of Californiaat UCLA. UCLA, when I was a member ofthe Board of Regents of the University, was abranch of the California at Berkeley. And nowlook at it. UCLA is nearly as large as Berkeley,and state colleges all around the Los Angelesarea probably outnumber those in the entirerest of the state of California. And you’re goingto have to take care of the people where thepopulation is.But getting back to the Board of Regents,as I say, I decided to file because it was—Iwas an alumnus of the University of Nevadaand thought that it would be a nice idea forme to go back as the boss of an institutionthat I graduated from and stand on the stepsat Morrill Hall and look out and tell the kidsof the university, “Now I am your boss,” justlike Mr. George S. Brown and Mr. Wingfieldand a few more of those people did who wereon the Board of Regents when I was goingto college. It was quite a thrill, and I reallyenjoyed the fact that not only did I get electedto the Board of Regents of the University, buthad led the Regents ticket. I was elected by agood majority, and I think this was becauseI have so many friends in the other parts ofthe state.Everybody ran “at-large” when I ran, andI did little campaigning. I had some cardsprinted, and I went from here up to Renoand stopped in Beatty, Tonopah, and all theway points, and left four or five cards withthe people I knew, asked them for help, andthat’s the campaigning I did. It’s a lot differentnow. People have to get out and spend alot of money to get elected to the Board ofRegents, which I can’t understand, becausethey’re spending a lot of money for just a lotof headaches; because running a universityis something that, in my opinion, now is forthe birds. Somebody has to do it, and I’mcertainly—I don’t mean to downgrade thepeople that are in the Board of Regents now;

A Term with the University of Nevada Board of Regents, 1947-195189they’re doing a real fine job. They have manyproblems and problems that maybe are as bigas the ones that I faced, in my term as a Regentof the University of Nevada.When I was elected to the Board ofRegents, the football team at University ofNevada was in its high era. They had StanHeath who was playing quarterback, andpeople like Horace Gillom and MarionMotley, and all that type of people, whowere holdovers from the Jim Aiken regime,and were being coached by Joe Sheeketski.Sheeketski had brought in quite a few peoplelike Max Dodge, Roger Bissett, oh, TomKalminir, and they were going along real fine.At the time that I was elected to the Boardof Regents, the Boosters Club members inReno were the ones who were getting themoney for the scholarships for these peoplewho were playing football. And when I got inthere, about three or four months after I tookoffice, we started looking at the dining hallrecords and found out that the Boosters Clubwas $10,000 in arrears for paying for the foodfor the kids that were on the scholarship, thefootball players. So I insisted that we call theBoosters Club highlights into the conference.We got “Soapy” Southworth and Harry Frostand a couple of other people there, and told’em—and I was very frank about the thing—and I said, “Look, this thing just can’t go on.If we’re going to support big time football,let’s support it. If we’re not, let’s kick it out.But I am in a position where I was elected tothe Board of Regents to run the University,and the best man would save the taxpayers’money. Well, if the taxpayers are going to haveto pay for it— football scholarships—I thinkthat something is wrong.”So we got a pledge from the Boostersassociation that they would wipe out the$10,000 debt and run on a current basis. Theysaid they would do that by the end of thespring semester. This was in the fall of 1948,as I took office in January, 1947, and servedfour years. They said they would wipe it out bythe fall semester and start all over. That wouldgive them all winter and spring and during thesummertime to get their scholarship house inorder, and they’d wipe it out. Well, came falland into the spring semester, and we tookanother look at the dining hall records, andnot only had they not wiped out the $10,000,but were a total of $20,000 more in the hole.So again, we called them in, and this time,we called Mr. Charlie Gorman, who was thecomptroller of the University then, and askedhim why he wasn’t keeping them on a currentbasis. And he made the excuse that they wereplaying big time football, and so forth, andso on. And he was instructed at that timeto keep them current. And again, the boyspromised that they would wipe out the deficitand see that it was kept on a current basis. Wedidn’t investigate any further, because we hadtold Gorman that he was to keep them on acurrent basis. We didn’t investigate them anyfurther until about the last six months of myfirst term—the first term was ending in aboutsix months.So we took a look at it and the scholarshipcommittee or the Boosters committee owedthe dining hall $60,000, and I told the Regentsthat it was time to call a halt, that they wereeither going to pay the $60,000 and makeit up, or they were going to quit big timefootball. And Si Ross was president of theBoard of Regents at the time—chairman, Iguess it was. And I had decided that we shouldhave a general meeting of the scholarshipcommittee, the Boosters committee, the press,and the University of Nevada Regents. Sucha meeting was called at El Cortez Hotel inReno—a luncheon meeting—at which timethe situation was discussed, and I made thestatement that unless the money problem was

90 John F. Cahlancleared up by the end of the spring semesterbefore I left, I was going to present a resolutionto the Board of Regents that we eliminatefootball at the University, cancel Sheeketski’scontract, and go on from there.So the bombshell hit the University ofNevada and the city of Reno, and everybodyblamed me for trying to kill big time football.I’d like to say this: that I didn’t kill big timefootball, big time football killed itself. Becausea university the size of Nevada just can’t workon a million-dollar football budget. There’sno way that they can recoup the money thatthey were putting out for scholarships. Youhad Homecoming Day football games at theMackay Stadium at the University. It woulddraw ten thousand people, and usually, theyhad football teams like Houston or St. Mary’sor USF or some of those big time footballteams, but you had to pay guarantees. Youcouldn’t get ’em cheaply, and the guaranteesthat you had were eating up all the money—orthe admission money that you got from thebox office. And the only possible way thatthe scholarship program could be continuedwould be through the contributions of themerchants of the city of Reno and/or the restof the state of Nevada.At that time nobody from the southernpart of the state was especially interested infootball at the University of Nevada. Theywere four hundred miles away. There werea few kids from the Las Vegas area that wereplaying on the football team, although theydid have Bill Morris, who was playing center,and Tommy Bell, who was playing end,and a couple of lesser luminaries, but therewasn’t too much interest at southern Nevadaabout the University of Nevada football teambecause they had USC Trojans, the UCLABruins—some of the minor colleges—thatwere a lot closer to the people in Las Vegasthan those of the University of Nevada.Hence, you didn’t get much interest towardReno.I don’t know whether it was a lack ofinterest, or a lack of promotion on thepart of the Boosters committee. But theircontributions fell way below what they weresupposed to be, and as a result, it fell upon theBoard of Regents to supply the money for thescholarships. And as I told the people at themeeting that we had at El Cortez, I said, “Sixtythousand dollars will run the journalismschool for one semester.” I said, “I was electedto see, I think, that the kids got a propereducation. While I am all for football, I’d liketo see big time football, I can’t see cutting thebudget of a journalism course to take care oftwenty-two, twenty-five football players.And as a result, I was the bastard calf as faras the state of Nevada was concerned, becauseI had killed big time football. It was decidedthat Louis Lombardi, Dr. Louis Lombardi,with whom I went to school at the Universityof Nevada, and a fraternity brother, and NewtCrumley were to run for the Board of Regentswith the specific idea of beating Cahlan. Fouryears prior, I had won by a real high majority.This time that I ran after the football fiasco—Ithink there were six people in the race, and Ifinished fifth. And I didn’t get enough votesto wad a shotgun with. It was entirely due,I’m sure, to the fact that big time footballwas eliminated mainly through my efforts.And Lombardi and Crumley both made thestatement during the campaign—and it wasquite a campaign because they hit all partsof the state, boosted the thing up—that theywere going to return big time football to theUniversity of Nevada, that this was the onlysalvation of the state, and so forth, and soon. And it was very refreshing to me and itgave me a lot of satisfaction when, after theyhad been elected, they came out with the factthat Nevada couldn’t afford big time football,

A Term with the University of Nevada Board of Regents, 1947-195191which of course vindicated me in my ownmind. But it didn’t vindicate me with thevoters of the state of Nevada. So I was a victimof big time football. Oh, that’s just one of theinteresting highlights of my term with theBoard of Regents.I might say that it was quite interestingwhen I attended my first meeting of the Boardof Regents. I was staying at the Riverside Hoteland Si Ross, of course, was the perennialchairman of the Board of Regents. And Iwalked into the Riverside Hotel and sawGeorge Wingfield, Sr. sitting there, and I wentup and spoke to him and he said, “Hi, Johnny.I understand you’ve been elected to the Boardof Regents.” He said, “When are you going toget rid of that son of a bitch, Si Ross?”So I said, “What do you mean?”And he said, “Don’t you think he’s beenchairman of the Board of Regents longenough? He doesn’t do anything,” and so forthand so on.And I told George, I said, “George, look.I haven’t even attended one meeting of theBoard of Regents, and I don’t know whetherSi Ross is due to get out or whether he’s agood chairman. So I’m going to vote the wayI see it.”So we reelected Si Ross as chairman ofthe board, and he served as chairman of theboard during my entire tenure. And I mightsay that there was nobody—and I meannobody—who knew the operations of theUniversity of Nevada like Si Ross. And, fromall the dealings that I had with Si and theassociation I had with him, I found that hewas a very fair man; he never, at least when Iwas on the board, never forced his opinionson anybody, and usually threw suggestionsout on the table, and let the rest of the boardchew them up and then come to a decision.And I think Si Ross was one of the bestinfluences in the University of Nevada that Iknew all the time I was directly interested inthe University of Nevada.And that comes around to the fact ofJohn Moseley and his departure from theUniversity. I think it was about the secondyear that I was on the Board of Regents, andwe were having battles with the legislatureover the budget. The Board of Regents wouldpresent one budget, the president wouldpresent another, and the comptroller wouldpresent a third. When the legislators got in ahassle over the two budgets, the one that wassubmitted by the Board of Regents and theone that was submitted by the president, thecomptroller (Mr. Gorman) would come upwith a third budget and inform the legislatorsthat this was the only budget that countedbecause he was the comptroller; he knewmore about it than the Board of Regents andthe president, and therefore, they ought toaccept his budget. Well, this had been goingon for years, I understood, at the time. Andit was always, or most times, it was Gorman’sbudget that was adopted, and not the Regents’budget. That was not generally known, but itcertainly is the truth.So we decided that there was only goingto be one budget, and that that would be thebudget presented by the Regents. And wecalled in Dr. Moseley and Mr. Gorman andtold them that they were to stay strictly awayfrom the legislature unless they were invitedin by the legislators. They were to discuss nobudget, and that the committee for the budgetwas to be Si Ross and Al Hilliard, who wason the board at the time. They were the onesthat would go to the legislature and defendthe budget, and if any other witnesses wereneeded, then Ross and Hilliard would decidewhether they should call in Dr. Moseley andGorman.Well, the meeting was on a Friday andSaturday, and the legislature was already in

92 John F. Cahlansession. And the first thing that happened,I got a telephone call from Carson City onMonday from one of my friends up there towhom I had told about the situation withregard to Moseley, and he said, “Johnny, whatthe hell are you talkin’ about? You told methat Moseley was not going to be haunting thehalls of the legislature at any time during thesession. He is up here, handing out pamphletsfor the agricultural department.”So immediately, I called Si Ross and toldhim. I said, “Si, what’s Moseley doing at thelegislature?” Si said he didn’t know he wasover there, and I said, “Well, he is.” And twoor three other times in the interim betweenthe meetings, Moseley was at the legislaturedespite the definite fact that a resolution hadbeen passed, was on the books of the—I’msure it’s on the minutes of the—Board ofRegents, that Moseley and Gorman werestrictly to stay away from the legislature.Well, at the—let’s see, it was, I think,during the football game down in San Diegowhen the University of Nevada playedVillanova in the Harbor Bowl, I guess, atSan Diego. And my wife and daughter and Iwere in San Diego to see the football gameand we were invited over to a cocktail partyat which Moseley was present, and severalbrother SAE’s were present— Moseley beingan SAE. I remember standing out in thekitchen of the apartment in San Diego andMoseley asking about how the thing wasgoing, and the SAE brethren were talkingto me about what a great job Moseley wasdoing, and I quietly said to John, “If you’vegot any contacts, you’d better take advantageof them right now.”And he said, “What do you mean?”And I said, “Well, at the next meetingof the Board of Regents I’m going to ask foryour resignation.” Of course, that busted upthe party right there.So the next meeting after that wasin January or February, and I prepared astatement of policy. The Friday night beforethe Saturday meeting, I called Chris Sheerinand Sam Arentz into my room at the RiversideHotel. And I gave both of them a copy of theresolution. And I said—I told ’em— that Iwas going to introduce that resolution to theBoard of Regents at the meeting on Saturday.I explained to them the whole situation, andthey were familiar with some of the stuff.This was not the only time that Moseley hadjust defied the Regents. And they agreed tosupport me. So after they had left, I went upto see Si Ross and told him that I was goingto ask for the resignation of Moseley and alsothe resignation of Gorman, because of thefact that the two were diametrically opposedon everything, and that if Moseley wereremoved that there would be every chancethat Gorman would be put in as president ofthe University, and this, I couldn’t see. Si thencalled in several people from Rena, most ofthem Masons, of which Gorman was one, andthey pleaded with me to—they said, “It’s allright to go ahead with Moseley, but can’t yoube sympathetic with Gorman?”And I said, “I’m sympathetic with Gorman.The fact of the matter is that I was brought upalongside of his family on Center Street inReno. We lived at 815, and he lived on thecorner of Eighth and Center Street, and wewere very good friends. Harold Gorman wasone of my best friends, and always has been.”I could see where there was some way ofsalvaging Gorman. So I said, “All right. Now,Gorman is coming close to the retirement age,and,” I said, “I will agree that Gorman be givena leave of absence on full pay for one year.”And I said, “I’ll probably get criticism becausewe’re paying two presidents of the Universityof Nevada.” But, I said, “This situation has gotto be remedied. Moseley has got to go as far as

A Term with the University of Nevada Board of Regents, 1947-195193I’m concerned because he’s—just doesn’t takethe word of the Regents of the University ofNevada who are supposed to set policy, andhe is setting policy himself, and I think thatthis is a very bad idea, as far as the operationof the University is concerned.”So that was agreed to, and I presenteda resolution at the next meeting— the nextday—and it was passed by a unanimousvote. And then it came to the situation offinding an interim replacement for Moseleyand Gorman. So Si Ross suggested Parker,Colonel Parker, who was the head of themilitary department at the University. Andwhen I found Parker’s background, hisachievements, not only in the military, butin other segments of the economy as well, Ithought that his qualifications were such thathe could very definitely operate the Universityin the interim. The fact of the matter is, when,after Parker’d been there about six months, Iwas all in favor of making him president ofthe University of Nevada, but he did not havea PH.D. degree, and therefore could not beconsidered. It was something that had to dowith the professorial angle of the Universitypresident. But Parker did a very fine job.I might say that while we were seekinga president for the University of Nevada, wehad many, many applications. We had settledthem down to about five, and I was down inmy office in the Review-Journal when a manby the name of Malcolm Love came in to seeme. He said that Jack Conlon (who now isSenator Cannon’s executive assistant) had saidthat the University of Nevada was lookingfor a new president, and Jack suggested thatMalcolm come down and see me and discussthe thing. He told me at the time that he wasnot looking for the president’s job. He hada good job in Colorado—at the Universityof Colorado—and was not at all seeking thepresident’s job. And after talking to him forhalf, three quarters of an hour, I asked him—Isaid, “Why don’t you apply for the position.You haven’t applied for it yet, and so why don’tyou apply for it and see what happens?”And he said, “Well, I will.”He went back to Colorado and wrote aletter of application and put in his resume,and it was very satisfactory as far as theeducational background was concerned andeverything. I was quite impressed with theman when I talked to him at the Review-Journal office. So it came down to threepeople. And we eliminated one of them bygeneral consent and got down to Love andone other, and we were discussing the relativemerits of the two people at the end of thesession—the business session—that day, andthey postponed the selection until the nextmeeting of the board.And at that time, I came back on the planeand sitting alongside me was the other man,a Californian, who applied for the presidencyof the University. He didn’t know who I was,but I knew who he was. So I very—I hope—adroitly, got him into a conversation, and bythe time I got to Las Vegas, I had decidedthat this man was not for the presidency ofthe University. If I would mention his name,most people would know why he was not. ButI—in all fairness to him—he now is presidentof another university that had many, manydifficulties before he got into the position heis in now. So it got down, in my estimation,to Love.So we wired him to come down andtalk to us at the Regents’ meeting—the nextRegents meeting—and he came down. Andwe discussed it with him for, oh, half an hour,and then we excused him. I told them theexperience that I had with the Californian,and That I would not agree to accept him aspresident of the University. So I finally wonthe three others on to my side and Love was

94 John F. Cahlanelected president by a vote of four to one, andthen it was made unanimous.So that’s how Love came to the Universityof Nevada. And I don’t say that as a pun, either.But it was very unfortunate because his wifedid not like Nevada, and I can see why, becauseshe had allergies, and she was just—her healthwas not good while she was at the Universityof Nevada. He stayed, I think, two years, andthen received this offer from San Diego andwent down to San Diego State and becamepresident. I think that our judgment certainlyhas been vindicated by the way he has madeSan Diego State into one of the leading collegeson the West Coast, if not the United States.And it’s certainly something that I am proudof having a part in because he was a very fineadministrator, lie was very affable; everybodyliked him, and he had great administrativeability. And I was certainly sorry to see himgo. But, I guess that’s the way the ball bounces.Was he the one who left so suddenly,without telling us why he was going? Yes, itwas a shame, because he didn’t handle thething—just overnight he announced thathe was going to San Diego. Of course, that’snot the way to do the job. But I was—I wasnot on the Board of Regents at the time, andhad I been, I am sure that I would have beeninformed, because Malcolm and I were—wereand still are—very good friends. He comes uphere every once in a while and sees ArchieGrant, who is on the Board of Regents nowand was chairman of the Board of Regents formany years. And every time he comes up, I seeMalcolm and his wife and we’re still very goodfriends. And as I say, had I been a memberof the Board of Regents, that wouldn’t’vehappened the way it did. But unfortunately,it did, and that’s it.Did Dr. Love have any particularinstructions about faculty? Well, he was veryreticent to give people tenure. I mean it wasa situation that was forced on him; it wasforced on me, too. I am not for tenure untilthey prove themselves, and I have found out alot of times that, once these people get tenure,they lose incentive and gain egotism. I don’tsay all of them, but some of the people do.Let me give you an illustration. There wasa professor at the University who was— orthe Regents were discussing what shouldbe done with a particular course, whetherit should be in the mining department orin the arts and science department. It was acourse that the requirement was definitelya part of the mining curriculum. However,the majority of people who took the coursewere from arts and science. So we decidedthat—the Regents decided that— it shouldbe transferred from the mining departmentto the arts and science department. That wasnot a great thing to make an issue out of, butone of the professors appeared before theRegents. He had tenure, had been there formany, many years, and he came in there andtold the Regents that if they were to transferthis one course into the arts and science, thathe was going to quit. And I told the man, Isaid, “You know, you’re—you and my fatherwere very, very good friends. I’ve known youa long time, and I think you’ve known mea long time and you’ve known my father along time.” And I said, “When anybody—anyemployee of the Board of Regents—comes upto the Board of Regents and starts telling themhow they’re going to run the University andthat he would quit if they don’t, I’m ready toaccept your resignation right now.”The man tried to back down, and he said,“Well, I didn’t mean it that way, uh—”And it all developed because the subjectwas transferred to the arts and sciencedepartment and it made just as much senseanywhere as it did there, and so all the regentswent along as far as policy was concerned.

A Term with the University of Nevada Board of Regents, 1947-195195But this is the situation you run into whenyou get tenure among some people. Now,don’t misunderstand me, tenure is good,and I—well, it’s the same thing as a union forthe university professors. They are assured oflongevity in their life’s work, which is perfectlyall right with me if they don’t overstep thebounds like this guy did. And it was a verysimple matter. He could’ve come in and madehis protest and walked out. But having beenthere, he’s a lot like a lot of people that arein any business, they—or a politician that’sin, that gets reelected eight or nine times; hethings that the city hall belongs to him andhe’s going to run it the way he thinks that itought to be run, instead of asking the citizens.And the same way with employees of anyinstitution. Somebody’s got to make policy,and it’s up to the elected official of the peopleto make that policy.Dr. Love wasn’t instructed, then, to makeit kind of hot for some particular departmentor professor? Let’s say he was not officiallyinstructed to. At that time, there were, andbelieve me when I tell you this: that there weresome very divisive elements at the Universityof Nevada. I knew what was going on, as Ihad a couple of pipelines at the Universityin the students. And I got my informationfrom the students. And I’d like to say thatAl Hilliard was the sounding board for allof this dissident group of professors at theUniversity of Nevada. They used to go overto Al’s home and had coffee or cocktails, orwhatever it was, and discuss the situation.And Al would bring their complaints to theBoard of Regents meetings. And believe me, itgot to be a point when every time Al Hilliardwould open his mouth about somebody onthe faculty, that the other four members of theBoard would figure that here came somethingthat was a complaint that was tinged withsort of violent-colored paint. I will not makeany accusations, but certainly they were notthings that were legitimate complaints. Whenthese complaints would be made, I wouldget ahold of my pipelines among the studentbody, and I would find out, four times out offive, that these guys were teaching somethingelse—extra-curricular stuff—that was not inthe university area. And a lot of it was heldunder cover—no question about it—thatthese guys were—the guys that were makingthe trouble, and I think if you recall correctlyyour newspaper comments, there were somelegal proceedings instituted against theUniversity of Nevada by some of these guys,and they were the ones that were causing allthe trouble.Oh, and I might say also, that one of thethings that kicked back on us, as members ofthe Board of Regents, we decided it would bea very good idea if we had an honorary Boardof Regents, consisting of people who could, ifthey would, write into their will thousands ofdollars which would be placed in the coffersof the University of Nevada to do with as wesaw fit. So we went to the legislature and gotthe authority to set up this honorary Boardof Regents and explained to the legislatorsexactly what we had in mind, and theythought it was a good idea, because it mightget some scholarships or some donations—foundations from these various people. Andso we set up the honorary board. I can’tremember; I know Noble Getchell was one ofthem, and, oh, there were three or four otherpeople, I think we had nine, or something.And some of the newspapers got ahold of thething and were yelping about an HonoraryBoard of Regents and what did the Regentsneed another board to tell them what to do,and so forth, and so on. And unfortunately, wedidn’t tell the press about this deal—what theidea of the Honorary Board of Regents was.And that was the reason it backfired.

96 John F. CahlanBut that was the start of expanding theBoard to nine members, and making themrepresentative of various divisions of the stateof Nevada. Unfortunately, that was one thingthat I’m not very proud of as far as my activitywas concerned on the Board of Regents. It wassomething that I should have known better,because I should’ve taken the press into ourconfidence and let them know what we weregoing to do. I didn’t; it was a mistake, andthat’s the answer.But it did get legislation to change thewhole setup of the Board of Regents, andI think for the better, because, after all, afive-member Board of Regents, elected atlarge, certainly does not represent the entirepeople in the state of Nevada. When I wason, there were two from Washoe County,one from Douglas County, one from ElkoCounty, and one from Clark County. So youcan see that the northern section of the statedominated the Board of Regents. I don’t saythat critically, I just say that as a matter of fact.There were three from the north and one fromthe east and one from the south. Ely was notrepresented at all. So I think that the bill thatthey passed for nine members of the Boardto be elected as they are elected now is muchbetter than the old situation.But I had quite some stormy career asa Regent of the University of Nevada. I’mnot at all sorry that I spent the four years,because they were very enlightening and verysatisfying to me, and I hope I contributed justa little to the benefit of the college from whichI was graduated. I feel I did. I don’t know ifthe citizens of the state of Nevada think so,but that’s their problem.

6Evolution of theCentennial Commission and theNevada State Division of ArchivesOne of the things that I am quite proudof having accomplished was setting upthe Nevada State Archives Division up inJohnny Koontz’s Secretary of State’s office.This idea hit me when I was at the legislatureone session, and Johnny Koontz invited medownstairs to see all the records that they haddown there, and how they were kept. Theserecords were kept in the basement, in a roomthat had dirt floors and wood partitions forputting the books in them, and the books werescattered all over the place. He showed me onebook which was the original book of civil lawin the state of Nevada, handwritten. It was abook about, oh, I should judge twenty-fourinches wide and ten or twelve inches long.And it was all written in—handwritten. Itwas the first draft of civil law that was passedby the legislature. And someone had put thebook up under a steam pipe and the steampipe had leaked and eaten away the coverand about the first ten or fifteen pages of thispriceless document. It was the first civil lawpassed in the state of Nevada in 1864, and itwas all handwritten, beautifully handwritten.Perhaps I should explain here that Iattended six consecutive sessions of theNevada legislature, representing the LasVegas Review-Journal through 1960 andlater representing the Las Vegas Chamber ofCommerce. The legislators were my friendsand I had done them many favors through mywriting and reports on the various sessions.I decided at that time that somethingought to be done to protect these documents.Under the state law, the Secretary of Stateis charged with preserving all documentsrelating to the state. The only place he hadto put them was down in the basement, andnobody had paid any attention to them since1864, or since the capitol was built, becausethey just seemed to be piling up down therein the basement. When I realized somethinghad to be done, I went to State Senator MartinDuffy, from Goldfield, and got him to comedown to the basement, and I showed him—orhad Johnny Koontz show him—what he hadshown me. And as a result, we drafted a bill toset up a state archives bureau in the Secretaryof State’s office.

98 John F. CahlanWell, it was about that time that they werehaving a lot of trouble with the school funds.The legislature was revising the PeabodyFormula, which had been used as a basis todistribute funds and was not satisfactory. Theywere having a dickens of a time trying to getmoney enough to support the schools. Sowhen the Archives bill was introduced, it wassent to the finance committee for discussionand died in the finance committee. I dideverything that I knew how to do to get thething out of the committee, but they said, andrightly so, I believe, that this was just settingup another bureau that was going to costincreasingly more as the years went on, sothey were not going to pass the bill.Well, the next session of the legislature, Ihad Martin Duffy introduce the bill again, andit had the same fate. But during that time, it wasthe 1962 session of the legislature, GovernorSawyer set up a Centennial Commission forthe centennial of 1964 and had it funded. AndI was named the managing director of theNevada centennial celebration. Unfortunately,I had different ideas than the members of theCentennial Commission that were appointedby Governor Sawyer. I had the idea that thething should be a statewide celebration, andwas laying the program in that manner.I had envisioned a big celebration over theentire year and had suggested, as a kick-off forthe celebration, that we would dedicate thePonderosa Ranch, which is used in the TVseries, “Bonanza,” and make Ben Cartwrightand Hoss and Little Joe honorary citizensof the state of Nevada, figuring that, shouldwe do this, we would get Chevrolet (whichsponsors the Bonanza program) interested inthe Nevada Centennial and also, NBC, whichshows the series on television. I was told thatIncline Village, for which the CentennialCommission chairman was the ad agency,would take care of setting up the dedication,and that was the last I heard of it. Nothingwas done.Secondly, I suggested to the Board theGoldfield Hotel, which probably was oneof the most famous buildings in the stateof Nevada, because it was built during thebig boom at Goldfield and had more stocktraded in its lobby than was traded on theSan Francisco Exchange at that time. Andanybody that knows anything about theGoldfielders, no matter where they are, ifthere’s a celebration in Goldfield, they’ll breaktheir necks trying to get there. So I suggestedthat we reopen the Goldfield Hotel andhave a costume ball at which all of the stateofficials would dress in costumes and anybodywho wanted to come to Goldfield would beperfectly welcome. We could have a barbecueand everything. Of course, there’s no hotel upthere, no motels, but they could have stayedin Tonopah, or they could have brought theirtrailers and campers and tents or anything,and we could have had a real wingding there atGoldfield. I got a telegram from the chairmanof the Centennial Commission saying that,“George Wingfield is dead, Tex Rickard’s dead,and so’s Goldfield. Forget the idea.” So, thatwas number two.The third thing that practically brokethe camel’s back and brought about myresignation as director of the Centennial wasthe fact that in Las Vegas there is a man bythe name of Antonio Morelli, who is directorof music at the Sands Hotel. He is a very finemusician, composer, and producer. When Ihad a meeting down here with the leaders ofClark County to suggest what could be donein Clark County, Mr. Morelli told me and theother members of the county committee thathe would plan and write a pageant for theCentennial which would more or less picturethe history of the state of Nevada from whenthe pioneers first came here until the present

Evolution of the Centennial Commission and the Nevada State Division of Archives99time. He would do this and direct the programand the staging of this pageant in threecommunities—in Elko, Reno or Carson City,and Las Vegas; in this way, give it exposure toall three sections of the state, Elko in the eastand southeast, Reno in the north and wouldtake in as far as Yerington and Fallon, andthat area, and then Las Vegas to take in therest of the state. It would be staged during thesummer, and students at the high schools or atthe universities would be used as the chorusand underlings in the pageant. The stars ofthe pageant could have been recruited eitherfrom the stages of local Las Vegas resorts orthe resorts at Lake Tahoe and Reno. And inaddition to that, he would guarantee that therewould be $71,000 from the Musicians’ welfarefund, which would be available to stage thispageant for the Centennial. And that it wouldprobably cost the state $60,000.Well, the way Morelli outlined the thingto me and to the other members of the countycommittee, it was something that wouldprobably make “Oklahoma!” look—well,anyway, it would be somewhere near the“Oklahoma!” stature. He had it all outlinedin his mind—not completely outlined, butthe story of the pageant outlined in his mind.I thought that this would be of tremendousvalue, not only as a tourist lure, but as a focalpoint for the various counties in the state tolatch onto, to take care of their county shows.I was told by the commission that this wastoo elaborate a deal for the state of Nevada toput on, and to forget about it. So, at that time,I decided that there was no need of me goingany further as executive secretary.I had already arranged with the ColtFirearms Company to produce severalCentennial Colt revolvers, which they did.I also contacted the Jim Beam whiskeycompany to put those special bottles out,which they did. And incidentally, thosebottles are selling now anywhere from $75to $90 apiece because of the fact that thereweren’t many of them put out.I also had the idea of putting out specialNevada coins, which would be used as legaltender in the state of Nevada and would beredeemable at any bank in the state of Nevadaat face value. I was going to put out quarters,halves, and dollars. We could have made a lotof money with this sort of thing, because a lotof them would be taken home for souvenirsand never cashed in. The committee didn’tfeel that we could do this because it probablywould be counterfeiting United States coins.So this idea was dropped, despite the fact thatabout two years ago, they started in mintingcoins for the various casinos in the state ofNevada that were used in the slot machines.There is just plenty of money being made onthose coins because of the fact that so manyare being taken out of the state as souvenirs.This could have been done with Centennialcoins.There were a lot of things that I suggested,that as the first year went along—I servedone year; I could see that the CentennialCommission was not interested in puttingon any sort of a big celebration. I toured thestate several times during the year that I wasdirector, and set up county committees. Andwe had some very fine ideas come up. Oh,Elko wanted to set up false fronts on the storesall along the highway that runs through Elko,and make it a complete village. Winnemuccawanted to set up tours up at Fort McDermittand put on Indian dances for the tourists thatwere coming into the community—makeit a tour from, leave from Winnemucca inthe morning and go to McDermitt and havelunch, and then come back to Winnemucca,and get the people to stay an extra day. Therewere some very fine ideas that came up as Imade my trips.

100 John F. CahlanAnd when the committee—the statecommittee—made their rules and regulations,they said that the state committee could notbe called upon for any money to finance thevarious county shows. So I had the idea thatone way that we could beat this rule wasto put out these coins and have the variousareas sell them, and take the money thatthey realized from the coins to finance theirshows. And whoever had the flag concessionsand souvenir concessions would have toshare the money—rather than with the statecommittee—[with] the various countycommittees. And the money that was takenin by the various counties would stay in thecounties. But the state committee couldn’tsee this, because they wanted the souvenirs,all the money from the souvenirs, to go intothe state fund so that they would have enoughmoney to put on their show.I also had an idea that we could start acovered wagon from St. Joseph, Missouri,come out through Nevada as a trek that wasmade to the mines in Virginia City. This wasturned down. I also wanted to hire, for theduration of the summer rodeo season, an oxwagon, and transport it to all these rodeos asa—this was the year prior to the celebration—and transport the thing to all the rodeos as anadvertisement of the Nevada Centennial, andthen wind up at the Tournament of Roses inthe Rose Parade with the ox cart, or ox wagon,decorated in flowers and headed by an Indianband, dressed in buckskin costumes, and thedrum major in the feathered headdress of theIndians. This also was turned down.And so I could see I was getting no placein a hurry, so I resigned the job. And, as aresult, the celebration of the Centennial wasconfined entirely to Nevada Day in CarsonCity.However, there was a real good result,and this is what I started to talk about whenI started to talk about the Archives. It’s a longway toward getting back to the legislativesession, but the legislative session in ’66, Iguess it was, I found out that the CentennialCommission had turned back $70,000 fromthe amount of money that was appropriatedby the legislature as unexpended funds. SoI got the idea that, here was a good chanceto get the State Archives set up and, even byallowing the Centennial Commission to takecredit for setting the thing up, if that had tobe done. Moreover, I went to the assemblyand got all of the native-born Nevadans tointroduce a bill into the legislature to setup the State Archives. I think the originalappropriation was for $45,000, I’m not sure,but it was somewhere around there. It wasn’tall of the funds that were returned by theCentennial Commission.It was introduced into the lower houseabout the middle of the session, and I foughtfor, oh, three or four weeks before to get thething out of the committee. I knew that ifI could get it on the floor, we could get thething passed. So about two weeks before thesession ended, Jim Gibson, the chairman ofthe ways and means committee, got word—Ispread the word through the introducers ofthe bill—that one of his bills was doomed todefeat on the floor of the house unless thatArchives bill came out of committee. And thenext day, they voted the bill out of committee,and it went through the assembly without anegative vote.So it went over into the senate into thefinance committee, and I went in and satwith the finance committee while they weredebating the bill. I told Floyd Lamb, whowas the chairman of the committee, andJohn Fransway and Emerson Titlow, MahlonBrown, I guess was the other member, thatthey had promised me the session before—or whenever it was that the second bill was

Evolution of the Centennial Commission and the Nevada State Division of Archives101introduced by Martin Duffy—if they couldbe shown how they could get the money tofinance this thing, that they would vote thebill out. So I told them that, “Here I camewith this $45,000, now you damn well betterget the bill out, or we’ll see what happens!”So they voted it out, and it got ontothe floor. When they started the roll call,apparently, they had the thing rigged so thatthey would vote “No”—the first seven guyswould vote “No” and the eighth guy wouldvote “No,” then he would change his vote. Well,the thing got beat the first time around. Butthen somebody got up—I’ve forgotten who itwas— and said that, “I decided to change myvote to ‘Aye’ from ‘Nay,’” and then they all goton the floor to vote “Aye.” I was in there—ofcourse so they were giving me a big rib.But we finally got the bill through. And athome, I have the pen that the governor signedthe bill with, and a picture of him signing itin my presence, and also, a copy of the billthat he signed. So that is in my archives—mypersonal archives.I certainly am very proud of that fact,because since the bill was passed, JohnnyKoontz has a very fine man up there who is thestate archivist, and he has done a tremendousjob of filing and indexing these things. It’s thefirst time in the history of the state of Nevadathat such has been done. I was told recentlyby Russ MacDonald, who is the bill drafterup there, that if I accomplished nothing else,the archivist got those laws into such shapethey don’t have to go down and paw throughpiles of books to come up with the things theyneed to draft new bills. So in that way, alone,it saved the state of Nevada a lot of money.And it has also codified and indexed a lot ofthe state papers that nobody knew that thestate of Nevada had.Since the thing has been in operation,there have been very, very many donationsto the archives. One of them was a flag— thelast flag that flew over the Indian reservationat Halleck. This was sent to the archivistby the granddaughter, I think, of the lastcommanding officer who took down the flagand kept it. His family didn’t want it, and shedidn’t know what to do with it. As soon asthey found out that the archives had been setup, they sent it there. As the years go by, manymore historic records will accumulate there. Ifanybody is interested, they should go see thearchives section because they’ve got recordsthat go clear back to 1862 in the beginningsof the state of Nevada. As I say, there are a lotof state papers down there that are invaluableto researchers.Another one of the reasons that I hadthe State Archives in mind was that JohnnyKoontz showed me a letter from Washington,D. C., which was written to Governor Nyeand was signed by A. Lincoln, and somebodyhad seen the letter and cut off the signature,making it, of course, of no value without thesignature. This is the type of material that Ithink, and always have thought, should bepreserved for posterity. I’m certainly proudthat I had at least a little part in setting up theState Archives, and it’s going to be a pride ofmine, and I’m certain, the rest of my family,for as long as they live.

7Sketches of Some NevadaPoliticians I Have KnownThis subject naturally leads toreminiscences of the political figures whoeither lived in Las Vegas or visited here withwhom I became fairly well acquainted. I toldyou about Presidents Herbert Hooaver andFranklin D. Roosevelt. Here is an incidentthat is not generally known. When Rooseveltcame to Las Vegas to dedicate Hoover orBoulder Dam, James Cashman, Sr., as usual,was in charge of the welcoming committee forRoosevelt. Cashman had a very good friendby the name of Claude Mackey, who was theWPA Director in southern Nevada. Mackeyand his WPA crew had built a road into theLee Canyon area, of which Mackey was very,very proud. Senator Key Pittman, the seniorsenator from Nevada and a powerful figure inWashington, also insisted that the Presidentmust see what the WPA had accomplishedin Nevada. So nothing would do but that thePresident should go—he wanted to go up—to see this WPA Project. (I don’t know thathe wanted to go up, but the people wanted totake him up to see it, and he was not averseto going because he had a couple of hours towaste before his train left.) So they took offin a motor caravan to Lee Canyon.Well, they overlooked the fact that theycould go up the road all right, but returningwould be different, as there was no way to turnthe automobile around in the canyon at theend of the road project. So they were stuckup in the mountains. Finally, the chauffeurof the automobile—I don’t know whetherhe was a local person or whether he wasone of Roosevelt’s chauffeurs—but, anyway,he said, “If you’ll get the President out ofthe automobile, I’ll get it turned around.”Because of the President’s handicap, this wasan embarrassment to everyone. As he waitedoutside the car, it was moved forward andbackward, making a little turn at a time. Aftera delay of about an hour and a half, the drivergot the car turned around so that it could startback down.Well, some of the Secret Service people,who were waiting in Las Vegas while otherswent with Roosevelt to the mountains, werejust sweating themselves out real good. Theydidn’t know whether Roosevelt was at the

104 John F. Cahlanbottom of a canyon, in the mountains upthere, or what the dickens had happened, andthere was no telephone or way to find out.After about an hour and a half of waiting,a couple of them started out toward thecanyon. But they met the caravan comingdown from the mountains about ten milesout, so they turned around and came backand loaded Roosevelt aboard the train,and sent him on his way. All the reportersfrom around the country naturally werespeculating on what a real big headline itwould be if Roosevelt were killed in a carcrash up in the mountains of Lee Canyon,where he should not have been. The SecretService had been in the area for many daysto check for security on the President’s everymove, but nobody checked Lee Canyon,where it never was intended he would go. Itwas a great relief to everyone when that trainpulled out of the Las Vegas station with thePresident safely aboard.Then I also told you about Harry Trumanwhen he came here as the head of thecommittee investigating the Basic Magnesium,Incorporated plant. And as I say, I becamequite well acquainted with him. I supposethat I could have gotten into the President’soffice in Washington when Truman becamePresident, but I never tried.And then, when John Kennedy cameto Las Vegas, when he was running for thenomination, my brother-in-law, Herbert M.“Herb” Jones, was very active in the Kennedyfor President campaign in the southernNevada area. In fact, he was chairman of theKennedy for President campaign here—apart of the entire Nevada campaign. SoI met Kennedy when he was here, andmanaged to talk to him several times. ThenI saw him two or three times down in LosAngeles at the Biltmore Hotel where theKennedy headquarters were during the 1960Democratic National Convention, which Icovered for the Review-Journal.I also became very well acquaintedwith Lyndon Johnson, mainly through mybrother’s (A. E. Cahlan’s) activity for hiscandidacy. My brother was one of the firstto promote Johnson and the last to leavehim—he supported him all the way through.Johnson came to Las Vegas one time for a rallyat the Convention Center, and my brother wasout to meet him, and when Johnson got offthe plane, he grabbed my brother around theshoulder and said, “Well, even if the Southdeserted me, I’ve still got you,” which meantmy brother was still supporting him, and thatthe South had left him.I also conversed with him when he wasout at the Convention Center at a rally andcocktail party. It was an interesting sidelightthat while they had the reception for Johnsonat one end of the Convention Center in theGold Room—and a cocktail party which wasthe usual thing to do—the LDS church washolding its stake or regional meeting in therotunda, at the other end of the ConventionCenter. So it was quite a contrast to walk froman LDS conference, which some Mormonpeople did— from the LDS conference inthe rotunda to the cocktail party in the GoldRoom. But this is one of the things that makesLas Vegas unique—that you can do somethinglike this, and nobody’s really perturbed aboutit. And I also was fairly active in Johnson’scampaign headquarters in Los Angeles.Florence, my wife, and I sat directlybehind Lady Bird and the two Johnson girlsin the balcony the afternoon that Johnsonwas nominated as Vice President, and sawthe reaction of the three women members. Ofcourse, the girls were not nearly as impressedas Lady Bird was. Lady Bird sort of sobbed acouple of times and then smiled. And I nevercould figure out whether it was sadness that

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known105Johnson took the vice presidency, or whetherit was so much joy that she had that she wasovercome. The kids rose and screamed andclapped their hands and joined the galleryjubilation. But, as I say, I don’t know whetherLady Bird was happy or sad. Anyway, that’sthe way it was.How would I characterize some of thesePresidents that I’ve met and talked to? Themost human guy of the whole bunch ofthem was Harry Truman. Of course, I knewHarry Truman before he was President, butfrom what I have heard, he hasn’t changed.He at that time was a Missouri haberdasherwho had been selected United States Senator,and he didn’t quite know how it happened.And I understand that it was the same waywhen he was tapped for vice president, andhe didn’t know why anybody would wantHarry Truman for Vice President. And thenwhen he got to be President, he didn’t changea great deal. think that as far as history isconcerned, I think that he will go down inhistory as a human President, much likePresident Lincoln. I don’t say that Trumanhad all the attributes of Lincoln, but he didhave that homely attribute which was, I amsure, responsible for his defeat of Dewey in theelection when the two of them were runningagainst each other. Truman -lust was able toget to the people. I mean, he didn’t have to goout and shake hands like a lot of the rest ofthese people did. He was like your Uncle Pete,and just a nice guy. Human—had all of thehuman frailties, as is shown by his outburstat the critic who said his daughter, Margaret’s,voice stank, and so he called him an s.o.b.,and that was it. It didn’t make any differencewhether he was President; he was still thefather of Margaret Truman, and that’s the wayhe felt. And I think he was a very human guy.As far as his political accomplishments wereconcerned, history will have to tell that.Roosevelt, very, very egotistical. He wasa man who always talked down at you—ifyou saw him in public. Of course, if youwere in the room where he was, there wasno one who dominated the picture as muchas Roosevelt; and I think this proved to betrue when he was the President. And I thinkone of the things that happened was thatRoosevelt never would allow anybody to getup—even on the same level with him as apolitical leader. He cut them all down. AndRoosevelt, in my estimation, at least, believedthat he was anointed, and that he was goingto be the king of the world. And I don’t thinkthat Eleanor did anything to deter him in thatthought. In fact, I think she was his campaignmanager. Roosevelt, there’s no doubt about it,was a very brilliant man. Had Roosevelt notgone on to a third and fourth term, I think heprobably would have gone down in history asone of the greatest Presidents in history. Buthis third and fourth terms just— he made somany mistakes, and his health was so bad inhis fourth term that he just couldn’t function;it was much like Wilson in the last part of histerm. He was a sick man. And a sick man doesnot think straight.As far as Hoover is concerned, I havenever known two people who were as entirelydifferent as Hoover and Roosevelt. Hooverwas a typical engineer. He didn’t communicatewith people. He knew what he was doing,but he couldn’t get the meaning of his wordsand the theory of his program over to thepeople. I think that Hoover showed that hewas a great man, in the years after he left thePresidency. If the same thing had happenedto him during the time he was President aswhat happened after he was President, andhis humanizing of people, I think he wouldhave been recognized as a very fine President.I think Hoover will be known not so much forhis term as President as for what he did before

106 John F. Cahlanand after he got out of the Presidency, becausehe accomplished things that nobody else evercould have accomplished. And he was a verybrilliant man and very well educated, veryerudite, and had all of the—he looked likea President, and I think Hoover was a greatman. He inherited the situation that nobodycould have beat. Roosevelt then stepped in.Hoover had outlined programs that couldhave whipped the Depression, but Congresspostponed action. As a result, there was aDepression. Roosevelt stepped in, had theguts to make the moves that Hoover couldn’tmake, and Roosevelt was such an egotist andthrough his egoism became a leader who bentCongress to his will.I don’t think that there is anybody whocould deny that Roosevelt had more or lessa hypnotic influence on the people of theUnited States. You would hear him get upthere and say, “My friends...,” and start outon those fireside chats, and you’d believewhatever he told you. He believed he wassitting on the right hand of God—that hewas the chosen man. There wasn’t any doubtabout it. One time I observed people downon Fremont Street in Las Vegas during afireside chat. A loudspeaker was set up whilethe Democrats were having some kind of ameeting upstairs in a room at the Eagles Hall.There were hundreds of people out on thestreet, and rather than listen to the speech (Inever was one of Roosevelt’s great admirers),I watched the expressions on the faces of thepeople who were on the streets there. Theirmouths were open, and their eyes were glazed,and they were just hypnotized by the man.And this is what he did. He did a real fine job,as I say, during the first two terms.Kennedy—I don’t know. I was moreinfluenced in my opinion of Kennedy by histwo brothers than I was by him. Teddy wasa little snip. He was—he told people what todo; he didn’t ask anybody what they woulddo or how. He told them, “This is the wayI want it done.” Bobby was, oh, just sort ofa, I don’t know, a juvenile delinquent. I hadlittle respect for either Bobby or Teddy. As faras John was concerned, I think that he hadmuch the same appeal that Roosevelt had. Idon’t know whether it was his Massachusettsspeech, although Roosevelt had the same kindof speaking ability that Kennedy had, andKennedy had much of that hypnotic influencethat Roosevelt had. I think that John Kennedywould have become a great President had helived to finish out his one term, and probablytwo terms. He had the leadership ability. Ididn’t think much of some of his programs,but I mean he was the President of the UnitedStates and he was going for all the people,and that was it. I thought that John Kennedyhad great possibilities, and his assassinationcertainly was a tragedy, because he was justgetting into the swing of the Presidency, and Ithink he would have become a good President.As far as Lyndon Johnson is concerned[five-second pause], the pause is because I’mtrying to make up my mind what place he willtake in history. When Lyndon Johnson was themajority leader of the Senate, he was probablythe most powerful man in Washington, evenmore powerful than the President because itwas he who decided whether the President’sprogram went through, or was killed. At thetime he was running for President—for thenomination for President—and as majorityleader of the United States Senate, he was adifferent type man than he is today. No doubtabout it, he was a very astute and maneuveringpolitician when he was majority leader. Armtwistingand soft-soaping, and all of the rest ofthe things that are necessary for a politician,he had. He could make you feel like you were along-lost friend just by shaking your hand. Healways grabbed your right hand with his right

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known107hand and put his left hand under your elbowand sort of milked your hand like he’d milk acow. And this was sort of an interesting thingbecause this he did with everybody, and justwhile he was talking to you, he’d just squeezeyour hand like he was milking a cow.He changed when he became Presidentof the United States. And I can tell you howhe changed because I told you how closemy brother was to him during his campaignto get the 1960 nomination for the UnitedStates Presidency. My brother happened tobe back in Washington after the Kennedyassassination and Johnson’s succession tooffice. Al went up to see Senator Bible, whothen called the White House and got throughto Johnson. Bible said, “I have an old friendof yours here from the West.”And Johnson said, “Yeh, who?”And Bible said, “Al Cahlan.”Johnson said, “Who’s he?”Now as close as they were when Johnsonwas trying to get the nomination for thePresidency of the United States and thensettled for the Vice Presidency, it seemsimpossible to me that the man would be ableto forget it, especially when he sent pictures tomy brother—autographed pictures—and hadsent a telegram to him when my brother wasvery ill. So that is what happened. Whether hedid that to other people, I don’t know.But here, again, Johnson carried hispolitical maneuvering and his politicalaptitude into the White House. And while hewas talking about consensus, the consensusthat he wanted was the same type that he gotin the United States Senate. He got consensus,or else.From what happened the last two yearsof his term as President, after Kennedy wasassassinated, and the three years since he waselected on his own, in my estimation, if hehad continued on and not withdrawn himself,he might not even have been nominated andprobably would have been badly defeated inthe election of 1968 if he had been nominated.That’s my own opinion, as I studied the trendin the political attitudes of the country. Acandidate is either up, or he’s down, and Ithink that Johnson was real down until theSunday night that he made the speech that hewas withdrawing from the race for Presidentand that he was sacrificing his future role asPresident of the United States for peace inVietnam. I think that night a President wasborn, because he kicked away all the politicalmaneuvering that was such a part of him, andbecame a statesman. I think that if he holdsto the fact that he has withdrawn from thepolitical arena, that he will go down in historyas a great President.Pat McCarran, I think, was a great Senatorfrom the state of Nevada. Fe became veryruthless when he got control of the Democraticparty, when the bipartisan machine droppedout of the picture with Wingfield’s bank failures.He was the boss— there wasn’t any doubt of it—of the Democratic party, and yet, through it all,he became a very, very fine Senator for the stateof Nevada and for the United States of America.McCarran was chairman of the judiciarycommittee. Those who know Washingtonunderstand that the judiciary committee isthe most powerful because they are the oneswho determine whether legislation shall bepassed for any judicial or Justice Departmentproject, or whether it shan’t. Of course, everyUnited States Senator is dependent upon whathe can do for his state and his constituents,as far as establishing military installations,judicial positions, rivers and harbors and otherprojects. So, as a chairman of the judiciarycommittee, senators occupy a very, very highposition in Washington circles.And I know that McCarran on numerousoccasions would call some Senator, and say,

108 John F. Cahlan“Senator, I understand you want so and so inyour state. Well, I’ve got something that I wantfor the state of Nevada.” And it was done, justlike this. McCarran used his influence and hispower in the Senate for the benefit of the stateof Nevada and obtained numerous federalprojects. The Basic Magnesium, Incorporatedplant never could have been turned over to thestate of Nevada if it had not been for McCarran.It was a cinch that the government wasgoing to turn the plant over to the GSA, andcannibalize it and sell the materials for junk.But McCarran convinced them otherwise.The same goes for Nellis Air ForceBase. After World War II, Nellis Air ForceBase was deactivated, and for about twoyears there was no activity. It was held on astandby basis with a housekeeping outfit outthere to keep everything up to date. Thenthrough McCarran’s efforts, McCarran’ sefforts entirely, Nellis was reactivated. It wasnot something that was done only for thebenefit of the state of Nevada, but for theUnited States, although Nevada was wherethe interest generated as far as McCarranwas concerned. But now, the Nellis Air ForceBase has become the most important AirForce base in the United States, in fact, in theworld. And this new training center that theyhave put in out there will start an operation in1969 and Nellis will expand. General GabrielPoillon Disosway, who is head of the TacticalAir Command, which is operating Nellis AirForce Base, says that as long as there’s an AirForce in the United States of America, therewill be a Nellis Air Force Base. So that meansthat it certainly is doing something for theUnited States.As far as my personal relationship withMcCarran goes, I first knew Pat when hewas an attorney in Reno. That was while Iwas still going to school up there. My parentshad known Pat McCarran, oh, I think theywere in a lot of work together in Reno andCarson City. Pat was somewhat youngerthan my father, but the Cahlan family andthe McCarran family have known each otherfor years and years. Pat McCarran’ s familyhad a ranch down on the Truckee River thatis known as Patrick. They call it Patrick afterthe senator. My mother told me about howhe was quite a sprinter—in high school andcollege. And then when he was graduated, hewent into law in Tonopah and later in Reno.I remember the first time that McCarranwas elected. He went back to Washington,and he was determined that he was goingto become a good United States Senator.Pat McCarran had a lot of faults—what Iconsider faults, somebody else might notconsider them faults—but there isn’t any waythat I would ever be able to downgrade PatMcCarran. I think that, as far as I, personally,was concerned, he had always been veryhonest with me, and very friendly throughoutall of his senatorial service in Washington.Whenever I went back to Washington, I waswelcomed into Pat McCarran’ s office. Hisexecutive secretary, Miss Eva Adams, wouldalways tell Pat that I was there, and he wouldput aside whatever he was doing and inviteme in to talk to him in his inner office. I thinkthat he was the same way with the majorityof people. Pat was a very Irish type of guy;he loved everybody and loved a good drinkof whiskey, loved a good story. Pat was a realman. I always thought of him as that, and Istill do.The fact of the matter is, when PatMcCarran died, Eva Adams called me andtold me that the last thing that he wanted todo—or wanted to have done—was to have AlCahlan or myself come back to Washingtonto go through his files to see if there wasanything there that would be of any value tothe newspaper. And I spent two weeks back

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known109in Washington, going through all his files andpicking out stuff that—it was not anything ofstate papers, or anything of that sort, but it hadto do with a certain area that he had a lot ofinformation on, and it was nothing that wouldbe of value to anybody but us. But I did seethe state papers that he had. He was knownall over the United States, all over the world,for that matter. And I think he was recognizedas a good United States Senator.Pat was always alive and very highlyregarded among his colleagues. All ofthe Senators held him in esteem as a realAmerican first, and a citizen of the state ofNevada just about an inch below being anAmerican, because he was fighting for thestate of Nevada all the time.Key Pittman? There was quite a guy.Probably the best story that I can tell youabout Key Pittman is that one day, he came toLas Vegas and was to speak at the Rotary Club.The Rotary Club was having the Boy Scoutsas their guests at the party. Well, sometimebefore the noon luncheon, Key apparentlygot with Jim Cashman and some of the rest oftheir cronies, and had been at the bar a littletoo long. When he showed up at the RotaryClub to make the speech, he got on his feetand started talking. He said that it remindedhim of a racetrack, and he said, “The horse—Igot the horses started, and they ran aroundthe track, and around the track, and aroundthe track, and around the—eh, oh, hell, I can’tget ’em stopped,” and sat down. The man lovedhis whiskey.Another time, the story is told thatKey had been lost for three or four days inWashington. Nobody knew where he was.They needed him for a very close vote onsomething. And about two o’clock in theafternoon, they got a call from New York Citythat said, “Is there somebody there lookingfor Key Pittman?”Whoever it was on the other end of thewire said, “Yeh.”He said, “Well, we’ve found him.” It wasan officer of the police department in NewYork City who said, “We’ve found him. He’ssitting down on the Federal Reserve Banksteps with two loaded revolvers in his lap andis just certain that somebody’s gonna rob theFederal Reserve Bank, and he’s gonna protectit.” And he had been apparently stiff for fouror five days.When Key Pittman was sober, he hadprobably the greatest mind that I have everknown in my experience. He was a verylikable guy; he was about six feet two or threeinches tall and wore his hair in a mane inthe back, much like Pat McCarran did, andhe looked like a United States Senator. ForPittman’s status in the United States Senate,I would suggest that anyone interested readNevada’s Silver Key, which is Key Pittman’ sbiography.Pittman was accepted as a leader of theDemocratic party, and Roosevelt was oneof his greatest haters. Roosevelt figured thatPittman was one of the blockades on hispolitical road, along with McCarran.And I’d like to say that McCarran—getting back to him— one of his greatestaccomplishments was blocking the packingof the Supreme Court of the United States.Roosevelt had the idea that the SupremeCourt outlawed his NRA eagle. Roosevelt,being the kind of man that he was, said thathe was going to get even with the SupremeCourt of the United States, and instead ofnine men, he’d appoint four more and he’dappoint the kind of men who would pass hisprogram. McCarran almost single-handedlydefeated that move. Pittman was in thefight, too, but it was McCarran who singlehandedlydefeated the President—and tosome degree drew the hatred of Roosevelt.

110 John F. CahlanRoosevelt never did excuse Pat for what hedid to him.Jim Scrugham probably was one of themost interesting men that occupied a seatin the Senate and Congress, in my wayof thinking. Jim started as a professor inengineering in the University of Nevada andran for governor and was elected, and thenran for the Congress and was elected, andran for Senator and was elected. There wasn’tany great amount of, oh, accomplishmentas far as Jim was concerned. Jim had a lotof respect in the United States Senate anddid a lot of things for the state of Nevada.While Scrugham was governor of the stateof Nevada, he was the one who first decidedthat Clark County was a part of the state ofNevada. And he was the one that openedup the Lost City at Overton. He had a greatdeal to do with the development of southernNevada. And it was his groundwork—thegroundwork that he laid—that finally broughtabout the construction of the north-southhighway between Reno and Las Vegas. Whileit wasn’t accomplished during his term, he laidthe groundwork for it and got the job done.He was a very good friend of the southernpart of the state.Jim was a very gruff sort of a guy. Healways—I don’t know—he mumbled or hadmush in his mouth when he talked. Youcouldn’t understand what he was saying.During the time that he was publisher ofthe Nevada State Journal, he never did takemuch interest, as I have said, much interest inthe operation of the paper, although I do recallone time that he did—and I always had a lotof respect for Scrugham in this sense. When Iwas the editor of the Nevada State Journal, theson of a very prominent merchant in Reno,who, having been at a fraternity party andstinking drunk, drove his automobile, six kidsin it, of f the road and into a culvert and killedone of the kids and badly injured two others.And the group of—I don’t know whether itwas fraternity brothers, but also—friends ofthe merchant, came in to talk to me and saidthat they wanted the story kept out of thepaper—that this had happened, and wouldn’tdo anybody any good to publish the story, andthat if the story did appear that this merchantwould withdraw his advertising from theNevada State Journal.Well, I could see, even if I had been only acub reporter, what this might mean. So I gothold of Mr. Scrugham and got him to comedown to the office. And the same statementwas made to him in his office. And Jim said,“If that’s the way you feel about it, John, ifthere is an ad ready for tomorrow morning’snewspaper with this merchant’s name on it,you can go out to the composing room andthrow it out right now, and we won’t acceptany further advertising from this gentleman, ifthis is the kind of a threat he’s going to make.”And he backed me up a hundred percent, andwe got the story in the paper, and the guynever withdrew his advertising. And as far asI know, everybody was friendly, even thoughthis happened. And this was the kind of a guythat Scrugham was.He was always for you until you provedthat you weren’t worthy of his trust. Thisis the thing that I think broke Jim’s heartin the Cole-Malley episode. This was thescandal on embezzlement of state funds forwhich Cole and Malley were convicted whenScrugham was governor. Jim trusted theseguys implicitly, and they turned him around.Then when he was defeated for governor,he had a real tough time, and I think thatthis is one of the reasons that he set aboutgathering information to publish his threevolumehistory of the state of Nevada. Hejust went into this thing with his whole heartand his mind, and that’s why he didn’t have

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known111anything to do with the newspaper. It was ablow that almost crushed him, but he finallyworked out of it and got elected to Congressand then to United States Senator, and did areal good job.And Jim was a real human guy. He’d getdown to the level of the people he was dealingwith, whether they were presidents or bums inthe gutter, he was—he knew ’em all. Certainly,this guy knew everybody in the state ofNevada because he made trips when he wasgovernor and when he was campaigning.When anyone would go out with him on atrip, he’d say, “Oh, wait a minute. I gotta go uphere to see so and so.” He would drive off themain road about five or six miles, and here’dbe one lone guy, and Jim’d say, “Well, I’m JimScrugham. I came up here to say hello to you.”And he was widely known throughout thestate and widely respected. As I say, he didmore for southern Nevada than any othergovernor up to that time.Speaking of politicians, I was in LosAngeles one night. I went to a movie theater,not knowing that Governor Fred Balzar wasanywhere around. During an intermission,the then governor of California, Jimmy Rolph,appeared on the stage. He introduced his verygood friend, the governor of Nevada, theHonorable Fred Balzar. Well, apparently, thetwo of them had been somewhere for dinner,and then had partaken of the grape to such anextent that Balzar was not in his best form—which at best was rather poor, because Balzarwas not noted for being a speaker or for anygreat amount of education. Fred, while beinga very fine guy, unfortunately did not havethe education that usually is expected of agovernor. And between his lack of educationand his great depth of the depth of the bottle,Balzar started to make a speech. And as thegovernor of the state of Nevada stood on thestage, and the further he went, the furtherI slipped down in my seat. Before he gotthrough, I very easily could have crawledout on my hands and knees down the aisle,because poor Fred had just made a completejackass of himself. This was not especially rare.I remember another occasion during thetime that the Lincoln highway Expositionwas being promoted in Reno, and there hadbeen a bunch of newspaper people at LakeTahoe. They had come down to Reno to getsome information about the Exposition,and Balzar happened to be in town. Thecity fathers in Reno opened a hospitalityroom in the emergency hospital ward in thepolice station. And despite the fact that itwas during Prohibition, there was plenty ofliquor flowing. Governor Balzar was in themidst of the entire congregation, acting asthe bartender and raconteur. And some of thestories that he told certainly were not fittingfor the governor’s mansion or the governor’smouth, and the newspaper people went backto California with a very poor impression ofFred. I have seen him so many times do thissame sort of thing.. He was just a happy-goluckyguy that loved the position he was in andit didn’t make any difference to him whetherhe was a good speaker or anything else. Hejust liked people, and people liked him—therewas no doubt of it.That brings us down to Ted Carvilleand the double-cross that turned into adouble-double-cross. When Ted Carville wasUnited States Attorney, he prosecuted McKayand Graham, and as such, became quite astatewide figure because this was the first timethat anybody had broken in on Wingfield’sempire. And Carville obtained a convictionof the two men. He then was hailed as quitea hero.And at that time, the Democratic partywas looking around for somebody to runfor governor, and my brother, Al Cahlan,

112 John F. Cahlandecided that Ted Carville would be rightat the peak of his career and could win thegovernorship, So my brother convincedCarville that he should run. So in puttingtogether the campaign, I was president ofthe Junior Chamber of Commerce in LasVegas at the time. When Carville came downto Las Vegas, we decided that we would puttogether a political arm for Carville (not theJunior Chamber of Commerce per se becausewe couldn’t actively engage in politics as anorganization). We got several of the people inthe organization to band together and forma Carville for Governor group in Las Vegasand southern Nevada. And in that groupwas Berkeley Bunker. We all worked quitehard for Carville down here and put togetherquite a campaign for him. When Carville waselected, Bunker had been a leading light ofthe campaign down here for Carville, becausethe rest of the Jaycees were fairly busy, andBunker was pumping gas at a gas station andhad more time than anybody else. So, as aresult, he emerged as leader of this campaignand became quite close to Carville.It was about that time, also, that KeyPittman was showing signs of wear as a UnitedStates Senator. On one of the visits down hereto this area, Mr. Carville and my brother andBunker got together and they decided thatif Carville were elected governor, that A. E.Cahlan would be named to replace Pittmanwhen, as, and if he died. So Carville waselected governor of the state of Nevada andtook office in January, 1939.Then on November 10, 1940, immediatelyafter his reelection, Key Pittman, in truth,did die, and Carville had the power ofappointment of a new United States Senator.Well, everybody in the Cahlan family wascertain that A. E. Cahlan would be the nextUnited States Senator. However, one nighta call came down to Mr. Bunker to come toCarson City, and when Mr. Bunker arrivedin Carson City, he was named United StatesSenator to replace Pittman. Thereby, Mr.Carville gave Mr. A. E. Cahlan a decidedkick in the pants, reneging on a promisethat not only had been made, but had beenreiterated several times. This provided thegreatest political surprise in Nevada history.Bunker had served as assemblyman fromClark County in 1937 and 1939 sessions ofthe legislature, but had no other politicalexperience and was virtually unknown instatewide politics.So during the second term of office ofCarville, Senator Scrugham also died in June,1945, and Carville stepped down as—resignedas—governor, and Vail Pittman was elevatedfrom lieutenant governor to governor andappointing Carville as United States Senator.In the meantime, Bunker had been defeatedfor reelection to the United States Senate byScrugham and had been elected in 1945 tothe House of Representatives. And whenCarville’s term ended in 1947 and he wasup for reelection, who do you suppose filedfor United States Senator on the Democraticticket but Carville and Bunker. Bunker turnedaround and bit the hand that fed him. Andit caused such a schism in the Democraticparty that George “Molly” Malone— (Bunkerbeat Carville in the primaries and was inthe general election) and there was such aschism in the Democratic party that Malone,a Republican, defeated Bunker and becameUnited States Senator.It’s a strange thing about Malone. Goingback to when Molly was in the University ofNevada—I knew him very well— he was amember of the SAE fraternity, and we used tobe around the SAE fraternity quite a bit when Iwas going to grammar school and high school.Malone came to Nevada as a Federal Boardman (a GI bill man he’d be called today), I

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known113believe—I think it was—yes, I’m sure it was—and he was somewhat older than the ordinaryperson who was going to college.It was I who hung the nickname of“Molly” on Malone. It came about becausethere used to be a baseball player of the SanFrancisco Seals whose name was Meloan,and they called him “Molly.” So, Malone,George W. Malone, became “Molly” as far asI was concerned, and the nickname stayedwith him until he died. Malone was quite anathlete. He played football for the Universityof Nevada and was one of the finest tacklesthat they’ve had up there for quite some time.lie also was a boxer. And he won the PacificCoast middleweight championship—amateurchampionship—while he was still in college.Malone carried that same pugnacious spiritwith him wherever he went.It’s a sad commentary that the people ofMalone’s time in the Senate didn’t listen tohim. Because it was he who first brought upthe fact that the gold was being drained outof the Fort Knox depository and was warningthat sooner or later, the United States wasgoing to be forced to face a gold shortage,and as a result, devaluation of the dollar. Itwas at the time when the United States wasin a very high level of prosperity, and nobodypaid any attention to Malone. But every timethat I was around him anywhere, he wouldalways start on this gold situation. At the time,I don’t think that there was anybody whounderstood what Malone was talking about.But if the people had listened when Malonewas promoting this gold situation, they mightsee that Malone was a prophet and was abouttwenty years ahead of his time, because hemay have been. Certainly, he indicated onthe floor of the Senate that he was somethingof a boob. He did have an engineer’s abilityto assess a lot of trends and a lot of thingsthat were going on. He wasn’t able to expresshimself very well, and unfortunately, hedidn’t have a good speech writer. But Malonecertainly called the turn on the gold shortage.It’s too bad that Lyndon Baines Johnson didn’tlisten to him when Malone was popping of f inthe United States Senate, because he certainlywas a hundred percent right.During the time that Malone was servingin the United States Senate, there was a youngman on a white horse who rode into the stateof Nevada. His name was Tom Mechling.Mechling was another opportunist, who wasmarried to the daughter of Mr. John Di Graziain Wells. Di Grazia was quite a political figurein the Elko County area, and Mechling, as Isay, had married his daughter. As a result, he,despite the fact that he had not set foot in thestate of Nevada prior to the time he decidedhe was going to run for United States Senator,came to Nevada and immediately becamethe darling of all the left-wingers in the stateof Nevada. Mechling was about as far out asanybody could get at that time.But the young man certainly knew howto campaign. He knew that he was going tohave to run in the primary against Bible,who at that time was enjoying quite a bit ofpopularity. So Mechling hitched his trailerup to his automobile—which was a very earlymodel of automobile—and played the poormouth in making his trips around the state ofNevada. He made every nook and cranny inthe state of Nevada, and I think, probably—heclaimed, and probably did—shake hands withevery voter in the state of Nevada. WhereMechling got his money, nobody was eversure. It was never proved, but it was believedat the time that he was being supported by alot of left wing organizations out of the East.As I say, Mechling made a very, verydetermined campaign in the state of Nevada,and Bible, while he was not complacent, didn’tdo as much campaigning as Mechling did.

114 John F. CahlanAs a result, Mechling won the Democraticnomination for Senator. Shortly after theresults were announced, Pat McCarranmade the statement that he was deserting theDemocratic party to campaign for and votefor Molly Malone as United States Senator,and let the word go out that the Democratswere to dump Mechling, which they verydefinitely did. Malone was reelected to theUnited States Senate, thereby capitalizingtwice on the splits in the Democratic party.I think that, had it not been for these splits,Malone probably never would have beenUnited States Senator. He was in the rightplace at the right time, and became Senator.There is no logical explanation forMechling’s popularity. I don’t know who itwas that dubbed him the “white knight,” butthis is the sort of a campaign he carried on.He was to be the savior of the state of Nevada,but he didn’t quite know what he was going tosave. Mechling did quite a lot of homeworkon the history of Nevada, but when it camedown to the home-grown native of Nevada,Mechling wasn’t quite as well informed ashe should have been. Of course, recall thatat about that time, the southern part of thestate was growing quite rapidly, and therewere a lot of new people who were cominginto this area. And they had no attachmentsas far as the Democratic or the Republicanparty were concerned, or even didn’t know thecandidates personally, like most of the peopleof the state of Nevada do know their politicalfigures. so his brand of snake oil was salable,and certainly, he did sell it.I can’t tell you why most of the newspaperswere for Mechling. Certainly, the Review-Journal was not, because we had somepipelines back into Washington, and intoNew York— we knew the type of a guyMechling was and knew that he was notthe kind of a person that we would want torepresent the state of Nevada, so we definitelyopposed him. Of course, we had always beenfavorable to Bible when he was running forattorney general—and when he was in theSenate. And we weren’t going to turn ourbacks on Bible for an unknown carpetbaggerwho came to the state of Nevada, as I say, tosell his snake oil. He did a very fine job onsnowing some editors of the papers in thestate of Nevada. Reno papers were for him; Ibelieve “Snowy” Monroe was for him out inElko. And apparently, it was just one of thosethings that the—some of the—people of thestate of Nevada decided that they needed achange, and they thought here was a real fineupstanding young man.Later developments as regard Mechlingdon’t indicate that he was quite the shining“white knight” that he claimed to be in ridingthe white horse, because he got himself mixedup down in California with a textbook dealdown there, and darn near wound up in jail.I’ve forgotten whether he was indicted, orwhat happened. But anyway, it was quite ascandal down there—the textbook deal, andMechling was right in the middle of it. Andhe left the West Coast after he got mixed upin that textbook scandal and he went backEast, and I haven’t heard of him since. I don’tknow what he’s doing, even. There was anarticle in the paper here several months ago,but I’ve forgotten what he’s doing. He cameback into the picture some way. That was thestory of Tom Mechling and his white horse.Did Senator McCarran discuss with mehis feelings on endorsing Malone? Oh, yes. Imean as far as McCarran was concerned, heknew Mechling’s background, and he said,“While I have never in my life supported aRepublican for a partisan office,” he said, “Iam just going to have to turn my back onthe Democratic party because of Mechling.I know Mechling’s background; I know that

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known115the man isn’t to be trusted if he gets into theUnited States Senate; he will not be a Senatorfrom the state of Nevada.” I say these are thethings McCarran told me. I’m not makingstatements of my own. But he said that hejust wouldn’t be able to work with Mechlingin the United States Senate because he knewthe kind of a guy he was, and if McCarranstarted in working with a man like Mechling,he, McCarran, would lose all the prestigethat he had in the United States Senate. Sohe just backed off. That’s—it was just thatbad. McCarran supplied us with quite a lotof information on Mechling that was usedduring the campaign.As I say, Mechling was an opportunistwho admitted that there were three states thathe would try for election to the United StatesSenator’s chair; one of them was Nevada,one was Montana, and the other one wasWyoming. And he settled on Nevada becausehis father-in-law lived here.Have I ever discussed this with Mr. DiGrazia? You can’t discuss Tom Mechling withDi Grazia and get any answers! Because DiGrazia became very incensed at everybodybecause his son-in-law was defeated for UnitedStates Senate. Anybody that opposed TomMechling in Di Grazia’s mind was completelyout of his skull. And as I say, Mechling wasdefeated, and Di Grazia saw that his defeat waseffected by Democrats jumping over the fence,one by one, away from Mechling, Di Grazia’s son-in-law, Di Grazia, having done all hehad for the Democratic party, then becamehighly incensed, and as I say, you couldn’t getan answer from Di Grazia. I never tried to talkto him about it after the first encounter I hadwith him, and I found out that you couldn’tget a competent answer—I don’t mean by thatthat the man was off his rocker, but I mean,his answers certainly were all colored by thefact that Mechling was his son-in-law. Andhe took the defeat probably a lot harder thanMechling himself did. I think Di Grazia hasquit working for the Democratic party, but Idon’t know. Don’t think he does a thing. Thatis the story as regards Mechling and the splitsin the Democratic party.But getting into the present day Senators.On the senatorial level, Bible was conditionedto be a United States Senator by Pat McCarran.And Bible is a very intelligent person, veryarticulate, and has the respect of the peopleof the United States Senate. Bible is one ofthe—I guess you could call—poverty peoplewhen he was growing up; he had to work foreverything he has, and work hard. tie becamea leader while he was in the University ofNevada and carried that leadership on as adistrict attorney and attorney general, andfinally, as a United States Senator.Howard Cannon was more or less of anopportunist. Cannon got into the UnitedStates Senate during another split in theDemocratic party. In 1957 he was cityattorney of Las Vegas, when he traveled upto the capitol in Carson City, intending tofile as a candidate for attorney general. I hadtalked to him just before he left to fly up toReno, and he said, “I’m goin’ up to file forattorney general.” On the steps of the capitol,he met Jack Conlon, who was one of the mostastute politicians in this part of the country.And Conlon convinced him that he shouldfile for United States Senate. He changed hismind then and did file for United States Senateand won.Cannon is a very likable sort of a guy.I’ve known Cannon ever since he first cameto this area. And in fact, he and his wife, theformer Dorothy Pace of Alamo, were marriedin the living room of my mother-in-law andfather-in-law’s (Mr. and Mrs. Burley M. Jones)home on Thirteenth Street, Las Vegas, andthe ceremony was performed by my brother-

116 John F. Cahlanin-law, Clifford A. Jones, who was ClarkCounty District Judge in 1946 and qualifiedto perform marriages. They have been veryclose for a long period of time.As far as Cannon is concerned, he is, Ithink, an ordinary United States Senator—Idon’t think he’ll ever do anything spectacular,but you’ll always know that Cannon isback there. Cannon has been guidedvery successfully by Conlon, who was hisadministrative assistant, and there is nomore astute politician in Washington, unlessit’s Lyndon B. Johnson, than Jack Conlon.Undoubtedly, it was Conlon who selectedthe Armed Services Committee for Cannonto serve on and also the NASA.In that atmosphere, Cannon has beenable to do a great deal for the southern partof the state of Nevada. He’s been very activein the development of the nuclear weapons ofthe Atomic Energy Commission test site andhas been very active in seeing that the NellisAir Force Base is taken care of in a mannerthat is favorable to the southern part of thestate of Nevada. As I say, I don’t think Cannonwill ever be a great leader in the Senate, buthe won’t be a nothing like some of the peoplethat I could talk about in the Lower House.But I think that he is a good man.When Cannon went back to the UnitedStates Senate, one of the first people that JackConlon met was Bobby Baker. And beingsort of kindred souls, they were immediatelyattracted to each other. At that time, BobbyBaker was the secretary to the majority leaderof the Senate, Mr. Lyndon B. Johnson, and insuch a position had all the power and prestigethat goes with that office. I knew Bobbypersonally—met him several times. I met himboth in Las Vegas and in Washington, D. C.And Bobby Baker was a politician’s politician,because he knew where the bodies were buried,and as a result, he was Lyndon’s right-handman in the United States Senate because it wasBobby Baker who knew where every vote wasin the United States Senate. I think that Bobbyjust became too big for his breeches and tookadvantage of a lot of people who didn’t knowany better. And I think that as far as Cannonpersonally was concerned, I don’t think that hewas linked into Bobby Baker per se, any furtherthan Jack Conlon linked him.It was Jack Conlon who was the closeassociate of Bobby Baker. I was back inWashington one time, and I think that JackConlon probably knew as many key cluboperators in Washington, D. C. as BobbyBaker did. Because at one—in one evening,we went out to about five key clubs inWashington, and everybody greeted JackConlon like he was the President of the UnitedStates. So he knew these swinging people, andit was Jack Conlon and Bobby Baker who wereclose friends, and not Cannon.Don’t misunderstand me, Cannon, I amsure, knew Bobby Baker. When they had atestimonial dinner for Cannon in Las Vegas,Bobby Baker reportedly arranged for a planeload of congressmen and senators to fly outfor the dinner. As I say, I think that Cannon,at that time, was not an astute politician.Cannon was a little dazed by the glamour ofthe fact that he was United States Senator andwasn’t—didn’t inquire into the methods orthe madness of people like Bobby Baker. Helet Conlon do that. I think, as far as Cannonis concerned, he was caught in a trap notof his own making. That doesn’t excuse theman because he certainly was responsiblefor Conlon’s acts, but as far as wrongdoing isconcerned, I don’t think that Cannon had anyidea that there was anything wrong.The guy that I blame for the wholedeal was Lyndon Johnson, because LyndonJohnson just ran off and left Bobby Bakerlike he had cut off his right arm. And you’re

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known117either a loyal guy or a disloyal guy. You canalways say that, sure, the guy was chargedwith making a mistake, and I’ll stand by himuntil he’s proven guilty. And he just ran offand left him and said, “I didn’t have anythingto do with Bobby Baker after I got out of theUnited States Senate and became President.”So that’s the answer.As far as Walter Baring is concerned inthe Congress, the less said about him, thebetter. He is a poor man that was electedbecause of his poverty and has been there somany years by the mere fact that he has donemany things for “little people.” And there isn’tanything that he won’t do for “the voters,” andas somebody said, “There isn’t anybody thatlikes Walter Baring but the voters,” which isvery definitely so, because he’s reelected timeafter time after time.Going back to the governors, I find that Ihave neglected to say anything about the VailPittman, the Charles Russell, and the GrantSawyer administration.Vail Pittman was a gentle roan. He wasa typical Southern gentleman and most ofhis adult life was lived in the shadow of hismore illustrious brother, Key. However, Vailcame on fast in the later years of his life andprovided the state of Nevada with an excellentregime while he was governor.I was a very close friend of Vail’s, havingbeen in almost constant association withhim while he was publisher of the Ely DailyTimes. We consulted each other on newspaperproblems and I came to know and respect himthrough these meetings.I don’t know that Vail Pittman was aspectacular governor, but he certainly wasa satisfactory one. It was during his term ofoffice that the basis for the future developmentof the Las Vegas Valley was established.He, Al Cahlan, and Clifford A. Jones, thethen lieutenant governor, formed an alliancewith Senator Pat McCarran which broughtabout the salvation of the Basic Magnesiumplant. John Mueller, a Reno resident, withAl Cahlan, a member of the Colorado RiverCommission, joined the group and togetherthey stalled the cannibalization of the Basicplant and bought it for one dollar. That wasthe first industrial development by the stateof Nevada in history and it turned out to bea good one. Later this same group brought inthe industrial plants which now are operatingin Henderson and the payroll which goeswith them.Vail Pittman had strong ties in southernNevada and was the first governor, outsideof Jim Scrugham, who did much for thedevelopment of this region. He served hisstate well.As far as Charlie Russell is concerned,nobody will ever be able to criticize theman because, in my estimation, he didn’t doanything wrong, and he didn’t do anythingright. lie didn’t do anything, period, He wentthrough eight years of very smooth sailing—didn’t upset the boat or upset the applecart,or anything. However, it was during hisregime that the Tax Commission took overthe gambling supervision. The legislature setup the Tax Commission as the watchdog overthe gambling industry, and Robbins Cahillwas appointed as its director. Cahill wasprobably the boss of the Tax Commission—not probably, but was the boss of the TaxCommission. Charlie Russell didn’t havemuch to do because he placed his entire faithin Cahill.I knew Charlie Russell ever since thetwo of us went to school together at theUniversity of Nevada. And Charlie’s careeras governor was much like his career atthe University— unspectacular. He wasa plodder; he was honest as far as I couldtell. I have never had any proof that he was

118 John F. Cahlanotherwise, and I’ll always defend him as faras a person is concerned. Personally, I don’tthink he was a good governor, but he wasn’ta bad governor. I’d say he was very ordinary,lie followed people like Pittman, colorfulpeople—Scrugham, Carville, Pittman—allcolorful people, and Charlie had the color ofa white paper sack. But as I say, he was notspectacular, but he wasn’t a good governor, hewasn’t a bad governor. The state of Nevada gotalong very well during his terms, and he wasreelected, so the people must’ve liked him.I was not especially close to Charlie Russellas regards his administration. I wasn’t up atthe legislature during the time that he wasgovernor, except the last couple years, I think,he was governor.As far as Sawyer is concerned, I think thatSawyer probably was one of the best governorsthat the state has had since.—maybe—Scrugham. There is one thing about Grant,that he was very personable, and he learned tohandle newspaper people and TV men, radiopeople very well, and get the image of the stateof Nevada that we all would like to have putover to the TV, radio, and newspaper people.I saw this very definitely when we were ontrips for SNIF (Southern Nevada IndustrialFoundation). He was with us one time inDenver. And something had happened inthe state of Nevada—I’ve forgotten what itwas—maybe it was something on skimming,or something of that nature, but anyway, itwas detrimental to the state of Nevada. Andwe had set up this press conference for theTV people and the radio and the newspaperpeople, where Sawyer was to appear for a pressconference by himself.So he walked into the room where thetelevision cameras were and said, “I guesswe’re ready to go. We’d better have them asksome questions.” And some of the questionsthat they asked him were really loaded. I meanthey could have been answered any way, andhe could have been wrong. But Sawyer passedit off and said, “Now, really, you don’t expectme to answer that question, do you? You’veloaded the question, and I’m just going to loadit right back at you.” And he’d parry back andforth, and these people respected him. Andevidently, he had the respect of the variousgovernors in the United States, because ofthe fact that he was elected chairman andpresident of the Governors’ Conference.I thought that the first couple years ofSawyer’s regime in Carson City were horrible.Some of the appointments he made were justappalling to anybody that was a politician.Undoubtedly, these appointments were madeon a political basis, and not for ability. And hehad himself surrounded with some of thesemen, the lousiest assistants that any governorhas had.And the first two years that he was inthe capitol, he couldn’t stand criticism.Somebody’d criticize him, and he’d just jumpup and down and off the ceiling, and took itas a personal affront to himself. He was notan experienced politician when he went intothe governor’s office. When he came out, hecertainly was, and he learned this in eightyears that he was in the governor’s office.I was very close to Grant Sawyer. Whenhe was running for nomination, he cameinto the Review-Journal office, and I sat himin my office and—for, oh, halt an hour—andtalked to him, and told him that if there wasany way that I could help him that I would bevery happy to do so, but it wasn’t possible forme to go overboard for him in the newspaperin The primary. If he won the primary, thenhe should come in and see me, and we wouldmap out a program for him in southernNevada. Well, after he won the primary, hecame down, and I helped him to a greatdegree—I mean, I don’t say I helped him, I

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known119advised him, and I got real well acquaintedwith Sawyer. And when he became governor, Iwas in the governor’s mansion at his invitationon many occasions.During the Silver Centennial at VirginiaCity (on which I served as a committeemember), when Vice President RichardNixon and his wife and two daughters, Julieand Patricia, were there for the celebration,Governor Sawyer asked me and my wife tocome over to the reception that was beingheld for Nixon and his wife. We went over tothe Miners Hall and met the Nixons and Theirtwo children. Then there was—that evening—there was a dinner to be given by Howard Eellsin Reno. (Eells, of Cleveland, was founder ofthe Basic Magnesium, Incorporated plant atHenderson, and owner of mining property atGabbs.) And the governor asked if we weregoing, and we said, “Yes,” and he asked if wewould care if they came along with us. Sowe rode in the limousine from Virginia Citydown to the governor’s mansion while Grantand Bette changed clothes, and then theydrove us in to the Holiday Hotel in Reno, andthey waited for us while we changed clothes.We went to the Jordan Crouch home forcocktails and then went out to Eugene’s wherethe Eells were giving this very nice dinnerparty, and we had a very nice evening.During Sawyer’s first inaugural speech,I became enamored with his daughter, Gail,who at that time was about—oh, I guess,eight or ten years old. (Let’s see, oh, I guessshe was about eight years old, ’cause she’s incollege now.) She was a very cute youngster,and I wrote a column about her, and of coursethe Sawyers were very happy about that. Allduring the time that they were in the mansion,I visited them on many occasions, and Gailwas always thrilled to see me, and I was alwaysthrilled to see her. She was very—as I say, avery nice little girl. And this last winter, theSawyers gave a cocktail party at their home,and Gail was there, and I remembered her,although she was grown up. She is now asophomore in college, and she’s grown up,and I hardly recognized her. She rememberedhow I had written a column about her, andthis was the first recognition she had evergotten. She was very happy about it—a verynice kid. Grant and I have been friends eversince he was elected governor of the state. Andas I say, he appointed me executive director ofthe Centennial Commission, for which I wasvery appreciative.As far as Sawyer’s term was concerned,I think he did a lot of constructive work forthe state of Nevada. It was he who calledthe meeting of the gambling casino peopleto determine what was wrong with thegambling enforcement agency, and whetherit should be separated from the state TaxCommission. And I was called in as one of theconsultants at that meeting. And as a resultof that meeting, a bill was drafted setting upthe Gaming Commission. The bill was puttogether by Howard McKissick and HarrySwanson, and I was very proud of the factthat they consulted me on the developmentof that bill. I think some of the suggestionsthat I made were incorporated. I don’t haveany pride of authorship in the bill because itwasn’t mine, but I did at least have some littlepart in putting the measure together.Sawyer—his reorganization of the stategovernment was a real fine idea, only it wasn’tcarried far enough. Unfortunately, the thinggot into politics. While it was supposed toreduce the bureaucratic phase in Carson City,it didn’t serve that purpose at all, because itdeveloped into a larger bureaucratic outfit thanit was before. However, it was a step. And it’sunfortunate that the politics in the governor’smansion have changed from Democratic toRepublican—I say it is unfortunate because

120 John F. Cahlanof the fact that this reorganization could bedeveloped a lot further in my estimation, andcould save the people of the state of Nevadaa lot of money.Looking over Sawyer’s record, I think hewas a good governor. Perhaps history willsay that he was an outstanding governor;I don’t think so, because, after all, Sawyerdid make a lot of mistakes while he was inthe governor’s office, as I have said before.However, you don’t measure a person bythe mistakes he makes, you measure him bywhether he has learned by his mistakes. AndI think that Sawyer very definitely did learnby his mistakes, and by the time he got out ofthe governor’s office, he was prepared to doa very fine job. It’s unfortunate that he didn’thave the same preparation at the start of hisgubernatorial terms as he did when he gotthrough, because he would have been, I’msure, an outstanding governor.I have high hopes for Paul Laxalt. I thinkthat Paul is very interested in the future ofthe state of Nevada; in fact, I am convincedthat he is. Paul is making the same kind ofmistakes that Sawyer and, I guess, everygovernor that’s been in has made. He’s madesome very bad appointments, rather likeSawyer. Rather than for ability, he has namedsome people for political expediency. And Ithink that he has learned. And as I say, I amcertain that Paul Laxalt has the best interestsof the state of Nevada at heart, and will bethat way as long as he is governor of the stateof Nevada.In assessing the governors all the wayalong that I have known, from Sparks to Laxalt,each one has contributed something to thestate of Nevada—some moral development.Jim Scrugham probably was the man whodiscovered southern Nevada. Balzar, in hisown fumbling way, did some things; I thinkthat it was during his term that the divorce lawwas passed. And I’m sure that it was Balzar’sterm that gambling was legalized.But anyway, Balzar—a man can’t spendfour years or eight years as governor of thestate of Nevada and not do some good. AsI say, some are worse than others. I think,fortunately, in the state of Nevada, we havechosen leaders who were able to lead. Not onlyin the governor’s office, but in the Senators’offices, and I think that the general run ofsenators—United States Senators from thestate of Nevada, have been, well, a whole lotbetter than any other state in the Union. Wehaven’t produced outstanding leaders likesome of the other states have, but at least themajority of our Senators were well respectedin the houses of Congress.It seems inevitable that the Democraticparty will split, and what happens in thefuture, nobody knows. You have a Democraticcounty convention down in Las Vegas which isnever anything but a real riot. The Democratsin Clark County could control the state ofNevada if they’d ever stay together. They’vehad every opportunity to stay togetherand blown it, every one of them. I haveattended conventions all over the state—bothDemocratic and Republican—and at everystate convention, the Clark County delegationsplits not only one way, but probably threeor four ways, and everybody is fighting forpower and control of the convention. Andit’s beyond me that, when they get control,what have they got control of? Nothing. Andit seems to me that they’re fighting windmillswhen they have started in fighting for controlof the county Democratic area. You’ve gotmany splinter groups in the Clark Countydelegation, and they are very violent and veryvehement. You’ve got the civil rights people,you’ve got the labor people, you’ve got theCannon people, you’ve got the Bible people,you’ve got the Sawyer people—and when

Sketches of Some Nevada Politicians I Have Known121you start splitting any party that way, you’vegot a split—high, wide, and handsome. Sountil Clark County Democrats get the ideathat they’re going to get a little unity and alittle harmony down there, they’re not goingto control anything. They’ll never elect agovernor form down here until such time asthey do get some unity.This last convention, as far as ClarkCounty was concerned, it was something thatnobody anticipated. Everything was supposedto be all right and all greased when they wentup to the convention in Reno. Herbert M.“Herb” Jones was on one side of the fence asnational committeeman, and Grant Sawyer,as ex-governor, was on the other side. Sawyerwas determined to have Bert Rose elected statechairman. The Jones people—Jones being anational committeeman—the Jones peoplewere willing to concede Bert Rose for statechairman, if Jones could be reelected nationalcommitteeman. At a meeting several monthsbefore the convention, Sawyer said he wasnot interested in the national committeeman,and that he would support Jones. When theygot to the convention in Reno, Sawyer said,“All bets off. I withdraw my commitment toyou,” and set about going after the nationalcommittee job. Three times, the Jones groupdeferred to Sawyer on the state chairmanshipand supported Rose in face of three othernominations that were made. And Rose waselected. Sawyer again reiterated his deal thathe did not want the national committeeman,but that he would accept a draft. So the wordwent out with Dean “Diamondtooth” Millercarrying the word to all the delegates thatSawyer would accept a draft. And at the timewhen the election was coming down to thenubbin, it was snowing in Reno and peoplewere either interested in getting home andgetting a plane out before the snow closed theairport, or else they were interested in goingto the Sonny Liston fight. That is, the delegatesfrom Las Vegas—or southern Nevada. Andwhen the showdown came, the Jones factioncame up short. They didn’t have enough votes,and so they got beat.So there is bitterness in the party now.Whether this will affect the Fike-Bible battlefor the United States Senate, who knows?But a look back at the past history of the—maybe the past casts a shadow as to whatmight happen this fall. I don’t know howdeep the schism is, or whether the state ofNevada, the northern part of the state, will gofor having two United States Senators fromClark County. I don’t think that the rest ofthe state will even consider that, and I thinkthat the Republicans in the north will turnagainst Fike and go for Bible. Because I don’tthink that their party commitment is suchthat they will feel that two Senators fromClark County is a good thing for the state ofNevada. I’m sure that a lot of Republicans inClark County are going to feel the same way.This is not to downgrade Fike as a contender,but there are a lot of people in the state thatI have talked to personally that feel that Fikeis going to run in a fast race, because havingbeen elected to the assembly, then jumpingfrom the assembly to lieutenant governorand from lieutenant governor to candidatefor United States Senate in the short space ofabout four years is running a little too fast.There’s one thing the people of the state ofNevada have always demanded, and that isthat their candidates prove themselves beforethey are elected to office.

8The Southern NevadaIndustrial Foundation:A New CareerBefore we conclude this, I would like to saysomething about Southern Nevada IndustrialFoundation, of which I am the managingdirector, and have been for the last three years.The Southern Nevada Industrial Foundationwas formed in 1954 when the image of the cityof Las Vegas and southern Nevada was verypoor. An article in the Wall Street Journal,which pictured Las Vegas about as badly asthe Green Felt Jungle did, spurred a group oflocal people—utility owners, financial people,and people of that sort, to form the SouthernNevada Industrial Foundation in an effort tochange the image of this area. They plannedto go to the people in the financial areas ofthe United States and show them that all thepeople in Las Vegas didn’t wear green apronswith green eyeshades over horns that grewout of their heads.So it was decided to go back to NewYork, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Denver,and Cleveland, and areas of that type wherefinancial transactions were taking place.At that time, the bond issues in the city ofLas Vegas and in Clark County, and I thinkprobably in the state as well, were up to thelimit. We couldn’t sell bonds on the marketfor less than five percent interest, and that wasthe highest allowed by state law.So the first trip that the Southern NevadaIndustrial Foundation made was to New YorkCity. They invited the bonding people, stockexchange people, financial people, insurancepeople and so forth, to meet around luncheontables— after having a couple of cocktailsbefore lunch. At every table, there was at leastone and possibly two people from southernNevada, to talk to the guests—to host thepeople— at that table. The governor of thestate made a speech about what the state ofNevada had to offer, and the president of theSouthern Nevada Industrial Foundation toldwhat southern Nevada had to offer. And asa result of that visit and the subsequent onethat was made to Chicago, the bond interestrate fell to 3.8, which is quite a drop andsaved the state of Nevada and Clark CountySchool District here quite a lot of moneyin interest. And that was one of the mainaccomplishments of SNIF in its early years.

124 John F. CahlanSNIF members have, of course, kept theireyes out for possible industry that might beexpanding to the West and have had somevery good contacts, but not so many actualaccomplishments in bringing industry inhere. However, under the tax situation thatthe state of Nevada has, compared to that of,let’s say California, we are in a very favorableposition to get a lot of the development. InNevada, we don’t have any inventory tax andwe don’t have any personal income tax in thestate (how long this will last, I don’t know, butwe now are in a favorable position).One of the handicaps that southernNevada has had with attracting industry intothe state is the fact that freight rates are veryunfavorable. We have a “one railroad” townhere. In the past, the Union Pacific Railroadhas not been too interested, over the longrun, in the future of Las Vegas. As a result,we are back in the archaic days of where we’refighting the long-short haul freight rates,which means that anybody that is shippinggoods from the East Coast to Las Vegas has topay the freight rates from here to Los Angeles,and from Los Angeles back to Las Vegas. Andanybody with any brains knows that this sortof freight rates is going to kill you.However, Southern Nevada IndustrialFoundation took the lead about a year agoin a fight to do something about the freightrates. At the present time, we have about comeall the way in forming the Nevada FreightAssociation, which is a cooperative shippers’association, which has been assured by theUnion Pacific that we will get equitable freightrates into the city of Las Vegas both from LosAngeles and from the East Coast.Of course, from Los Angeles, the problemthat we have as far as Las Vegas is concerned,or as far as southern Nevada is concerned,is that everything is being shipped in, andcomparatively little is being shipped out.Of course, the plants at Henderson do shipproducts and materials from their plants outthere. But the volume is such that loadedcarloads arrive in Las Vegas, then the car hasto go back empty.Now, if there is a possibility that we doget these freight rates set up and can bringindustry in here because of the tax situation,we are going to have a much more favorabledeal regarding freight rates. Plants producinggoods here would be able to load freightcars here and send their goods down to LosAngeles on a return trip instead of piggybacktrucks and freight cars going back to LosAngeles empty. So that is one thing that wehope will, in the future, do a tremendousamount of good for southern Nevada.We have received a number of—I saya number—hundreds of inquiries over thepast three years, regarding expansion in thefuture—companies that are looking aroundfor location. It’s an axiom in the industrialdevelopment field that smokestacks don’tgrow in the community overnight. Usually,from the first contact with any company,even if they are definitely decided that theyare coming into an area, it is anywhere fromthree to five years before a new plant is putinto production.It begins to look more and more likewe’ll be getting some new industry in here.Certainly the advent of Howard Hughes hasnot done the southern part of the state ofNevada any harm because wherever anybodygoes he is asked: “What’s Hughes going todo in Las Vegas besides buying up hotels?”There isn’t anybody except Hughes himselfwho knows what Hughes is going to do, andhe doesn’t talk to anybody outside his ownchosen circle. He keeps his own confidenceand usually about the only people who knowwhat he’s going to do are the four secretarieshe has up in the seventh floor of the Desert

The Southern Nevada Industrial Foundation: A New Career125Inn, and they just don’t talk. It is, to me, quiteapparent that whatever he does is going tobe done in the field of aviation because he isnot buying the two airports in Las Vegas justto have money invested in the community.He’s going to do something that will need alanding field.His plan for the SST jet plane airport issomething that the future is going to haveto tell. There isn’t any doubt in the world butwhat the SST is going to change the travelpatterns of the entire world because you’ll beable to take off from Paris, for instance, and getto Los Angeles in about four hours, and that’spretty quick travel. The SST, as everybodyknows, has a very bad noise problem of sonicbooms and so forth. And everybody is sayingthat the planes will not be able to fly over anyinhabited areas, which to most people, meansflying over the ocean. Well, if you will take alook at the “great circle” route which goes overthe North Pole, you can see that you can flyfrom anywhere, any European continent, overthe North Pole, and into Las Vegas withouthitting any inhabited area. You’d be comingin over Alaska, over the uninhabited areas ofCanada, down through Montana—the wideopen spaces of Montana—and into Las Vegas.This is really going to mean something to thecity of Las Vegas when the SST and any futurejet propulsion, or rocket propulsion vehiclesare put into use.No telling what’s going to happen asfar as this air travel is concerned, becauserocket-propelled planes will be able to leaveNew York City and get into Los Angeles inhalf an hour, and this is really something! Sothe future is certainly very bright, and SNIFis laying the foundation for the future ofsouthern Nevada.When the Atomic Energy Commissionmade a request for sites for the huge linearaccelerator cyclotron in the United States, LasVegas presented a site out in Eldorado Valley,about thirty miles southeast of Las Vegas. Thesite was in the last eighteen at least, and weunderstood that it was in the last five. The onereason that Las Vegas—the Las Vegas area—was not considered further was because of thelack of higher education facilities here. Hadwe had a university which granted doctoratedegrees in the sciences, I’m sure that we wouldhave received more consideration. As it was,Weston, Illinois, got the accelerator. Westondid not want it. The land is a little crowdedthere, but it is in the center of an educationalcomplex that is very good. It’s right outsidethe city of Chicago and Northwestern, theUniversity of Chicago, Michigan University,and all of these state universities which havebeen in operation for many, many years. Thismade the difference. And we are sure that hadwe had better facilities here, we would havemade it.There’s one thing that SNIF is determinedto do, and that is to integrate the touristindustry into any industry that is broughtin here. By that, I mean we are not tryingto attract any smokestack industry intothis area. It’s light manufacturing that wewant, like electronics or perhaps, clothingmanufacturing, or something of that sortthat is clean and has a high-class labor pool.We don’t want to interfere with the clearatmosphere that we have in the city of LasVegas and all over the southern part of thestate any more than it has been interfered withnow. And this is the thing that we’re trying todo, and as a result, we’re somewhat limited inattracting industry in the state.What kinds of questions do people askus besides about the educational facilities?Did they ask you about racial problems andthis sort of thing, too? Oh, not as much asyou would expect. They want to know whattype education facilities are available for their

126 John F. Cahlanchildren, how the schools in southern Nevadarate with the schools, say, where they camefrom, or schools in Los Angeles or Chicago.And according to the NEA, whose figures wequote, Nevada stands very high on the listas far as secondary educational facilities areconcerned. Clark County rates very high. Ofcourse, the university level is as it is, but it willget better, and I’m sure that, within, oh, by theyear 2000, the Nevada Southern Universitywill be larger than the University of Nevada.It’s only natural, because this area is growingfaster than Reno is growing.

9“Cahlan School of Journalism”In reading over this narrative, I find thatI have skipped some very important partsof my life. In order to correct the oversight,I will add some odds and ends as they cometo mind.First off, I should tell a little somethingabout the Block N, as it almost was a secondhome to me while I was going to high schooland college. The Block N was a pool hall andsnack bar which served the high schoolers andcollegians during the middle twenties. It washere that I learned to shoot pool and becomesomewhat expert, if I do say so. Of course,I never was in the class of Bert Gibbons or“Dinty” Moore, but could hold my own withthe rest of the clan.It was here that a lot of my money went—money that I earned at Fred Strassburg’scigar store which I tended after school andin the mornings before school. I used to goto work at six o’clock, clean out the spittoons,sweep the floor, and open the store just beforeMr. Strassburg came. He was a kindly oldGerman man who, in my younger days, usedto manufacture cigars in a little store on theeast side of Virginia Street about two doorssouth from Commercial Row. The store inwhich I worked was across the street fromhis original one in the spot recently occupiedby the Southworth Cigar Store. The money Igot from Mr. Strassburg was invested on mostoccasions on the Kelly pool numbers, and thegames went on all afternoon and many timesinto the late hours of the night.Dick Sheehy presided over the pool hailand saw to it that we customers behavedourselves in the hail, and, if we got in troubleoutside the hall, he was our father confessorand advisor. He was a very good friend of myfather, so I was one of his special projects. Hekept me out of a lot of trouble that I mighthave gotten into otherwise.The lunch counter up front served thebest roast beef sandwiches I ever tasted, andwhenever possible, I used to go to the BlockN for a sandwich and chocolate malt. In thewintertime, they used to serve shrimp andoyster cocktails, and they tasted pretty goodwhen we came in off a snow-laden street forlunch.

128 John F. CahlanIt was here, too, that I started the firstfootball pool the world has ever known.It was in the middle twenties while I wasgoing to college. I had a big board up on thewall across the aisle from the lunch counterand the board had twenty football teamson it. Each had a number. As the Saturdaysprogressed, each team had a differentopponent, of course, so the guys who boughtchances had a different set of choices. Theymade their choice by rolling out one of theballs from the Kelly pool bottle. For instance,if California was playing Stanford, Californiawould be number ten and Stanford maybenumber two. If the Kelly pool ball rolledwas a “two,” the guy had Stanford; if it was“ten,” it was California. There were twentygames on the list, so for a quarter, the bettorgot ten teams. The one who had the mostwinners won the pot, minus ten percent forold John. The thing worked pretty well forthe first month or two, and then three guyscame up with the same number of winnersand the banker went broke. End of footballpool, end of old John.It was in the Block N that I met WillieHoppe, the longtime billiard champion,and his closest competitor, Willie Mosconi.The latter taught us high school kids sometrick shots which even now I can duplicate,although my pool playing days have beenlong gone.I should have told also about my ballplaying career. started playing baseball as asmall boy in Carson City and then transferredthis activity to the old Humphrey’s lot onSierra Street in Reno. As I grew up, I becamesomething of a baseball player, captainingthe Reno high school team in my senior year.I enrolled at the University of Nevadain 1920 and went to Elko for the summer of1921 and played several games for the Elkoteam. I was hitting pretty good and fieldingso well the manager said I was his permanentsecond baseman. I was working in the MasonDairy, washing bottles as a part-time job andcollecting ten dollars a game on Sunday. Thatarrangement didn’t last too long because Igot terribly lovesick and went back to Renowhere my beloved was going to summerschool. It was a bum move because abouttwo weeks after I got back to Reno, my dearone gave me back my fraternity pin and toldme to get lost.I didn’t get lost, however. I starteddriving taxi for the old University TaxiCompany, operated by Johnny Harrisonand Tom Middleton, two U of N students.My taxi driving pals were the two Harrisonboys, Leslie “Spud” and John, and JimmyBradshaw and Bevo Colwell. I lasted at thatuntil September and then went down toRichmond, California, where I went to workfor the Standard Oil Company. I have alreadytold about the experiences there.In 1926, when I was graduated fromcollege, two fraternity brothers and I wentto Elko to play with the Elko baseballteam. They were Fred Barnum and DonDakin. Barnum was a pitcher and Dakinwas a second baseman. I was catching. Thisseason also ended with a lovesick childwho returned to Reno and later went toOakland to be with my darling. So you see,my baseball career was pretty well spoiledwhen the love bug hit me.* * * * *I have discussed the early days of theReview-Journal in preceding pages, but itseemed to me after reading it that perhaps Ishould tell just how the newspaper developed.Just at the time I came to Las Vegas in 1929,the newspaper had progressed from a weeklyto a biweekly and then to a tri-weekly which

“Cahlan School of Journalism”129were steps that were not too long nor toohard to accomplish. However, going from atri-weekly to a daily caused problems.One of the first breaks I got when I cameto Las Vegas as editor was when the LasVegas Age, which. was then owned by C. P.“Pop” Squires, dropped the NEA syndicate.The NRA was (and still is, I guess) thefinest syndicate company in the business.It provides a newspaper with comics, serialstories, cartoons, editorials and practicallyeverything which a daily newspaper the sizeof the Review-Journal (then) could use. I amsure the present operation includes the NEAservice.Anyway, it certainly was exactly what Ineeded to make the Review-Journal into adaily. We usually put out a six-page paperdaily. The first page, of course, was the onewith all the news on it. Page two was reservedfor jump stories (stories that were continuedfrom page one) and personals. Page threeusually was a “crap” page where anythingand everything was placed. Page four wasusually the sports page, page five the classified,and page six would be the last page downand would be filled with legal notices, lateclassified, and stuff of that sort.My brother, Al, and I had the sameideas when it came to putting together anewspaper. We both felt that if we were tosatisfy the subscribers, we had to give themsomething to read that was both interestingand informative. As a result, we graduallyworked an editorial page into the format.Al wrote the editorials, which usually wereon local subjects and were real hard-hittingwithout being biased (something you can’tfind now in the local newspapers); and then,shortly after I came down he started writinghis column “From Where I Sit,” which provedto be the most popular feature from the firstday it was published until the day he died.Then we latched onto the Drew Pearsoncolumn because it was about this time thathis Washington Merry-Go-Round (the book)was published. Pearson at that time (this wasbefore he became a Washington messiah)was a real good reporter and exposed a lot ofthings that were happening in the capitol. (Itis unfortunate that Pearson’s ego got the betterof him, because he could have been a greatcontributor to the future of our nation. But hegot so impressed with himself that he figuredhe was bigger than any president and wassitting on Roosevelt’s right hand. Of course,Roosevelt sat at the right hand of God.)Then because Pearson was at one end ofthe pipe, we figured we should have someonefor the people at the other end of the pipe toread, so we contracted for Westbrook Pegler’scolumn. So we had one guy on the left,another on the right, and then my brother,Al, in between. So our paper got all opinionsto satisfy everyone who read it (we hoped).In those early days, as I was the entirenews staff, it was pretty easy to set a policy andstick to it. We tried to write our stories so theywould answer all the questions— who, what,why, when, and where—and never color ourstories in the news columns. We figured thatif somebody wanted to read our views on anysubject they could turn to the editorial pages.And we tried to cover the entire local scenecompletely so that if a citizen heard a sirenscream in the middle of the night, he couldfind out why in the next afternoon’s paper.Lots of times I have stayed up half the nightin order to get a story into the newspaper thenext afternoon. Hours didn’t mean a thingto us. We stayed with a story until it was allwrapped up—none of this stuff of cutting outat five o’clock if there was something hot onthe fire.And we had the complete confidence ofthe city, county, state and federal officials.

130 John F. CahlanWe NEVER broke a confidence, unless wegot the information from some other sourceafter the original source had told us about it.As a result, we never were barred from anymeeting, and when someone talked off therecord, it remained just that.Of course, if the story had largeimplications and there was no way to bust itloose, we would tip off the United Press in LosAngeles and get them to work on the story.Usually we had no trouble with this routine.The first employee of the news room,outside myself, who was hired was FlorenceLee Jones, a comely miss (I say that becauseshe now is my wife) who came out of theUniversity of Missouri School of Journalismto Las Vegas with her mother and father, Mr.and Mrs. Burley M. Jones. Mrs. Jones becamequite friendly with Mrs. F. F. Garside, wifeof the publisher, who was the proofreaderas well. Mrs. Garside’s social life, however,began to interfere with her proofreading, soshe talked Frank Garside into hiring Florenceas proofreader.Florence hadn’t been there but about twodays when I started in utilizing the educationher father had paid for her to get at Missouri.I started to send her to the county courthousewhen I didn’t have time to go (which wasbecoming more frequent), and then I’d turnall the women’s party stories over to her towrite. Thus blossomed the first “women’seditor” in Las Vegas history and launchedher on a career that has spanned (up to thistime) a period of thirty-three years. I haveoften told her that she knows more peoplethan either her father or I, and she probablydoes. Those she doesn’t know personally, sheknows from telephone conversations she hashad with them over the years.As the paper continued to grow, I becamemore and more tied to the city desk. I wasthe only one in the paper’s staff who hadexperience in putting together a newspaper,and as we grew from six pages a day to eight,then to twelve, and then to sixteen, it becamealmost a day’s work to put the sheet together.As I also was covering the city hall and policestation as well as being sports editor, and Ihad to rewrite the “pony” which was comingin from Los Angeles, there just weren’tenough hours in the day for me to cover thecourthouse. So I turned that over to Florencein addition to her women’s editor job.Somewhere along the line the proofreadingjob got lost, and as a result, anyone who hadfive or ten minutes without something to dopicked up a handful of proof and went towork. That included A. E. Cahlan, Mrs. MaeColeman who was the cashier, the classifiedgirl, the shop foreman, and anyone else whowas available. The paper might have lookedpretty lousy (so far as typos were concerned)there for a while, but we always got the paperout on time, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.Al, Florence, or I covered practically everynight meeting held in the city of Las Vegasthose early days, and there were plenty. Onereason, in the city at least, was that the mayorcouldn’t get out of the house at night withouta reason, so he set a city commission meetingwhenever he wanted to get out. Florence kepttrack one year and the commission met 110nights out of a possible 365. And that is quitea record.It was just before the war when the next“hiree” came into the news room. I was justabout ready for a nervous breakdown—hadn’thad a vacation in three years—so I took offfor Los Angeles for an extended stay. A guyby the name of “Doc” Speears (I don’t think Iever knew his first name) came up to take overin the news room. It was the worst mistakewe ever made. During the fourteen years Ihad been in the news room, we had collecteda great number of pictures, engravings and

“Cahlan School of Journalism”131other things of priceless value. Speears, the bigdope, started cleaning out the news room andtossed out all of those old pictures, engravings,etc. That is why much of the history of thosedays has disappeared.It was during those early days, in the early1930’s also, that the Review-Journal beganextracurricular service. We already had setup an election network, as I said previouslyin this history. Al and I were avid baseballfans and we knew there were others in LasVegas just as avid. So we set about tryingto see what we could do about bringing theWorld Series play-by-play into Las Vegas. Itwas the early days of radio in Las Vegas, andthe static in the downtown area caused by theleaking electric lines prohibited anyone fromgetting any radio program in the daytime. Sosomewhere, Al dug up an “iron mike”—anelectric scoreboard which, when operatedcorrectly with switches and gimmicks, wouldreproduce a regular ball game with electriclights. It was quite a deal.Al would stay at home (out in the thensticks at Sixth and Bonneville where the staticwas not so bad) and listen to the radio andrelay the play-by-play to me by telephone,and I would operate the scoreboard. As aresult, we gave the fans of Las Vegas their firstWorld Series, play by play. That lasted until AlDrew, the then city electrician, cleared up theelectric power company static and everyonecould listen in their own homes. And don’tforget, even while the World Series was goingon, we had to get out that newspaper. Thatmeant we’d have to get to the office a coupleof hours early, get the inside pages out of theway, make a flying trip to the police station forcoverage, and then back to start the ball game.Looking back at it now, I don’t know howthe hell we did it, but we did. There are a lotof things we did then that the newspapermenof today don’t do. We believed, however, if wewere in the newspaper business, we had anobligation to give the subscribers all the newspossible and at a time when it was breaking.TV has eliminated most of that practice today,and as a result, the reporters don’t give a damnabout breaking news stories, and when theydo, they become editorial writers and expresstheir opinions in the news stories. A guy didthat just once when I was in the business. Asecond time and he just wasn’t around anymore.It was fun in those days. I guess I was alot younger, was a lot more naive, and at thetime, I liked my work more than I did money.As long as there was food, drink, and a fewwomen, the world was rosy.After World War II, I managed to pickup one of the sweetest (and I mean that inthe finest sense of the word) newspapermenI have ever known. His name was JoeMcClain and he was fresh out of USCjournalism school. He, even then, was anewspaperman’s newspaperman. He fitright into the news room picture of Florenceand me. He believed that a journalist wasan unemployed newspaperman, and if youwanted to be a newspaperman you workedat it. That meant doing your job come hellor high water, no matter what time it was orwhat the circumstances might be. It was easyto teach Joe my kind of newspapering. He hadthe same temperament as I and was just asdedicated. We became hard-working, harddrinkingand hard-driving newspapermen,and I think Joe learned something from me. Iguess he had to; he was just out of school andI was an old veteran.I was sure glad I had Joe with me rightafter the War. We were growing; help washard to get, and when we needed a guy to goto work we really got some dillies. We got somany of that type that the news room formeda union, and after two days of existence they

132 John F. Cahlanwalked out. The way I broke that strike wasto take over all the duties of the news roommyself and with Florence’s help—she didn’tbelieve either that a newspaper person was inthe same class as a bricklayer or a stevedore,so she refused to join, too—we kept right onputting out the newspaper. I hired some morepeople during a week or two, and the strikerswandered off to other fields.I lost one good newspaperman out of thatbatch and I’ve always regretted it. His namewas Ed Walsh and he was just blossoming intoa good newspaperman when he left. He wentback to Newark, New Jersey, where he wentto work for a newspaper there.The second strike we had really hurt. Ithappened after Don Reynolds bought outFrank Garside, and Reynolds put in theteletypes which now are standard equipment.The typographical union didn’t like it andstruck. Some old hands went out the backdoor that morning. Dick Lochrie was thebest. He had been foreman of the back shopsince the first day Garside set foot in the oldClark County Review, and he had grown upwith the paper also. There also were PetePieretti and Bill Whitehead, both of whomwe taught the newspaper business. They wentalso. Of course, there were bums, too—thebiggest one was Beryl Worley. He was theinstigator of the strike, despite the fact thatLochrie, Al, and Garside all had fired himat one time or another for being drunkon the job and trying to foul up stories byinserting obscene material in the columns.He was a linotype operator and a good one,but he wasn’t known as “Surly” Worley fornothing. It was during that strike that Istarted working in the back shop putting thetype in the forms and making up the paper.I spent about three days being makeup manand managed to do a satisfactory job, if I dosay so.Reynolds brought in a bunch ofstrikebreakers and we continued to putout the newspaper. It was fortunate wehad the teletypes, because without them,we’d never gave gotten the type set. It wasduring this time that I learned just whatkind of a man Don W. Reynolds was. He justloved confusion, and wherever he went hegenerated it. It hasn’t changed in recent years.I think maybe that he kept his employees in aconstant state of confusion so they wouldn’tsquawk about the wage scale he paid. I doknow that he kept his editors in a constantstate of fear by many things he did, and I havenever worked for a man whom I despised asmuch as I did him. That is the reason I finallyquit the newspaper business. I just couldn’tstand the kind of people who were in it inLas Vegas.* * * * *The Cahlan “school of journalism”opened in the fall of 1933 and continued onuntil sometime in 1960 when it closed itsdoors because of a lack of instructors. Theone and only teacher was John F. himself,and when he quit the Review-Journal, the“school” folded. While it was in operation,however, it turned out a lot of high-classnewspaper people. The one and only, whograduated summa cum laude, was FlorenceLee Jones. She was always held up as thefinest product of the course. Not because theteacher married the pupil, but because thepupil in many respects outranked the teacher.One basis for this statement is the fact thatshe still is in the newspaper business while Ihave found my excitement elsewhere.I never will forget the first lesson I taughtFlorence. It was the first time she had gone outon an assignment, and it was a pretty big courttrial she was covering. She came back to the

“Cahlan School of Journalism”133office at noon and sat there at her typewriteras the deadline inched closer and closer. Shehadn’t even written a word, and I was waitingfor that story so I could put the paper to bed.After watching her for about half an hour andseeing that she was no closer to getting thestory started than she was when she first camein, I asked her what was the matter.“I can’t write the lead,” she said.“Well, what went on in the courtroom?What impressed you the most?”She started to talk, and after she hadtalked for a couple of minutes I said, “Well,write it. There’s your lead.”I never had any difficulty like that again,and she, to this day, never has had any moretroubles with leads. As I have told you in thisnarrative before, she and I held down thenewspaper fort for many years before therewere any other news room people employed.There are a couple of reporters to whomI would have given the cum laude degreeif that had been a conventional “school.”They were Walter Wilcox and Joe McClain.I have already told you about Joe. Walt wasthe first news room employee to come inafter Florence. I brought him down from AlHigginbotham’s Journalism School at theUniversity of Nevada in Reno. He had allthe tools. He became my desk man, and hisresponsibility was to put the pages together.He had only been there a couple of monthsbefore he was doing everything two or threedesk men would do.Walt was drafted into World War IImilitary duty and went to the Europeantheater where he was run over by a tankand later sent back home with a disabilitydischarge. When he came back he was achanged kid. He was bitter and had lost allhis zest for the newspaper game.He left the Review-Journal and drifteddown to southern California where hejoined the faculty of UCLA as a journalisminstructor. I understand he now is head ofthe journalism school, which means that theCahlan school is being carried on to newgenerations.Another reporter who just missed thecharmed circle was Max Miller. I brought himdown from San Jose State. He was the first ofseveral who came to Las Vegas from there.Max was an ex-marine, tough, but a helluvagood newspaperman. He learned easily, andwhen we started to put out the morningedition of the paper, Max was made the firsteditor, so you see how good he was. He couldhave made the “first team” of all-stars, exceptfor the fact he not only was a moody kid,but he also had a temper. I had to fire himbecause one night, in his mood and spurredon by a couple of slugs of whiskey too many,he wrote a column in which he took all ofhis pent-up venom out on Don W. Reynolds,the publisher. Of course, Reynolds did notappreciate the compliment, so Max was on hisway. lie went to Sacramento where he now isworking for the Bee, and I understand, doingright well.Chet Sobsey is another topnotcher, butI can’t take all the credit for him. He was aUnited Press staffer for some time beforehe came to us, but I do think, and perhapsChet will agree with me, that I made himinto the best political columnist the state ofNevada ever has seen. And in saying that, Itake into consideration Denver Dickersonwhose “Salmagundi” ran in papers all overthe state. Chet covered several legislativesessions and became one of the most fearedand yet most respected newspapermen amongthe legislators. Chet could dig out stories thatweren’t supposed to be found, and with mybacking, had the guts to write them. Whenthe solons would start talking about sanctions,Chet would smile, wave his hand and say, “Try

134 John F. Cahlanit.” Nobody ever did. We lost Chet to U. S.Senator Howard W. Cannon, who took him toWashington and made him his press secretary.When Jack Conlon died, Chet stepped intothe top job.Another youngster who I brought fromSan Jose was John Romero. If ever there wasa babe in the woods when I first saw him, itwas John. He wanted to be a sports editor theworst way. He had a lot to learn, but I tried tobe patient with him, and it paid off. Havingbeen a frustrated sports editor myself, I gavehim the benefit of my past experience. Withhis ability, my advice and patience, and hisown willingness to work, he became whatI consider the best sports writer Las Vegashas ever had. (That, of course, is with theexception of the “old instructor” himself.)John was a great teacher himself. Hebrought along a bunch of younger sportswriters who since have come into their own.He used to start them out keeping statisticsfor him in basketball, football, baseball, andtrack, and then, when John got too busy,started them out writing. I remember kids likeTony Ashley, Jimmy Joyce, Royce Feour, andseveral others. They all are the end results ofthe Cahlan “school.”A joint protégé of Florence and minewas Maisie Gibson, member of a pioneerfamily in Las Vegas. When the social worldin Las Vegas started expanding, it becamenecessary to get an assistant in the societydepartment. Just anybody wouldn’t do. Oursociety department was the strongest one inthe entire establishment, and when it cameto hiring an assistant, it had to be someonewho fit into that same pattern. Maisie wasjust out of college and didn’t know a thingabout writing. But she had the background,and she agreed to give it a try. We in the oldReview-Journal are glad she did. She becamea valuable assistant to Florence, and whenFlorence decided to retire in 1953 (the firsttime), Maisie took over. She served long andwell.The whole “school” started falling apartwhen Reynolds took over. There was anentirely different air in the news room. Itseemed that everyone was hanging by theirthumbs and just waiting for Reynolds to comealong, cut them down, and toss them in themoat, along with the alligators he brought infrom Oklahoma. But I am quite proud of my“kids.” They all have cut a niche for themselvesin the marts of trade, and I like to feel that Iplayed some little part in getting them wherethey are today.

10ConclusionBefore we conclude this, I’d like to discusssome of the family that is left, having told youabout the history of the Cahlan-Edmundsfamily who are my forebears. I have adaughter, Virginia, who is now residing inTorrance, California—Virginia Otero. Shewas married (oh, I couldn’t even remembermy own wedding—it hadn’t been that I wasmarried on my birthday). She has a daughter,Yvonne, who is about six years old and goinginto the first grade in Torrance,In the city of Las Vegas, of course, mybrother, A. E. Cahlan and his wife, Ruth,reside here as do his son, John Forest, betterknown as “Frosty,” and his wife, Jean Cahlan.Their three sons, Albert Edmunds CahlanII, John Forest Cahlan, Jr., and StephenBradford Cahlan, as I said, were born in thestate of Nevada. And my niece, Ruth MarionHenderson, is residing in Mount Ayr, Iowa,with her four children. She met a young manwho came to Las Vegas to the Aerial GunnerySchool out here (now Nellis Air Force Base)and married him while he was stationed inLas Vegas.I have three aunts, who are still alive. Mrs.Will Sauer, a maternal aunt, who was MissAlice Edmunds—and she recently celebratedher 90th birthday—she resides in Reno withher daughters, Alice Lou Lohse, and JeanFry. She has another daughter, Myra Ratay,who lives in Denver, Colorado, and she hasseveral grandchildren, who all reside aroundthe Reno area. There is also a daughter, acousin of mine, Gertrude Leary, who wasthe oldest of the Sauer family, who lives innorthern California around the Bay area.My two paternal aunts are Mrs. Lena CahlanMathews of Menlo Park, California, and Mrs.Neva Cahlan Browne of San Francisco. Mrs.Browne has one daughter, Mrs. CharlotteBrowne Reynolds of San Francisco. Mrs.Mathews’ children are Arthur Mathews, Mrs.Ellen Wachhorst, and Mrs. Marcella Searles,all of whom reside in the Peninsula area ofSan Francisco.My mother died about three years ago, atthe age of 91. And my father died in 1933 afterI had moved down to Las Vegas in 1929. Mymother taught school until she was about 75

136 John F. Cahlanyears old. She taught school down here in LasVegas, at the Fifth Street Grammar School,and at the Ninth Street School, and at two orthree other schools. During World War II,she was in southern California and taught ina private school. She had taught school from1896, off and on until she retired when shewas 75.Let’s see, she was born in 1875, and shewas—she taught school over a period offifty-five years, although not continuously,in the state of Nevada. Her first school wasat Huffaker’s, just outside of Reno, and thenshe was at Brown’s Station, for quite sometime—that was out of Reno. Then when Iwas born, she retired from schoolteachinguntil we moved back to Reno from CarsonCity in 1912, after having spent four yearsin the capitol. And she went back to workas a substitute until I got into high school.My brother was already in college when Iwas going to high school. And she taughtsubstitute for a while. Then she took a jobas a fifth grade teacher in Sparks, and taughtin Sparks until she came down to Las Vegas.She spent ten years—fifteen years—in the LasVegas schools. So she had quite an interestingcareer, and a school in North Las Vegas wasnamed the Marion E. Cahlan School after her,as a tribute to her long service in the educationof young people.Looking back over a period of sixtyfiveyears in the state of Nevada, it’s quiterefreshing, and quite satisfying to have beenassociated with all of these people that I’mtalking about, and having done what I havedone and accomplished what little I haveaccomplished along the way. I think that thereis a statement that I always liked that a guy isn’tworth anything unless, during his lifetime, hepays his civic rent. This, I have tried to do. Towhat degree I have accomplished this, I willleave to posterity. I do think that, as far as Iam concerned, some footsteps around thestate of Nevada will remain after I have gone,and this is quite satisfying. It’s been a real finelife as far as I’m concerned, and I’ve led a realfine life up to today, and in looking back overit, I wouldn’t change a minute of it.Sure, I made mistakes. I don’t think there’sanybody in the world, except the guys thatare down in the cemetery, that haven’t mademistakes, and won’t make mistakes. But Ihope none of mine has affected the state ofNevada adversely, or done anything to any ofmy friends or enemies.It’s my theory that if you have six peoplewho will be willing to carry that casket downthat last few steps, that you have made a realcontribution, because you’ve got at least sixfriends. And going through this world andhaving seen people up and down, if you’vegot six friends at the end of the trail, you’vedone a pretty good job.I have numbered among my acquaintancessome of the finest people, most of whom livein the state of Nevada. I have seen places inmy lifetime that I never expected to see whenI was a kid. I can recall when I was workingduring the Christmas vacations for the PostOffice Department, loading mail sacks ontothe mail cars there at the Southern Pacificdepot in Reno, and reading the tags to sendthe sacks to all of these faraway places—Chicago, New York City, and Washington andall of those places. They were far, tar away asfar as I was concerned when I was in highschool and going to college. Over the lasttwenty-five years, I’ve seen all of them.The greatest—one of the greatest—thrillsthat I ever had was one Fourth of July, cominginto Washington, D. C., as the train backedin as it usually does in Washington station,and looking out the window on the Fourthof July and seeing Washington Monument,and the dome of the United States Capitol

Conclusion137for the first time. This is something I neverwill forget. Everybody has heard about theMount Rushmore Memorial in South Dakota.I never will forget as we were coming throughthe tunnel that leads to the Mount RushmoreMemorial, just as you get toward the exit ofthe tunnel, this whole mountain opens upin front of you, and framed by the tunnel,is this tremendous monument of the fourPresidents. It’s something that really, as far asI am concerned, does bring tears to my eyesbecause I’m sort of a soft-hearted guy, andalso one of the guys that cries every time hesees the flag going by and somebody’s playingSousa’s march. But that’s only a part of beingan American and a Nevadan.I have never regretted once that I was bornand raised in the state of Nevada, becauseI think I have had the greatest opportunityto live a life of freedom and do just aboutwhatever I wanted to do or was big enoughto do.I have been on many occasions in NewYork City, and one time I recall especially,my wife and I, walking down Broadway, andwe noticed people turning around, lookingat us as we passed by, and I said to my wife,“What the dickens are these people lookingat? I don’t think we look any different thanthey do. I think that I’m dressed the sameway they are, and you’re dressed the same waythey are.” And we walked along for a coupleof blocks, and finally, I said, “I know what itis.” I said, “We’re the only people on Broadwaywho have a smile on our face!” These people inNew York City are so harried. They’re hurried,harried, they live in a tremendous noise,and it’s no wonder that they have to accepttranquilizer pills and psychiatric treatments,and such.You grow up in the state of Nevada,and you grow up in the great outdoors, andnobody’s closing in on you except God, andyou can feel Him everywhere you go. It wasquite inter esting several years ago when apsychiatrist from Cal Tech came up here. Iwas showing him around, and we got out onBoulder Dam. He looked down that wideexpanse of concrete, and he turned to meand said, “Mr. Cahlan, do you ever have anysuicides off this dam?”I’d never thought of it, and I said, “Well,no, not that I’d ever heard of; none at all.”And he said, “That’s strange.” Then hethought for a minute, and then he said, “No,it isn’t.” He said, “I can understand peoplejumping off the Pasadena bridge downthere, because everything is just crowdingin on them; they see no way out, and thisis all there is, and I might as well get rid ofit.” He said, “And you come up here and youtake a look at those mountains, you get all ofthis free air, you’ve got freedom, expanse—nothing’s closing in on you. You lose all senseof pressures. You just grow up. I can see thatyou people are very happy up here, and I onlywish that I could be a citizen.Well, this is the way it is in the state ofNevada wherever you go. When the pressuresstart in tightening up on you, I don’t carewhere it is in the state of Nevada, withintwenty-five minutes, you can be out all byyourself in the solitude of the desert orwherever it is. There are no people around.You can hear the birds singing and see thesun shining— it’s just something that—I justcan’t explain it.I’m very fortunate that I have been ableto do it all my life and have never been at allsorry that I remained in Las Vegas. I am surethat, as far as I am concerned, I could havegone back to New York City and become asports writer or gone into the radio field backthere. (Incidentally, I was the first man in theUnited States ever to announce a footballgame. It was at the University of Nevada in

138 John F. Cahlan1919—1920. There were no loudspeakers orno electronics devices that could carry myvoice, so I had a big megaphone. I wouldwalk up and down the sidelines of MackayField and announce who had carried the balland where he went, and how many yardshe made. As far as I know, that was the firsttime in the history of football that a footballgame was given a play-by-play “broadcast.”Very fortunately, as I told you, when I wasbroadcasting the World Series, I had a verystrong voice. I think you’ve commented onthe fact that my voice has held up very well inthese interviews. I had it trained ever since Iwas about sixteen years old. I guess when I wasa kid, my mother said I used to have a prettygood voice when I yelled for something, soI guess the early training was good for. me.)But, as I say, I have known the high andthe low, as I started with this interview—Presidents and prostitutes—how far apart canyou get? I am not particularly proud of someof the people I’ve met and the circumstancesunder which I met them. But I can tellanybody this: that I have learned somethingfrom every person that I have met in mytravels through this life. I’ve even learned a lotfrom the juvenile delinquents whom I startedon their way to rehabilitation.I’m going to tell you a story that is a goodfinale for this interview that I will carry withme to the end of my days. When I have beendown under terrible depression, I have alwaysthought about this story, and—it happenedto me—it has caught me up on numerousoccasions.There was a kid down here by the name ofClyde Farrell, who, because of a split family,had been engaged in a lot of robberies andburglaries. He was about sixteen, seventeenyears old—I guess he was seventeen, sixteenwhen I first met him, in the course of myjuvenile duties. His mother and father hadsplit up. His mother was nowhere around, andhis father was trying to make enough moneyto take care of an older brother and sister andClyde. And as a result, he was very seldomhome, and the sister had the responsibility ofraising Clyde, and she was kind of a wild kidherself—she was in high school. So Clyde justdrifted from bad to worse. The kid got himselfinvolved in about seventeen burglaries in thecity of Las Vegas, each one worse than thepreceding one. Finally, I just had to take himof f probation and try to send him to Elko.Prior to the time that I took him beforethe judge, I discussed with the judge, JudgeWilliam E. Orr, who at that time was districtjudge and also ex-officio juvenile judge, anda very fine gentleman. He later became judgeof the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in SanFrancisco and was very highly respected inthe legal profession. I discussed the problemwith the judge, and I told the judge that I wasconvinced that this kid was not fundamentallybad, but that he just didn’t have anybody toguide him. And so we talked it over, and hesaid, “Well, the kid’s old enough to go into thearmed services, and maybe we can talk himinto it—going into the armed services.So we got him up in the judge’s chambersand talked to him and we finally asked himif he would like to go into the armed servicesand see if he could get himself straightenedout, and he said he’d be very happy to. Hedidn’t have any home life that he was leaving,and he’d just go into the service and see if hecould make something of himself. This wasbefore World War II started. So we arrangedit so that the record would be obliterated sothat he could join the services. So he went overand volunteered for the Marines.This kid was, before he left Las Vegas,sneaking down alleys and going anywherewhere he wouldn’t see anybody because hefelt that everybody knew his juvenile and

Conclusion139family record, and so forth, and he didn’twant to be seen. So the kid had been downto boot camp, and came back to Las Vegas.I’ll never forget—I was sitting in the office ofthe Review-Journal on First Street, and herecame this kid, straight as an arrow, and in aMarine uniform—a blue coat, deep blue coatand lighter blue trousers and orange stripedown the side, a cap on his head, and he justwalked in there and had a smile on his face amile wide. tie said, “Mr. Cahlan, I have foundwhat I want to be now. I want to be a Marine.”And I said, “Clyde, that’s fine.”And instead of walking down alleysand ducking around and trying to get rid ofhis companions, this kid just walked downFremont Street like he owned it. That was hisfirst step up on his way to a comeback.I didn’t hear from him for quite a while,and finally, I got a letter from him. He wasdown in the South somewhere, training tobe a paratrooper. And he was with the FirstMarine Division in the paratroops. Whenthe war broke out, the First Division wasthe first outfit that went into the Pacific WarZone, and then the First Division fought onGuadalcanal. I got letters from Clyde—twoor three letters while he was on Guadalcanal.The last letter I got from him said, “We havesurvived two of the Jap attacks, and I don’tknow whether we’ll be able to survive manymore.”As I was reading that letter, I recalled thathe had said several months prior to that thathe had been married, and that he had left hiswife in the States and gone to Guadalcanal.And shortly after I read that letter, I waslooking over at the teletype, the United Pressteletype, and a list of the World War casualties.“Private First Class Clyde Farrell.” He had diedin defense of the United States.I didn’t think any more about it—I mean,it hit me right between the eyes at the time,and I didn’t think much about it—until thefirst golf Tournament of Champions in LasVegas. I was in the press tent out at the DesertInn, when there was a page came over theloudspeaker—the public address system—and said, “Mr. Cahlan is wanted at the gateof the press tent.”So I went out to the gate, and here was ayoung woman, standing with a small boy andholding his hand. And she said, “Mr. Cahlan,I’m Mrs. Clyde Farrell.” Then she said, “Thisis the son that Clyde never saw.” She said, “Hetold me about how you brought him up outof the dirt, and I just wanted you to see theson that he never saw, and thank you for him.”And at this time, the tears were flowingdown my cheeks. And every time I think ofit—it’s something that I’ll never forget. As Isay, this—if I’ve never done anything else inthe world, I have saved the lives of two kids,and this I am very thankful that I have livedfor. And with that, let’s wrap it up.

Original Index:For Reference OnlyIn order to standardize the design of all UNOHP transcripts for the online database, they havebeen reformatted, a process that was completed in early 2012. This document may therefore differin appearance and pagination from earlier printed versions. Rather than compile entirely newindexes for each volume, the UNOHP has made each transcript fully searchable electronically. Ifa previous version of this volume existed, its original index has been appended to this documentfor reference only. A link to the entire catalog can be found online at http://oralhistory.unr.edu/.

142 John F. CalhanAAdams, Eva, 243Adams, Maud, 23Adcock, Orrin, 173Aiken, James "Jim," 201Alamo, Nevada, 260Alamogordo, New Mexico,153Albright, Ellen Ainnerty,171Albright, George, 171Albright, Jack, 171Albuquerque, New Mexico,153Al-Can Highway, 111Amargosa Desert (Nevada),131Amargosa River (Nevada),131(LasArenaVegas,8State219-220,Arentz, Samuel, 209Arizona Club (Las Vegas,Nevada), 105, 128Arlington Hotel (CarsonCity, Nevada,S, 90Armed Services Committee(U. S. Senate), 260Army Air Corps (U. S.),138, 139, 141, 184-185Ash Meadows (Clark County,Nevada), 131Ashley, Tony, 298Associated Press, 34, 74,82Atomic Energy Commission~ECl, 151-158, 260,280Australian All-Blacks(team), 19Australian Waratahs (team),1946Gene "Bobby,"Balzar, Fred B., 46, 55,56, 249-250, 271Baring, \~alter, 263Barnum, Fred, 285Barrell House (Las Vegas),59Bartholemew, Frank H., 82Bartlett, George, 40Bartlett, Margaret, 24Bartlett family, 24Baseball Hall of Fame(Cooperstown, New York),187Basic Magnesium Industries(BMI)(Henderson, Nevada),57, 134, 146-151, 241,264Basic Refractories (Cleveland,Ohio), 146

Original Index: For Reference Only143Beckley, Bill, 170Boulder Dam (Nevada), 52,Beckley's shoe store (Las53, 56, 62, 100-104,Vegas, Nevada), 170107-109, 113, 120, 150,Bell, Jack, 45, 82164, 230, 305Bell, Rex, 182Bovett, Florence, 45Bell, Thomas "Tommy," 204BoW, Bow, Clara, 182Belle Isle (Reno, Nevada),Boyle, Emmet D., 5520Boyle, Vida McClure,46Belt, Alma, 27Bracken, Walter, 59,133Benny, Jack, 83Bradshaw, James, 30, 31,Berning, August "Dutch," 5285Bertilon System, 4Brougher,Bible, Alan, 136, 239, 255,Brougher,256, 259, 274Big Springs (Las Vegas,Nevada), 130, 132,133Billinghurst, Benson D.,24Billings, Harry (Capt.),,141 ~~Biltmore Hotel (Las Vegas,~ ck,)k! c~,~ 'orne34, 45,Nevada), 184 ~' , 49Bingo Club (Las Vegas), ~ B .r Pen (Las Vegas),76, 125 ~ 1 115See also: ,~ \ ~ Bunker, Berkeley, 251-252Hotel Burke, Peter, 3Bissett, R~' R~~ ' ~ 2 Burke's Addition (Reno), 26Black C~y,n C~yp'n (Neva e ya~a, 104 Burns, Bob, 73-74~Blanc~, B. lan~, ~~'il~O=t~-l d (!R R .ilt),, Nevada), "Busy Bee," 31 .,5 . ~ Butcher, Francis, 187~lanchfi ·, , William, 35 Butte, Montana, 8. clock lock..-N (Reno, Nevada), Byington building (Reno),\.A ~2, 283, 284 21"Block Sixteen" (Las Vegas,Nevada), 105, 116, 118,128CBlood, Leonard, 101Bodell, Bud, 113, 114Cahill, Robbins, 264Bodie, Frank "Ping," 158Cahlan, Albert E., 3,5,Boggs, Ray, 50, 526, 10-11, 12, 15, 16,"Bonanza" (TV series), 22117, 19, 23, 27, 50, 51,Boosters Club (University62, 68, 70, 71, 81, 96,of Nevada), 201-202,134, 147, 150, 170,203, 204232-233, 239, 243, 250,Booth, Libby C., 23-24251, 264, 286, 287, 290,Boulder City, Nevada, 62,291, 294, 30063, 72, 84, 104, 105,Cahlan, Albert Edmunds II,106, 111-113, 1469, 300Boulder City Journal, 62,63

144 John F. CalhanCahlan, Albert W., 3, 4,Cashman Field (Las Vegas,13,14, 27,28, 41, 89, Nevada), 187242, 301 Centennial celebrationCahlan, Charlotte Farley, (Nevada), 221-2269 See also: Nevada Cen-Cahlan, Charlotte Warren,tennial Commission9 Chamber of Commerce, LasCahlan, Florence Lee Vegas, 96, 121, 170,Jones, 61, 62, 63, 170, 184, 220233, 288, 289, 295-296, Charleston, Mt. (Clark298,299 County, Nevada), 117,Cah1an, Jean Garner, 9 132Cahlan, John, 6Cheatham Drugstore (Reno),Cah1an, John Forest 21"Frosty," 9, 300Chicago White Sox (bCahlan, John Forest, Jr., team), 158 ~9, 300 Chinese, 21-2 ~ 37Cah1an, Marion Edmunds, 3,Chr1.-6"s2tian ~ ~n~ ~ ej 0 " or,12, 28, 301-302 6·s2 Y.Cah1an, Ruth, 300 Cit C~ ~ · ounc o~c ~tR ~ JR no), 47Cahlan, Stephen Bradford, 4? pr-.i ~ ' efl!j)'s-e'", e es€', 155-1569, 300 ~ ~(l ar ,Vfl V flit'ar1es arIes R. "Pat,"Cahlan family, 3, 6, 8-9, ~ ,>9" gr16,89, 242 ~~ =(l~ rk, EdW., 95California, universit~A _~~'.~ •• ~ Clark County, Nevada, 70-California, Univer~ · , 71,118,222,246,271,calt~~r~;~l~~ile~~: Los Angeles ~1~ ~ . 272, ~~2,1~~4,2~;5,2~~i 274, 275, 281 271,Cann Drugst9 ·~ (Refi~~(Ren~~ Clark County juvenile cannon ~eWa~ , 3' 211, fice, 187-196of-Cannon,2~ . '~ , 21 CZark County county Review (Las~5 C ri11o 10 ~oo 00 ast Frontier Vegas), 51, 293hotel as Vegas), 126- See also: Las Vegas12 Review JournaZC P' ara, Nevada, 5.0, 52Clark County School Dis-Carson, Kit, 129 trict, 276Carson City, Nevada, 4-6,"Clark's Original Townsite"9-10, 11, 12, 15, 16, (Las Vegas), 130, 13255, 60, 226, 284 Cole, George A., 55-56, 248Carson City School, 4, 10 Coleman, Mae, 290Carson Sink (Nevada), 130Colony Club (Las Vegas),"Cartwright, Ben," 221 115"Cartwright, Hoss," 221 Colorado, University, 211"Cartwright, Little Joe," Colorado River, 100, 103221 Colorado River Commission,Carville, E. P."Ted," 43,134, 147, 150, 26456, 250Colt Firearms Company, 224Cashman, James,Sr., 173,Colwell, Bevo, 285230, 244Comstock Lode (Nevada), 7Concord, New Hampshire, 8Condo, Mark, 61

Original Index: For Reference Only145Conlon, Jack, 211, 260,Disosway, Gabriel Poillon261-262, 298(Gen.), 242Connelly family, 24Dodge, Carl, 87Considine, Robert "Bob,"Dodge, Max, 20182Dog Valley grade (Califor-Cooper, S. Hiney, 36nia), 29Cornero (Stralla), Frankie,Dowling, Wilbert, 11116, 117-118Down, James, 131, 170Cornero (Stralla), Louis,Doyle, Myron "Paddy," 47116, 117Drew, AI, 291Cornero (Stralla), Tony,Duffill, Albert, 59-60115, 117Duffy, Martin, 220, 221,Corradetti, AI, 138, 140,227141Courtwright, "Corky," 160"cousin Jacks," 12ECragin, Ernest, 138Crosby, Bing, 73Crouch, Jordan, 268Crowe, Frank, 100, 104,8105, 109, 111-112Crumley, Newton, 205 ~~w ~ CiW '\~ S s 'Bunk," 5, 10Curry Engine Company, 12 ~ w ~r ?s, Dwight, 5, 10~rds, - ards, Louise W., 10~ 1 Eells, Howard P., Jr., 134,~D ~~ 146,147,267-268DanI?-e, !f ­',\,: "Eldorado" (movie), 182Dakin, Don,Eldorado Canyon (Nevada), 71Danne, ~~ Eldorado Valley (Nevada),Davo/"5 Davie in-s, ~i;~l.in280~s, ac ' iamondfieldElko, Nevada, 193, 195, 224-Jack, 1225, 284gayto, Nevada, 15Elko County, Nevada, 254" th Valley Scotty," 182-Elks lodge (Las Vegas,183Nevada), 93, 173, 176,Democratic party, 42, 240,177, 178, 181, 182245, 250, 252, 255, 259,Elliott, Amos, 19271-272, 273Elliott, Dick, 151Demolay fraternity (Reno),El Rancho hotel (Las Vegas),36, 92119-121, 142Dempsey, Jack, 161-162,El Rancho Vegas, 83, 125,163184Denton, Bob, 176-177Ely, Eugene, 20Depression, U. S., 101,Ely, Nevada, 113113, 236EZy DaiZy Times, 263Desert Inn (Las Vegas), 125England, 146, 147Devil's Hole (Clark County,Eugene's restaurant (Reno,Nevada), 131, 132Nevada), 268Devine, Andy, 73, 83Evans, Dale, 182-183Dickerson, Denver, 55, 297Di Grazia, John, 254, 258-259

146 John F. CalhanFGarside, Frank F., 61-62,63, 77, 123, 289, 293-Fairchild, Mahlon "Tiny,"29430Geiger Grade (Nevada), 7Fairchild, Ted, 30General Services Adminis-Fallon, Nevada, 48tration, ISO, 241Farrell, Clyde, 307-310Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI), 153Fenton, John E., 181Feour, Royce, 298German, Bill, 55Germany, 146, 147Getchell, Noble H., 86, 217Gibbons, Bert, 29, 282Gibson, Jim, 227Ferron, Bill, 59Gibson, Maisie, 298-299Feutsch, Carl, 43Gilbert, C. V. T., 138, 181Fifth Street Grammar SchoolGillom, Horace, 201(Las Vegas, Nevada), 175Gilmore Oil Company 0Fike, M. Edward "Ed," 273,Glancy, Nell "M ~ 163-164274Glenbrook, ~ N . aa. It- 6Flamingo Hotel '(Las Vegas),Golden, F a~~ , 42')..85, 121-125, 180Golden IJ TI ' egas),,Flanigan family, 24. -5§ ~Fletcher, "Curly," 182~~~ba!~··~ ....G:.~. M, )~~ . H He' e1: (Reno, Nevada),"Flying Parson," 34-35Foran, Dick, 182 lB2~~~,,-~ n Nugget, 55Ford Agency (Reno), 47 ~~~~6fdfield, field, Nevada, 16, 41,Ford Model A (auto), ~~ 48, 220, 221, 222Forepaughs circus ,~ Goldfield Hotel (Goldfield,Fort Knox, Tene,~ . ,~~ e, e~Nevada), 221, 222Fransway, FranSW~y, J -'1'1 , I'I'). 8 , .QGomez, "Lefty," 159Fremont 15hn , 9Goodsprings, Nevada, 71FreJ!,O Frel1C ' ~ UGore, William "Bill," 139F -i!nchm,~chm 's I-S"'-~ at (Nevada),Gorman, Charles, 202, 207,~lSI, 51' 3, 156208, 209, 210, 211rie ri~ n, Maurice, 129Gorman, Harold, 21011 r-isch, Roy, 43Graham, William, 41, 42,Frontier hotel (Las Vegas),43, 44-45, 250120Grand Theater (Reno, Nevada),Frost, Harry, 20133Fry, Jean Sauer, 301Grant, Archie, 95, 214Grass Valley, California, 12Green e en FeZt JungZe, Jungle , 275GGreen Shack (Las Vegas),115, 141, 184Gaming Commission, Nevada,Greenspun, Herman "Hank,"26976-77, 80-81, BO-8l, 82-83 B2-B3Gardner,Ava, 83, B3, 84Greenwalt, Ernest J.Gardner, Robert "Bob"(Lt. ) ,•"Ernie" "Smiles," 11 11 45141Griffith, D. W., 120, 126Garrett, Elton, 63Griffith, Edmund William,178

Original Index: For Reference Only147Griffith, Ray, 102Griffith, Robert B. "Bob,"74, 140, 184Griswold, Morlmy, 56Guadalcanal island, 309Gusewelle, Frank, 173HHacienda Hotel (Las Vegas),122Hall, Mr., 42Halleck, Nevada, 228Hankensen, "Hank," 162-163Hansell, Lon, 55Harbor Bowl (football) ('football)(San Diego, California),209Harmon,A. S., 150Bruce, 9David Lee,

148 John F. CalhanKIndians, 130, 131Indian Springs, Nevada, 153Industrial Workers of theWorld (IWW), 113International Hotel (VirginiaCity, Nevada), 13International News Service,82JJamieson, Dalton Buck, 171Jean, Nevada, 71, 152Jeffries, Jim, 14, 15See also:Jeffries­Johnson fightJeffries-Johnson fight, 13Jim Beam (whiskey company),224Johnson, Homer "Windy," 30Johnson,Kaiser, Henry J. and W. A.Bechtel Company, 100See also: Six Com- Companies,Inc.Kalminir, Tom, 201Kaltenborn, Robert J.,139,172Keate, Joe, 102Keeler, Charles, 63Keeler, Dorothy, 63Kelly, "Machinegun," 43-44Kelly pool, 283Kennedy, Edward M. " eddy"2 3 7 ::;(1 ~. ~ 32,42229150,M., 61,260,Jones, Florence LeeSee:Cahlan, FlorenceL. J.Jones, Herbert M., 232,272, 273Joyce, Jimmy, 298Junior Chamber of Commerce,Las Vegas, 93, 170-173,250-251Junior Chamber of Commerce,Nevada, 93, 173Justi, William "Rags," 47Kramer, Dave,Kramer, Jack, 159-160LL. A. Beer Parlor (LasVegas), 115Ladd, Edward "Doc," 185Ladd's swimming pool (LasVegas, Nevada), 174"Lady Eve," 74Lamb, Floyd, 86, 227Lambda Chi Alpha, 1Lambe, Lambe. J. J., 95La Salle Club (Las Vegas),59Last Frontier hotel (LasVegas), 120,121, 125-129, 153, 184-185

Original Index: For Reference Only149Las Vegas, Nevada, 48, 50-Lincoln, Abraham, 22953, 55, 57, 59-60, 62,Lincoln County, Nevada, 7065, 67, 70-72, 75, 76,Lincoln Highway, 3778, 81, 82, 85, 94, 96,Lincoln Highway Exposition101,104-106,109,115- 104-106, 109, 115-(Reno, Nevada), 249129, 130, 132-136, 138-Lindbe,rgh, Charles H., 38,139, 140, 141, 142,39146, 147-148, 149, 151-Liston, Sonny, 273152, 154, 159, 164-169,Lochrie, Dick, 63, 293,170-196, 204, 233, 244,294251, 259, 271, 273,Lockheed-Vega (aircraft),275, 277, 279, 280,50-51290, 291Lohse, Alice Lou Sauer, 301Las Vegas Aerial GunneryLombardi, Louis, 205School, 143-145, 165Long, Huey, 66-67Las Vegas Age, 60, 62, 286Long Beach Mount PosseLas Vegas Convention Center,(Ca1iforn' , 2233Los Ange1~ "'a ie , a,Las Vegas Horsemen's IS Associ-74Z~ation,177 Los n,ge~ .· · es, 62, 67,Las Vegas Land and WaterCompany, 59, 130, 133~'~ t Y (Overton, Nevada),Las Vegas Review-JoupnaZ, ~'44, 50, 51, 55, 57-58 ~",--y-. ve, Malcolm, 211-21460-70, 73, 77-78, ' '.~81, 82, 84, 86.!Lozano family, 24Lucas, Paul, 8396, 142, 15 1....-' , ,.~ Lynch, Clay, 165170, 177 il, F.I:.7'2'1.2,~19, , 2 6:0, .6j, 285-2 ,Mc~veg~ ~0t. , 61, 69, 76,77 , jlJJ41, 82McAfee, Guy, 120D s V 9as Valley (Nevada),,McCarran, Patrick patrick A., 24,29, 147-148, 198, 26326, 150, 178, 240-244,Las Vegas Valley Water245-246, 255, 257-258,District, 76, 95-96,259, 264130, 133-134, 135, 136McCarran Field (Las Vegas,Las Vegas Wranglers (base­Nevada), 140ball team), 186-187McClain, Joe, 69, 292-293,Latter Day Saints (LDS)296church, 233McDermitt, Fort, 225Laxa1t, Paul, 270, 271McDonald, Joseph "Guts," 19,Leary, Gertrude Sauer, 30133Leavy, Jim, 69McInnes, John, 18Lee Canyon (Nevada), 230,McKay, James, 41, 42, 43, 44,231250Legislature, 'Nevada, 49,McKinley, Colin, 6960, 85-92, 199, 207-McKissick, Howard, 269208, 217, 219-220, 226-McNamee, Frank, 60, 164, 173,228, 297188-189Levinsky, "Kingfish," 161McNamee, Leo A., 59McNeil, Lawrence G., 148

150 John F. CalhanMcNeil Construction Company,148, 149McPhail, Harvey "Pongo,"19MMacDonald, Russell, 228MacDonald-Kuhn Company, 100See also:Six Companies,Inc.Mack, Effie Mona, 27Mackay, Reay, 19Mackey, Claude, 230Mackey, Will U., 10MacLennan, Arthur, 46, 49-50in,arysvi 6,7M ' on Dairy, 284Masons, 210Mathews, Arthur, 9Mathews, Arthur II, 301Mathews, Lena Cahlan, 9,301Maxwell, William "Bill," 5May, Joe, 57Mayberry ranch (Reno,Nevada), 14Mead, Lake (Nevada), 84134, 136, 137, 147Mechling, Thomas, 254-259Meloan, "Molly," 253Melody Lane bar (CarsonCity, Nevada), 90Merrill, Jerry, 27Merrill, Mike, 27Mesquite Grocery Store (LasVegas, Nevada), 176Meyers, "Durmny," "Dummy," 15Middleton, Thomas, 285Miller, Dean "Diamondtooth,"273Miller, Laura B., 23Miller, Max, 296Miners Hall (Virginia City,Nevada), 267Minneapolis, Minnesota, 8Missouri, University, 6~Moana Springs (Reno evad),14, 26, 158 ~1Mohawk, 25 :-i .:"'iMonroe, W ~ e ',~ ~'S-:::ow' s-:::.ow257 -',...... ~;__ ~ V": V Mon · ~ y (Las Vegas),/':~J 'I>S\~ or , . • J., 45--~ ~-oo ,"Dinty,", 2822 oore, ore, WilliamJ. "Bill,"126, 127Morabito, Tony, 161Morales, Joe, 162, 163Morelli, Antonio, 222, 223Morgan, Joe, 59Mormons, 233Morrill Hall (University ofNevada, Reno), 200Morris, Bill, 204Morrison, James "Jimmy," 29Morrison-Knudson Company,101See also:Six Companies,Inc.Mcsconi, Mosconi, Willie, 284Moseley, John, 207, 208,209, 210, 211Mother Lode (California), 7Motley, Marion, 201Mt. Ayr, Iowa, 9Mt. Grant Hotel (Hawthorne),44Mouton, Monte, 35Mueller, John, 91-92, 93,134, 150, 264Mundy, Bill, 65Murder, Inc., 122, 124Myers, John, 84

Original Index: For Reference Only151Nash, Percy, 52, 57New Hampshire, 8National Aeronautics andNew Market Club (Reno), 45Space AdministrationNewspaper Enterprise Association(NEA syndicate), 286National Distillers, 121-New York, New York, 244-122, 124245National Press Club, 93New York Cafe (Reno), 36National Recovery Adminis- Adminis­New York Yankees (baseballtration (NRA), 245team), 159Needles, California, 178Nicaraguans, 21(NASA), 260::0Negroes, 78-79, 118-119,"91 Club" (Las Vegas), 120149-150Nixon, Julie, 267Nellis Air Force Base (Las Nixon, Patricia, 267Vegas), 78, 138-146, Nixon, Richard, 267153, 165, 241-242, 261 Nix0 Nixon n opera Opera dHouse (0),Nelson, Nevada, 71, 72 2 22 2 ~Nevada, University, LasNorris, SinaVegas, 197, 199, 281 North Las eras NaY' a,Nevada, University, Reno, 73, ~ ~~~~, 16619, 27-32, 160, 200, Nor ;;u. a~ e S"Airport,201-206, 253, 296 ~~' TINevada-California-Oregon ~ rt ern Athletic Clubrailroad, 3 ~' no), 18, 26Nevada Centennial commis-~~~ . re Dame University, 160sion, 196, 221, 22 ~. '.~ Nye, James W., 229223, 224, 226'2 "', _~Nevada Centenni a [\a

152 John F. CalhanPRPace, Dorothy, 260 Raft, George, 124Pacific Bridge Company, 100 Ralli, Paul, 173See also: Six Com- Ramona Room (Last Frontierpanies, Inc. hotel, Las Vegas), 126,Pacific Coast League (base- 128ball), 159 Ratay, Myra Sauer, 301Pall Mall award, 93 Reagan, Ronald, 97Paradise, Nevada, 166Reclamation, U. S. Bureau,Paradise Valley, Nevada, 104, 11274-75 Redding, California, IIIParadise Valley CountryRed Mill (Las Vegas),Club, 76 115Paramount Studios (Los Reed, Ed, 30-31Angeles), 74Regents, Univers'Univers~Park, William S., 131Nevada, 19 ~t8,Parker, Gilbert E. (Col.), Reno, Nev~da, .' ,131 3211 26, 26" ~~~ 3 37, 39,Patrick (ranch), Nevada, 4~~ ,' 58, 199,pat~~~, George S. (Gen.), ~~~. ~~o ~~- ing i Gazette , 20,178 , 49Pauff, Peter, 174 0 Garage, 26Pearson, Drew, 94 ?&' 7 24, 26, 27Pegler, Westb · , I ~ ~ , Reno Newspapers, Inc., 46Perry, Har · i 3 Reynolds, Charlotte Browne,Philad .' ~ l.~g ~ , (foot- 3011 ea 60 Reynolds, Don W., 77, 81,~ckfor ' "," , ~a j!. y, 26 83, 293, 294, 297, 299"Pickpoek'ets," "Pickp9-C~ts," III Richmond, California, 159i~e~ti, Pete, 294 Rickard, Tex, 222

Original Index: For Reference Only153RoSS, Silas Earl, 203, 206-San Quentin prison (Califor­207, 208, 209, 210, 211nia), 193Rotary Club (Las Vegas),Santa Anita racetrack, 4496, 244Sauer, Alice Edmunds, 8,Rump, Fred, 58300Russell, Charles, 56, 152,Sauer, William F., 8153, 263, 264, 265Savage mine (Virginia City,Russell, John L., 138, 141Nevada), 8Sawyer, Bette, 268Sawyer, Gail, 268SSawyer, Grant, 56, 221,263, 265-270, 272, 273Sacks, Leonard, 162Shieck, Dennis, 64-65Sacramento Bee, 297School of Industry forSagebrush (University ofBoys, Nevada st s - (ElNevada), 32Nevada), 193 ~ 5, 307Sahara Hotel (Las Vegas),Schooley, Da , 551, 125, 180Schriver 5 )-See also:Bingo Club, 34, 46,St. Joseph, Missouri, 225, 62, 91, 246-St. Thomas Aquinas church, 2, ,264,265,271265, 2713~s \~~;E~l~.ht, a ~ . ght, Nevada, 71,"Salmagundi," 297Sal Sagev hotel (Las Q~\.~~ l!S,Marcella Mathews,Nevada), 171-172'.~ 301See also:Secret Service, U. S., 231HotelSells-Floto Se11s-F1oto circus, 17LakeSenator bar (Carson City,Nevada), 90Settelmeyer, Sette1meyer, Fred, 86) ,Shafer, Lenny, 122(Las Vegas,Shamrock Furniture StoreJ)!e,vaaa), 222(Las Vegas, Nevada), 184Francisco, California,Shaw, Buck, 160, 16136Shaw, Marge, 160, 161San Francisco Call Bulletin,Shea, J. F.Company, 10113See also:Six Com­San Francisco Chronicle, 13panies, Inc.San Francisco Examiner, 13Sheehy, Dick, 283San Francisco Forty-NinersSheeketski, Joe, 201, 203(football team), 160,Sheerin, Chris, 209161Shoup, Paul, 105San Francisco InternationalSiegel, Benjamin "Benny"Exposition, 19, 20-21"Bugsy," 85, 121, 122-San Francisco Seals (base­124ball team), 159, 253Sielaff, Alwine, 27San Pedro-LOS Pedro-Los Angeles-SaltSigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE),Lake Railroad, 130, 13227, 31, 209, 253See also:UnionPacific railroad

154 John F. CalhanSilver Centennial (cele-Stetson family, 54bration), 267Stockade (Las Vegas honorSilver Club (Las Vegas), 59farm), 189Simon, P. A. "Pop," 139Strassburg, Fred, 282-283Sing, Hughey, 36-37streetcar lines (Reno,Six Companies, Inc., 100,Nevada), 2-3109, 112, 114Strip, the (Las Vegas),Slater family, 24121-126, 165-166, 180Sloan, Charles, 95Sullivan, James, 42Sloan, Nevada, 71Sullivan, Leonard,S5Smith, A. R. "Two Gun," 61Sunset League (baseball),Smi th, Art, 21186-187Smith, B. N. "Ben," 63Supersonic Transport (SST),Smith, O. J., 55279Smith, "Poison," 162-163Supreme Court, U.Sobsey, Chet, 297Susanville, CaliSouthern Nevada Industrial6Foundation (SNIF), 129,265, 275-281 .Southern Nevada WaterProject, 136soui~~rn Pacific Railroad, ~~~ISouthworth, George Arvi ArVi ~1(l ~1C1 , ~ "~~"Soapy," 201 '.~ "~Southworth Cigar Tahoe, Lake, 6(Reno, Nev , Tallaa, HaC), 6Sparks, spar.~, Job ··· 4, ~, Tallulah, Alabama, 149Sparks spark~~~ . d 3 Tandy, Doug, 86Spee.aT Sp~ ,,,,, ',A if'DJc' ' 90Tax Commission, Nevada,perry- erry-~~ tc · nson (S and H 264, 269~Gree~ . tamp),90-9l 90-91 television (Las Vegas,"Sp' "Spj..r~t t of St. Louis," 38 Nevada), 154-155q q(iires, ires, C. P. "Pop," 60, Thatcher, George, 42, 48286 Thom, Thorn, James, 2Squires Park (Las Vegas, Thomas, Roscoe, 54Nevada), 177 Threlkel, Jack, 26Standard Oil Company (Rich-Thunderbird hotel (Lasmond, California), 31 Vegas), 125, 180Stanford University (Califor-Tinker, Clarence L. (Gen.),nia),l04 185-186Stateline, Nevada, 152Tinker Air Force BaseStearns, Dave, 59 (Oklahoma), 186Stearns, Sammy, 59 Titlow, TitloW, Emerson, 227Stenseth, Martinus (Col.), Tivoli Bar (Las Vegas), 59141, 142, 184 Tonopah, Nevada, 16, 41, 48Stenwick, Bill, 170Tournament of ChampionsStenz, Max, 4 (golf) (Las Vegas), 310T

Original Index: For Reference Only155Trapp, John, 5Truckee, California, 29Truckee river, 20, 24, 40Truman, Harry S., 56, 232,234Truman, Margaret, 234Tubman, Thomas M., 3-4Turner, Roscoe, 50-51, 5220-30 Club (Reno), 36, 92UUllom, George, 135Underwood, Zetta, 27Union Pacific dining hall,172Union Pacific EmployeesAthletic Association,159Union Pacific Railroad,55, S9, 61, 65, 71, 106,132, 135, 277See also: S·an S'an Pedr""::;.-o,Pedr", ~'"Los Angeles-Salrailroad ~United Air Li 1nAUnited Pre" ..........'73" 73,61,d ' G~ anotel (SanDie, , California), 171nisity Taxi Company(Reno, ;'levada), aevada), 285Utah Construction Company,100See also:Six Companies,Inc.Uzcudum, Paulino, 161VValley Park (Carson City,Nevada), 15Vance, Clair, 35, 36Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 39Vargas, George, 90Vaughn, E. Otis, 18, 24Virginia and Truckeerailroad,S, 11-12, 15Virginia City, Nevada, 6,7, 8, 11, 12, 225, 267Volstead Act, 29WWachhorst, Ellen Mathews,301Wagoner, Ron, 82White, Frank, 102Watt Stpeet et Joupnat, J t ,Walsh, Ed, 293Walsh, Matt, 29Ward, M. E.,Ward, II "R~ Ro """"..War M;e,,~·~ Me , r-.l. l -..J!illl;;;'d:1.County, Nevada, 28County Bank, 21821Western Air Lines, 51Westerner (Las V~gas), Vegas),122Western Union, 64, 65Westmoreland, Wes, 59Weston, Illinois, IllinOis, 280westside (Las Vegas, Nevada),175Wheelmen's Association, 3White, Jackson, 16"Whi "Wili te Christmas" (song),185Whitehead, Bill, 294Whitney, "River Joe," 109-111Whitney, Nevada, 166

156 John F. CalhanWigwam Theater (Reno), 25Wilbur, Ray Lyman, 104-105Wilcox, Walter, 296Williams, "Big Boy," 182Williams, Claude, 102Williams, Ed "Smokey," 18Williams, Nick, 60"Wil1iamsvi lIe" (BoulderDam, Nevada), 102"Willows," 42, 43Wilson, N. E., 32Wilson, "Tim," 18Wilson Drug Company (Reno),32Wimbledon, England, 160Winchester, Nevada, 166. Wingfield, George, 41-42,44, 48, 200, 206, 222,240, 250Wingfield Park (Reno, ~Nevada), 20Winnemucca, Nevada, 225 ~~Woodburn, woo~~urn, William, 41-42, ~~~~48e~~"Ve~~~r:V294XYZYerington, Nevada, 48Young, Walker, 104, 105,111-112Youth Training Center,Nevada state (E1ko,Nevada)See:School ofIndustry for Boys,Nevada stateYuba river (California), 7Yucca Club (North LasVegas), 73, 115Zerby, Clyde, 173, 174Zionchek, Marion, 110