1 15 6 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/f48a730a04f67c54c694480e78ac2354.jpg?Expires=1774483200&Signature=vNacM9Z9aEc59HS3d0IOlkFKVMUPu%7EDOMaDFxFMiYud2gP0IKZhXQVHm12oWIciToEk0mrssG19nNJIBJNVVzvy97Is96NIX0Sq9BqfVsZIlbVmEn2WaoMaOeVcNyhtQE0Qrr110quEp3gJecv-WVAK1iHpDGJoOofQCGNTTYLU-UMPL8BqAAeXdRpqHlvmHv-Z9lRB2IXxUak4ODTcR26sYo-3-UAyhsBqk1Vz5OP18GvPc%7EhTGmZ1bbJVOdtQcXiWBv5vrLwGOD1ej8ssCagHoKNOSKR09gb00XG-WsQzr1zSRPU0sbpwEcdf8nY5JYgJj1oHMhZS9iKSWBLi0Bg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 855602a255b9175739d9ea53d0c53fd7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource James McGee Family Home Description An account of the resource Early photo of the residence of James McGee. The flume of the Phyllis Canal is in the background. Construction of the Phyllis Canal had a few serious setbacks, taking several years to complete. This photo was likely taken between 1889-1892. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jerry L. Cornilles Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photo Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource James McGee Homestead Description An account of the resource James McGee who moved from Pennsylvania to Caldwell, Idaho in the early 1880s, encouraged Alexander Duffes to establish a new town nearby. November 11, 1885, filed under the Homestead Act on the land where Nampa now sits. On July 19, 1886, Duffes, McGee and James M. Stewart organized the Nampa Land and Improvement Company established the plat for the township. Relation A related resource <a href="https://nampalibrary.omeka.net/items/show/851">Phyllis &amp; New York Canals</a> Houses & Homes Irrigation Nampa Idaho-History Town founder https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/89abcffc5448c1c09cc4d3e7cf349df0.jpg?Expires=1774483200&Signature=F8AHfwLr6nBxtYX4AWP-LHR895f1sp0aS7x6bnHkTHND74sgt-IXmGwnRdqDKUXb%7E1PYGjTovZmwsnEDZ8Kn2vbaYVdxihSXeOFJNGodCDEuj2JzueZxQ5BeeBUpE7xUgh5N3uWi2tgd8csExs9-0ADe7Qg-V0enwO0LapartVbVwKweMz7i6xFwK5LYCSTqZNbrz2bPM%7EXD0Urax2LitLTxDNa0Emya-iZ6ipZHuQD%7EEnRZNQbQ44iMVNDopNm1DHWzq1FSpVM16Ko3fmiBcCdMJeBNJ%7EYCEtj71nBZE555011upNS2nZMebDwirbH4KYGgp2PcZGrNNjZuYQR6Pw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 44a277e1fcf701030a5864a840009ac1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nampa Northside Residences Description An account of the resource Part of the residential section of early Nampa, located on the north side of the railroad tracks Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890s? Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jerry L. Cornilles Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photo Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Early Nampa Residential Area Description An account of the resource Nampa's northside Houses & Homes Irrigation https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/135434e1e47ea4454c10bd76155aaf91.jpg?Expires=1774483200&Signature=iXsaT0uMsRF4qJcPrLQvO9cmfuJ9gmHBPxdoKtG3w5X8de3rD6kz9y8wprAYxqBShNVX1tDsOCglj8lk-y97O3UHD8ZJ0tDfQJnjxVOA12juWtrvcCRW1l9oT2yr0GJIKdedskuR%7Eqd4mU630ifj5xsd-AwlmMavAq9VkY6aobJqW44%7EizYQGeSMWHoepxKIPhU8MzMpd%7Eqn533u1Yi8Y1iD9au%7EOcbk6Y%7EKFJDeM34NXLxqDACRkZH9Bcv2CQOEChSZr1R4zJHQUzqcrFzKLNSXslkjqj6dsLa7SUGBDVXFmxdzR5xjcD81MoqV190qijh7Bk1q8BtR-CCHrY61og__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 3fa342285c2da0604d5c43b624833957 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Moore's Home Description An account of the resource Photographed here are: Left to right: George Harvey Moore, Hallie Moore, Annie Gorsuch, Mrs. Nettleton, Alexander Duffes (Nampa's town founder) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Edith Williamson Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photo Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Harmon Moore's House Description An account of the resource Harmon Moore's property now part of Kohlerlawn cemetery, Nampa. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Edith Williamson Houses & Homes Nampa People https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/3d8441dcba7f82adaf5373325dfbed89.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=iSDMn-QX7jh-YoidQhQkiHi55AJIBGUaKXYRxc8-A9M9w6Izb6tBRqHxWwSgTveCh2BMYd3JawProD8KkJV4NA9cxonIId-Xo8ag3OOhyufYp2-mnRTSPqs15WsPGVOSL0Bg5vpRTmfuYeBuKjfRHG0e0UxC6t-symjScFOL5%7EKBfcTlcNGC1CFEdLFCcKL%7EK7iT6nrwYEoqzG47rrzrSvXGiNpQdVmp1QIVJlhokcmik3QA35oDSLqc6OxY%7EQsCDsgiusYMaPb5tIPEb49Ut6vcUfDAcXWMIWGff5NC-Bub4cX8O0AykwNNShowjBecV0rjZFeoBvdnkQMiy4VG8w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 037fabd82adb67be11459672fb00caa7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Marie Stone Recording 1 of 4 PDF Text Text JANET HAY: This is an interview with Marie Stone at her home on Park Avenue on June 3, 1985. The interviewer is Janet Hay. We’ve been talking to Marie about the beginnings of the Stone Lumber Company in Nampa, and about the origins of the Snake River stampede. So, Marie, can you just tell me just how the Stone Lumber Company came to be founded and what the early years were like? MARIE STONE: Well, it might be all hearsay, of course, but I know that Bert’s father came up from Iowa to the coast and stopped in several places where there were lumber yards for sale. And after being over on the coast, he came back again to Nampa, and bought this lumberyard that was for sale. [00:01:00] And that was in 1906. Horse and wagons. JANET: What sort of things did they sell in a lumberyard in those days? MARIE: More principally lumber. Now they sell everything. JANET: Right. Where did their things come from? Where did they get the materials that they sold in the lumber yard? MARIE: Well, I don’t [00:02:00] know. (break in audio) MARIE: -- me because they had a -- this is all about the heels. I thought maybe when you got up to that you see. He was chairman of the board, the school board for eight years when they built Lincoln School and did this merging of schools, or they were trying to work it over, and made the plans for the new high school, and the grounds. And now, someplace I’ll find that and then that’ll tell a little better. Well, Bert, they had a manager here that had been the manager of the lumber company for years. And when we moved over here after Bert’s father died. And uh [00:03:00] (break in audio) MARIE: So, he was the lieutenant commander in the Navy, and he was away in the Pacific for three and a half years. And he no more than was far away when this manager that had been there always had a nervous breakdown and they had to take him down to Arizona, and he never was able to work again. So, I had to go down to the yard and stay there, and with the help of two or three of the men who had been there, we managed to get through the yard. And according to Bert, the day he got home, I said, “Here it is. The money is all in the bank,” because we’d sold everything practically, you couldn’t buy stuff, then. And I never will forget those years. He said [00:04:00] I never came back again, but I did, lots of times. (laughs) [Break] -- have a lumberyard because you could not buy anything. JANET: Oh, it must have been very difficult. MARIE: It was very difficult. And so, as I say, we practically sold everything there was. And anyway, we got through it. JANET: But you managed it during the war. You managed the lumberyard. You were the manager. MARIE: Well, I was after John Sites had his breakdown. JANET: You did the books and the inventory. MARIE: Yeah. JANET: In those days, what kind of bookkeeping and inventory controls did you have? Was it all in a big ledger or how did you keep records? MARIE: We kept books just like they do now. No, not like they do now. See I helped a lot until because then, [00:05:00] after Bert was back home, why, the bookkeeper was a man called back into the service, and I had to go back again. So, I helped. But when they start getting in computers, something like that, I bowed out. I just helped now and then through the later years. JANET: Now, during the war years, did you have children at home? So, you were keeping the home and... MARIE: We had one son. JANET: And you were working full time at the lumberyard and taking care of the home. MARIE: You bet I was. Well, there was just Frank. And one of the teachers that lived at the Dewey Palace, she hounded me to come and live with me, and because Vivian, his sister, taught art in the schools, Bert’s [00:06:00] sister. And every night when I’d get home, Vivian would say, “Eleanor wants to know, she says if you just let her come and live here, why, she won’t even come out into the rest of the house or bother you in any way,” because I was working day and night almost down there. And then I said, “I can’t have anybody else around because Frank and I get along all right.” He was in junior high when Bert got home. But anyway. According to Eleanor, she moved out of the Dewey Palace one weekend, one Saturday, when I got home that night, she’d moved in. And I had said to Vivian, “Now, there won’t be any meals at all, because” I said,” I can’t do it.” And when I got home, it is pouring rain. And so, I said, “Well, you can’t,” she ate at the Dewey Palace and lived at the Dewey Palace. And I said, [00:07:00] “You can’t go on this rain. Now Frank and I are going to have it, if you can eat that, you stay.” The next morning, we got up, it was Sunday, pouring rain. I said, “Well, you can’t go out in this rain. We have what we ate for breakfast.” And according to her, she never ate a meal away from the house for the next three and a half years. JANET: A (laughs) pretty good deal. MARIE: But anyway, she was marvelous for me because she has a wonderful personality. And she would entertain me. We’d sit in that breakfast nook at night and talk and laugh until eleven o’clock, before we’d get up to wash the dishes, even. JANET: How wonderful. And she was a teacher. MARIE: She was a teacher. JANET: At the high school? MARIE: No, I guess would be junior high, because she had Frank, I remember. But anyway. And of course, it was different, raising a child then, too. JANET: How was it different, do you think, than it is, now? MARIE: Well, it is different for one thing because he knew that he’d say that so and so was going to go downtown after the games and all, [00:08:00] and I’d say, “Well that’s all right, whenever they do,” but I said, “As long as your father isn’t here, you’ll have to do it my way.” And I said, “You won’t go, you will come home.” But he was vitally interested in, oh, airplane models and stuff. So, we had one room in the basement I wasn’t even allowed to go into dust, because it was hung solid with planes. And he could bring his friends that liked that sort of thing home. He was in the dance band as he got on. And then, when Bert got home when he was still in junior high, and I said, “All right, here he is.” And Eleanor said, “I don’t understand. [00:09:00] you argue sometimes, but he’s never disobeyed you once since I’ve been here.” And I said, “Well, I don’t know.” But anyway, we got along all right. But I said to Bert, “All right now, he’s yours.” I said, “I don’t know anything about a boy. But” I said, “He’s done what I’ve asked him to, now you take over.” So, there were a lot of things because that was right at that age, you know where it’s, bye. He had all those interests at home. He then went to high school, why he was in the band, in fact, in the dance band, but they came there. They came to our house to practice all the time. That living room was big. But those boys, sometimes they’d be practicing, and then, something would be on the radio or if they wanted to listen to it, you know, and they’d be spread up till you could hardly get around there, [00:10:00] with all those big boys. JANET: What fun. MARIE: But they were home. Home, all the time. JANET: So, their social life was different then. MARIE: Their social life was. JANET: More at home. Did you live here then? Did you live in this house? MARIE: No. We lived over on Sixth. We didn’t build this house till he was going to college, in 1950. No, we had a great big house over there. JANET: Where was that? MARIE: It was on the corner of Sixth Street and Eighth Avenue. It was a white house then, and now it’s blue. And it has a nice big porch like this one. That’s why when we went to build a little one, I said, “I don’t care what we have, except I want another porch.” JANET: Did you build that house? MARIE: No, Mr. Leland had [00:11:00] built it. He built two just like. One was Dr. Kellogg, that’s George’s father, on one corner, and a block from there was ours, on the next corner. I think he lived in it, himself, the second one he built. They were exactly the same houses. But anyway, it was a lot easier, I think. They didn’t drive cars, you, see? JANET: Not so much. Then there wasn’t a drug problem and the drinking. MARIE: Well, you know something? That I had graduated from college and come to Boise, and I graduated from college, it’ll be 60 years in this next spring, came to Boise and Margot Cobb, the owner of the Statesman, and her father was, until he died, and she was, had her husband that I thought was most handsome man I think I’d ever seen. And I was [00:12:00] saying something to somebody else, said, “Oh, isn’t he the most handsome man?” And they said, “Yes, but he’s dying of drug abuse.” And I thought drugs? To me that meant something that the doctors gave you, you see, to cure your illness. I had never heard of drugs in the university. JANET: I don’t think any of us had, until, what, 20 years ago. MARIE: I didn’t know of, I never heard of such a thing. JANET: Tell me what it was like at the University of Idaho when you went up there. When did you go up and what did you study, and where did you live? MARIE: I went in 1922, in the fall. And when we graduated, [00:13:00] the year we graduated, 1926, was the year that the enrollment reached 1,000. JANET: Really? MARIE: We knew everybody. Everyone knew everybody else. And of course, I lived in a sorority house. JANET: Which sorority did you live? MARIE: Del Gamma. But I had to make my own way. I stayed out a year first, and made enough money to go the first year, and I spend it. JANET: How did you earn? MARIE: Well, I kept books for an electric firm there in Payette. And then I started, stayed out a half a year, and was keeping books, and that was when they put in a law, Payette was all fruit then, was just nothing but orchards, and the government put in the law that every carload of fruit had to have all this papers made out on [00:14:00] it. So, these fruit inspectors that were out all day came and asked me if by any chance I would type those up for him at night. And they paid me so much for each car. I’ve forgotten how much it was now, but anyway. So, I was putting that money away and I got enough, and I thought, “Well, I guess I’ll go back for another semester. Got enough money to.” And I was only back there a little while when somebody said at the table one day that there is going to be a vacancy at the library. So, I went over to the library, got the job. And from then on, I started in, and I opened up the library in the morning, and I closed it at night at nine o’clock. And every hour that I didn’t have a class, [00:15:00] I worked on a loan desk. And then we weren’t open on Sunday, so Sunday mornings, I’d go over and lock myself in and do my studying for the next week because I didn’t have any time to study. JANET: So, you really did all your studying on the weekend. MARIE: And then, of course, what I loved was dramatics. In fact, I got a degree in dramatics, but it was spoiled for me because, so I was gonna say, after nine o’clock, the coach had the rehearsals. JANET: So, that you could come to them? MARIE: So, I could be in the play and go through it. And we rehearsed in the auditorium then, at nine o’clock at night after I closed the library. And I got 45 dollars a month I had my house bill was 43-something. JANET: So, you really did [00:16:00] earn all your board and room. MARIE: You betcha. Then all at once, after had been there that second year, why they said, now, if you stay here year-round, why, they were going to pay me 75 dollars a month. So, I stayed there year-round from then on. And they paid me 75 dollars a month. Well, this dramatic business was all spoiled. When I was a singer, why, the coach started making me conduct the rehearsals of the freshman and sophomores. I didn’t like it at all. JANET: You liked to act better. MARIE: I didn’t like that, [00:17:00] when they didn’t have their lines and when they didn’t do this and that, it just spoiled the whole thing for me. So, I got my degree with that major in dramatics and a minor in psychology. And I know that the president of the college at Lewiston came down and he said, “Now, I’d like to have you come, when you graduate, and take it over there.” I said, “You know, I don’t want to. I don’t like the coaching.” Anyway, I was in love by then, too. JANET: That makes a big difference. (laughs) MARIE: Yeah. So, I stayed another year, though, there at the university after I graduated and did coach freshmen and sophomores. JANET: You did? [00:18:00] MARIE: Mm-hmm, because I had borrowed some money from my sister my last year. JANET: So, you met Bert at the University of Idaho. Tell me how you met him, under what circumstances? MARIE: Bert, was in plays, too. JANET: Oh, he was. Was he a theater major also? MARIE: Yes. But that was his love, was dramatics. JANET: What plays did you act in together? MARIE: Oh, all kinds of them. I don’t remember. Then, he came to Boise, you see, and took over the lumberyard in Boise. JANET: And when were you married? MARIE: We were married on April 1, 1928. JANET: And that was after you both had graduated. MARIE: Oh, yes. JANET: And came to Boise. MARIE: Mm-hmm. And then we were in, what did we call it then, but we put on lots of plays in Boise, this group. JANET: Were you part of the Boise Little Theater, the [00:19:00] early years? MARIE: It was before they organized as the Little Theater, but we had quite a sum of money in the bank. And so, Bert and I moved over here by then. And so, when they organized and really got the Little Theater going, why, we gave them the money we had in the bank that we’d made. I’ve forgotten what we called it. JANET: Well, before we leave the University of Idaho, I’d like to ask you about women at the University of Idaho, then. Were there very many other women there? MARIE: Oh, yes. JANET: Were there a lot of women in college? MARIE: Yes, yes. But I suppose probably just about 50-50, I imagine. JANET: Really? That was quite high, considering. And did most of them go on to graduate? MARIE: Oh, yes. JANET: And what professions did they go into? MARIE: Well, [00:20:00] there were quite a few teachers, of course. And I was supposed to be a teacher. In fact, when I came down to Boise then I decided I didn’t want anything to do with coaching dramatics. So, I went to work in the State House and Department of Public Works and went to Lynx at night and took my shorthand, because I knew how to type but I hadn’t done any other business, you know. And I was only there a few months, there was a man who was the chief clerk of Public Works. And that was a big department that because that was -- and the men didn’t like it. But anyway, they called me in and told me that they were -- well first thing that happened was I [00:21:00] said, “I’m going to be married. And so, I wanted to tell you, so if that ends my job, all right.” And they said, “All right,” I hadn’t been there very long. They said, “Well, all right, we’ll give you two weeks to take off and get married, but providing you come back and stay during this administration.” It was just well into the beginning. And that was Baldridge’s administration. Well, anyway, when I came back, I wasn’t back very long till they called me in and said, “We are making you Chief Clerk of Public Works.” And I said, Why, I don’t know enough about it.” And they said, “Well, yes you do, and you will get along all right with it.” But [00:22:00] that covered, you see, quite a few departments and their secretaries and all. JANET: Now, you were responsible for all those other people. You did the hiring and supervising of their work. MARIE: Yes. But anyway, it was during those years is when they brought the first airport into Boise, is down there where the Boise College is, now. And then that was at the time when they made the highway through Winnemucca and all to California. So, it was a very busy, busy time. Busy. JANET: Oh, it must have been. MARIE: But anyway, they were fun years. So, then I said when the new administration was to start, Ben Ross, I think it was, and I said, “I want to quit,” because see, [00:23:00] I’d been working all the time, and Bert was working too, and I thought that was enough. I wanted to stay home. So, I quit. I worked till about 1:30 in the morning. JANET: You did? MARIE: On New Year’s night. Joe Wood was the Head of Public Works. And we finished up everything there was to do, and I never went back after that. JANET: What a New Year’s Eve. MARIE: Yeah. I was through. JANET: Then how soon after that did you move to Nampa? When did you move to Nampa? MARIE: We moved to Nampa in 1939. In the meantime, Bert’s father had died, and Bert was having to come back and forth all the time. JANET: He was trying to manage the Nampa store from Boise? MARIE: Well, we had this old manager here, which [00:24:00] was fine. But there was lots of business involved that he had to take care of over here, too, you see. JANET: How long did it take to get from Nampa to Boise in those days? Was it a longer drive and did you drive a car, or came on the Interurban? MARIE: Well, we came down that road like if you go by the cheese factory, that’s the road you came in on. It was before they put in the freeway, of course. We’d go back and forth all the time. JANET: I’m interested in the Depression years and what it was like living in this area in the Depression years, and how the lumberyard weathered the Depression years. What can you tell me about your recollections of that time, the ’30s? MARIE: Well, [00:25:00] I remember how we couldn’t buy any toilet paper, and we just got a little thing, could only have so much gas, each one. But oh, we lived so differently. JANET: What do you think are the biggest differences? MARIE: I think home was more important then. And all our entertaining was at home. At home and in the Dewey Palace, it was, for quite a few years. JANET: What sort of things went on in the Dewey Palace? Did you have special events there? MARIE: Oh, they had that they had a fine dining room that the whole valley, it was filled with Boise people and all on the weekends for meals, because it was an awful nice place. And they’d [00:26:00] have their card parties down there and all after, card party luncheons and all that sort of thing. I can remember bringing Frank over, because Dad, his theory, was that every Sunday we should be over here for dinner at the Dewey Palace. And the kind of meals they served, why, they were very nice. And they always had finger bowls and all that, and I can remember when Frank was a tiny one, we put him in that highchair and we got it across to him, or I thought we did, what the fingerboard was for. JANET: He would sit there and wash his hands. He wasn’t interested to do any eating; he was too interested in washing his hands. (laughter) MARIE: Always. No, it was a different life really, in a way. It was. JANET: Did you have any special events, special memorable family occasions at the Dewey Palace that you can talk about? Were [00:27:00] there special anniversaries or birthdays? MARIE: Well, we usually had those at home. Yes, we always had those at home. And Bert’s dad was a real person. He was the grandest person, I think. And he made everybody feel so good that he was around. He just treated me like a queen really, is all I could say. But his theory was, now, in the morning, he got the breakfast. And you could eat it. But dinner in anybody’s home, everybody should be there to table for dinner. And you didn’t jump up and run away. Everybody, the conversation, you had it all, everybody took part in it. [00:28:00] JANET: What a wonderful way to live. MARIE: Well, it was. And he was awful busy to do that, too. But he got -- he used to go to the luncheons and things at the hotel at noon. And she said many a time when she had to get in touch with him, she’d have to call down there after lunch and say, “Would you look there in the lobby and see if there’s a man behind the newspaper?” Because he’d be there. But anyway. I just thought there wasn’t anybody like him. JANET: And he ran the lumberyard from 1906, you said, until 1939, was that...? MARIE: Well, he died in -- when did Dad die? He died in 1933. And then Bert went back and forth for several years, but then, the yard in Boise burned. [00:29:00] And that’s when we sold it. Because by that time, he was spending so much time over here, too, you see, we decided it would be easier if we moved up here. JANET: And so, he took over the lumberyard, then. MARIE: Mm-hmm. JANET: And then when did he go off to war? That was in 1941? MARIE: I don’t know. JANET: So, you ran it during the war years? MARIE: Well, I didn’t at first, but I did as soon as Mr. Sites got sick. (break in audio) MARIE: It seemed to me like everybody took part in everything. Everybody took part in the schools. Bert was chairman of the board for eight years, I think. And everybody was interested. JANET: Were they supportive? Did they believe in good schools? MARIE: Yes. Yes. [00:30:00] And even all the people that were busy with their businesses and all were vitally interested in the schools. JANET: Why do you think things have changed? What’s changed about the community since that time? MARIE: Well, I shouldn’t say, because I don’t know enough now about how much people put into it. And they probably put just as much as they did then, but you see, because I was involved in it, it seemed to me like everybody was into it and interested. There were years there when, I tell you, while they were doing all that Lincoln [00:31:00] business and doing that where the schools went together more, that was what started Valley View at that time. And, why, every night, there were meetings, of course, and then in the day, they’d be down there in the yard with their problems. But they just seemed to find time for that sort of thing. Anything that was doing something for the city. JANET: Was really important to them. MARIE: Yeah. JANET: What projects? You mentioned the reorganization of school districts, but what other projects, what schools were built during this [00:32:00] time? MARIE: Well, they built Lincoln. I know they built Lincoln when Bert was chairman of the board. And the doctor made the arrangements to get the land for where the high school is now. JANET: Oh, really? MARIE: And... END OF RECORDING https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/a6182e3c219a542577923e224b3f6461.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=AXOWOpxwfpSr8mfSnNuDFvJM7wbEGnq9w01Q1x1pNYUGGdlNhqeca5GnyxhTRcuUXlVy7A6i2W8W6CFhIgNWgFVK4cHWUud9gWLpPQdMtvy3VyO-Ckc5dDbp0Q%7EYZpdNCaeDsmDN-sjuljfy9mrIU6EP-9SvSv8s10e9Cbz7fDM-LWN7t8HqSuWa8oLBjAhuEsgad9NgcV8fEnTxw3kxnva6t8JfE%7EuZntRdi941H6jt00oVeuS5T%7EFZxvCwsGPsV64IrsDOCbum8y6qH4jKMnOtpVbXyCOmIoHVH1fBhSXCgAaubd7WBWlo8NNvgsyus%7E7ppMOPnvPLnECq2ojWGw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM e82a5c47de9f7f13f4c2f2242638b73e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Marie Stone Recording 2 of 4 PDF Text Text JANET: Tape of an interview with Maria stone at her home on Park Avenue. Marie has been discussing for years on the Nampa Library Board. (break in audio) MARIE: -- want to come over. I guess I came home every night so worked up, I didn’t know what to do, because Frank had been on the board for years, I guess he’d run it. And he ordered the books from the agents, so they just sold him what their particular publishing house had to sell and all. And I thought that we should go through those lists and work out and study those lists, and order books that really, we wanted there, instead of leaving it up to those agents to say what books they were sending. But he didn’t let us have any say at all. (laughs) [00:01:00] In fact, we sat there the four of us, and we would make, especially Annie Laurie, she’d make a motion, and I’d second it, or vice versa, but he never did put it to a vote. We never really got to get one thing across that we wanted. The only thing was it there was women, Mrs. Van Slyke was the librarian, and by the way, every book that she thought had anything in it that was upsetting to her, why, she kept that book under the desk, and you had to ask for that especially, if you want to read that book. And I thought to my soul, [00:02:00] now, that most of the books would be under the desk if it was run like that. Most of them have something in them now that’d shock somebody. But anyway, I would make a motion, Annie Laurie would second it, and that’s as far as we’d get. We never did get any motions put across except that we ganged up on him on what they paid. Mrs. Van Slyke, and Vera Long was the helper. They were getting, it was a disgrace, so little. But Frank for sure that was as much as any woman needed. And we really finally got ganged up on him and got him to raise the wages of those two people that worked so hard. JANET: How did you do that? MARIE: And [00:03:00] I can remember one time he called me and wanted me to go to the council meeting with him because we were really getting very leery of whether the floor was -- we had the children in the basement, the children’s library, and it was getting so weak that we were afraid that we might have a terrific accident, where the top floor might go down on the ground floor. And so, Frank and I went to the council meeting, and practically begged for money to boost it up, the upstairs floor. JANET: And this was the old Carnegie Library, downtown. MARIE: Yes. And they did give us an amount that allowed us to strengthen the floors some, because it was getting just [00:04:00] to the point where we were frightened, all of us, that something might happen that we’d be very sorry for. JANET: How did you organize? How did you elect the president of there the chairman of the library board? Was it just automatic? MARIE: I think it was his life. JANET: You couldn’t vote him out. MARIE: No, no. Well, so anyway, I did it four years. And then, I think that’s when I got (inaudible) at the yard, too, because I got off of it. JANET: That was before the war. MARIE: Yes. It’s nearly 1940s. And so, I quit, and then I suddenly found myself back on again, not too many years ago. JANET: How had it changed? MARIE: Well, everybody, they made motions then, [00:05:00] and it got across, and then talked it over. There was no one person that had control of it at all. Everyone had their say on it. And, oh, it was run very well. And during those years, those four years, that’s when I got that Allen McCurry in here for the head librarian, and he was excellent. He made so many changes. Of course, in the meantime, you see, the bank had decided to build new, and gave that building to them. That was the biggest relief I ever felt that they got out of that old building. JANET: That was really... MARIE: Books. There’s nothing heavier than books. And to have them all in that old building, it just worried you with people downstairs under it. But then this, oh [00:06:00] my, it just was wonderful to have all that space and all. And Allen did a wonderful job. He revamped everything in that library, I think. And then, of course, left because his wife, who taught at Boise State, wanted to go to Alaska. And they are enjoying it up there. I got a long letter from him Christmastime. They’re having quite a life up there. They really enjoy it. JANET: Well, then, your book selection process was a lot different. MARIE: Oh, yes. I should say. It was carefully chosen, whatever money it is. I mean, it was thought over and figured out, where would be the best, the money that they could put into new books, where they went. The salesmen had nothing to do with what we had on it. But I did, and I got to 75, I know. I reached 75, and I thought -- in the meantime, the boiler blew up, and I don’t know what all, [00:07:00] I was just harried with it. And I said, “Look, no person, woman, 75 years old ought to be chairman of anything, or ought to be on anything.” JANET: You were chairman, then, for a number of years at the library. MARIE: Yes, four more years. And so anyway, they brought in the computer, and I thought, “This is it.” So, I said, “No, I’m through, because I’m too old now. And there are too many things. And I think a man should be the chairman of his library board.” There were so many things in connection with the building that needed a man, knew about it. And that Mr. Larson had come on the board. And he was -- you know him, Ray Larson? JANET: Yes. MARIE: A wonderful person. And so, he took over. I was so relieved. When Ernie called me up, he said, “Ray? Are you serious?” [00:08:00] And I said, “I certainly am. To begin with, nobody my age should be chairman of anything. And then, they brought in that computer, and I pretended to understand all of it. But I didn’t. And I knew then it was time for me to get out.” So, anyway, and that (inaudible). JANET: She really is. MARIE: Oh, she is a hone y. JANET: Well, you’ve seen a lot of changes in the Nampa library, then. MARIE: Oh, my, yes. We really have. JANET: But it’s been an important part of the community. MARIE: Oh, well, I should say. Of course, I think it’s one of the most important things in the community. And I think one of the most important things a mother and father can do is to immediately get their little youngsters to know about the library, and the books, and have books read to them, and then learn to read, [00:09:00] and go and -- I have one great-grandchild over in Oregon. He was four the other day, but for the last year, he wanted to go with Debbie to pick out his books, and he liked to pick out his own books at the library. I think it’s wonderful. JANET: It really is. MARIE: I think there isn’t anything they can do for them much more important than that. JANET: Right? It opens up all kinds of worlds. As important as the school system. I really think so. You’ve seen a lot of changes in the school system, too, since you, well, lived in Idaho. What are the biggest changes that you’ve seen and what things do you think are better and what things do you think are not as good as they were many years ago. MARIE: Well, I haven’t had close connection with the schools, now, since the grandchildren moved [00:10:00] away. But from what I read and hear, and the other night when I went to commencement, because this Truksa boy that I think’s a wonderful chap, and student, graduating, I was just thrilled with the program and all that. It seemed to me that they’re doing a wonderful job. JANET: They’re good kids. MARIE: And that Mr. Joker made a wonderful speech the other night, I thought. JANET: Yes, he’s a fine man. He really is. MARIE: I’m sorry he’s leaving. JANET: I am, too. I really am. MARIE: No, I don’t know enough about the schools now. I kept up with it, while, obviously, my grandchildren were here. There were five of them. But now, they’re having children. (break in audio)[00:11:00] MARIE: -- were giving, everyone must have been imbibed with the need and the feeling that they wanted to go on because they all graduated and got degrees, two or three of them had master’s degrees, and they’re always taking courses even now. So, I think they had to learn that here in the schools when they were young, to have that stay with them that they wanted to, don’t you? JANET: I do. I think from the schools, and from their parents, too. I think they learned it from their parents. MARIE: Of course, Barbara’s been a wonderful mother, and had to do it alone for so many years now. (break in audio) MARIE: I’d just come home every time just storm around because we couldn’t make a motion and ever get it across. And that just [00:12:00] tickled Carl Halladay. He’d come in and he’d say, “Oh, Bert, you should tell me what night she goes to library board. I want to be there when it is.” (laughter) But you felt so frustrated. And I remember when we finally got the wages raised for those two women. They were so thrilled; they just couldn’t thank us enough. And still, it was very small pay compared to what other people were making. (break in audio) JANET: They had sort of limited options as far as work was concerned, then, did they? What were their...? MARIE: Well, evidently. Well, it was just like when I got that Chief Clerk of Public Works in the State House. They said, “Now, Mr. ,” I forgotten his name who had the job, “made 175 dollars a month, but we can only pay you 150, because that is the most that any woman can get the State [00:13:00] House.” JANET: Really? Was that the law? MARIE: Yes. And the governor’s secretary got 150, I got 150. And I think there were about two women that got 150 from the State house. JANET: Things really have changed. MARIE: Oh my, yes. Just think. Of course, when I finally got 150, Bert, I think, was getting 125. (inaudible) said, “Look, you can’t have Marie making more money than you.” (laughter) JANET: So, that was pretty good in those days. It really was. That’s wonderful. But you mentioned that I know we saw a lot of pictures in your scrapbook about the harvest festival, and the origins of the Snake River stampede. MARIE: Oh, yes. JANET: Tell me a little bit about how that all started and what Bert’s father role he played in [00:14:00] it. MARIE: Now, (inaudible) (break in audio) JANET: -- go through these scrapbooks and you show me the places that you marked that you thought were particularly interesting. MARIE: Well, this is the history of the festival, there. And here, this is the… JANET: Oh, here’s an article in the Press Tribune on the history of the festival. And that was written in 1934. MARIE: Yeah. And I don’t know when that was. (break in audio) MARIE: -- was, believe me, everybody, everybody should take all kinds of jobs (inaudible). [00:15:00] You owed that to them. You owe that to where you live. You should be glad to. There shouldn’t have to be urging of people to take part in the community. And I can remember, I always think of that every year when it comes tax-paying time. His theory was, why, be glad you can pay your taxes. He couldn’t understand people complaining about the taxes. Be glad, be glad you could pay them. JANET: That’s a really enlightened attitude. I’d like to have him around now. MARIE: And this is -- wonder when this is. Oh, right here. See, this Mrs. Van Slyke was the librarian for 21 years. And the members of the city council voted Tuesday night to investigate the feasibility of enlarging the public library after two members of the library board [00:16:00] described inadequate, overcrowded facilities. Frank Estabrook, chairman of library board, and Mrs. Bert Stone were reappointed to the board by Mayor Peter Johnson. Both appointments were confirmed and Estabrook told the council that the library was built in 1906, when the city’s population was approximately 5,000, and that it now has a circulation of approximately 100,000 volumes. And Mrs. Stone asserted that the library is one of the city’s most valuable assets, and that is one of the first places visited by newcomers to the town. And so, they appointed a committee to go into seeing about working on it some. I thought that... [00:17:00] But they didn’t have much money. JANET: The money for the library must have come from property taxes and donations, is that where it came from? MARIE: I don’t know just where it -- now let’s see what this says, Nampa voters passed a special 10 mill levy needed to keep the -- this is from 30 years ago from old newspaper files -- to keep the high school in operation the coming year. And a committee of five who spearheaded the drive to get the levy passed were George Van Desty, chairman, FS Stone, FD Robertson, Tom Kuhn, and Dean Bullock, assisted by a number of other citizens. But now, another thing, [00:18:00] I always think about that. We never had a car. And Bert said when he came home from college, Bert was working on the railroad before he went to college, and he just loved that job and didn’t want to go to college. And Dad said, “Well, you have to go, and I’ll send you 75 dollars a month, and you go to college, and I don’t care what you take. But you’re gonna go four years. And then when you get through and come back, your education will begin.” Well, anyway, when Bert came home, he went down to the yard and was welcomed by Dad, and he said that everybody that works for the yard, either their wives came after them in cars, or they got their own cars out and went home, and he and Dad walked home. And Bert said to him, “Well, Dad, it looks kind of funny [00:19:00] that all the help has cars, and you don’t.” And he said, “Well, more important to me to have,” Vivian graduated from the Chicago Art Institute, and Bert graduate from university, and Jessie, who never married, got the same check each month as they did, he said, “That’s what’s important, I think.” JANET: What a wonderful man. MARIE: Yeah, he was. He just was. That’s the Lincoln school. (inaudible) out there. (break in audio) MARIE: If you don’t know a thing about the next generation, they will probably come in, and they’ll go through, and they’ll find the things that pertain to them and keep that, and imagine, just throw the rest away. JANET: It’s hard to tell. MARIE: Yeah. [00:20:00] (break in audio) JANET: When did they -- was this a special committee? MARIE: Yeah. Business leaders look forward to a population of 25,000 in 10 years. And Mayor Peter Johnson, Nampa is 10 years behind in its portion of city services. In 1940, the official population was 12,149. It’s 36,000 now, isn’t it? JANET: Close to that, I think. MARIE: Did you see that book? My niece in Ontario has this book and it has every state in it, and Alaska, and Hawaii, and then there’s a story about each state. And at the beginning of each state, there are the three most desirable [00:21:00] places to retire in each state. And when we came to the Idaho one, Nampa is one, first. JANET: Is it, really? MARIE: Nampa first, Coeur d’Alene second, and Sandpoint third. JANET: Isn’t that interesting? MARIE: And it told why. Of course, its location is part of it. It’s near city without the older people having to battle traffic and all that, I suppose, of the city, and near hunting, fishing, and things like that. And well, it told the whole thing why, but I was just amazed. Then, we had this committee. [00:22:00] Well, I suppose now, certainly now Nampa is having all these people that are giving an awful lot of their time to downtown, aren’t they? JANET: Yes, they are, a lot of time and money. Right. So, they’re carrying on the tradition. MARIE: Yeah, mm-hmm. Oh, the east side addition, the new grade building east side addition. JANET: Were these buildings that that were built while Bert was on the school board? MARIE: Yeah. JANET: So, he was involved in all of these. MARIE: Yeah, that’s why I’ve kept them in, you see. Whenever stuff came out in the paper, I just cut it out and put it away so if he wanted it later, it was there. JANET: It’s a wonderful scrapbook. MARIE: But [00:23:00] years ago, when all the grownups went to the parties and stuff at the skating rink. JANET: Oh, at the roller rink? MARIE: Yes, these are all down (inaudible) people. JANET: Did you used to go to parties there? MARIE: Yeah, skating was -- let’s see, right there, that fella was the head of the bank, (inaudible). JANET: And you have a lot of parties there. Now it’s the teenagers mostly isn’t it? MARIE: Yeah. (break in audio) MARIE: -- died. So, anyway, here when the yard was how old? Oh, when it was 25 years old, I [00:24:00] gave everybody that walked in a silver dollar. (break in audio) MARIE: That’s kind of interesting. That’s Annie Laurie did that one time. It was in the paper. JANET: On Bert? MARIE: On Bert. JANET: So, there were several articles on Bert. Isn’t that interesting? (break in audio) JANET: More Articles by Annie Laurie Bird, titled “Bert Stone’s School Days” that are in Marie’s scrapbooks, which give a pretty good picture of what life was like when he was a schoolboy. (break in audio) MARIE: It’s so different. We lived so differently than they do now that it’s hard. And [00:25:00] I mean, our fun and entertainment was all so above board (laughs) you know what I mean? JANET: What sort of things did you do for fun, then? What would you do on Friday and Saturday night? MARIE: Well, of course, I was raised under the strictest regime in memory, you know, in Payette. There were very few cars. Well, I can remember Bert telling me that his first car ride, automobile ride in an automobile, was clear out to Hesbrook’s. JANET: Really? And that was out in the country, then? MARIE: No, no, right off here. You see the town had grown out that far. JANET: But then, it was in the country. MARIE: Yeah. Clear out to Hesbrook’s. But I just think the way we lived, if we went to a show, why, [00:26:00] that was a celebration. And I wasn’t allowed to go downtown in Payette in night. Of course, I don’t suppose there’s any place to eat that would have been so desirable, but I felt kind of discriminated against because I couldn’t go. But I could always bring anybody home. But if I ever did go with anybody that had a car -- now this is when I was in high school -- why, I couldn’t sit out in front, if when they drove up, they had to get out and come in. Neither could I stand on the front porch. They had to come in. But I had a sister 12 years old, and she knew I wasn’t allowed to do what some of the rest of them could, go downtown to the restaurants, you know, and all. So, she always had that chafing dish on with [00:27:00] shrimp or something like that, and lovely sandwiches made, and hot chocolate covered up on the stove. And I didn’t have sense enough to know that I was always asked to go places and things until I was older, and I realized those boys could take me, and it was cheaper than anybody else, because they got in on all those good things that Edna did for them. But we had such a good time here a week or two ago, this friend that I’ve known always, came from Eugene, (inaudible) was a doctor there. And we’d grown up back-to-back. When we were seniors, Payette didn’t have Sunday movies. Ontario did. And they [00:28:00] had matinees, and Pauline and her boyfriend, and my boyfriend, we came into my mother to ask if I could go over to see Birth of a Nation. And she just looked up and said, “Well, there’s six other days of the week.” And we walked out and didn’t go. Can you imagine that this day and age? Of course, the aftermath of that was that after I went away to college, why, they built a new theater, and it was only about a block from my mother. And they had Sunday matinees, and when I came home, she was going to them every Sunday. And I said, “A fine thing. You embarrassed [00:29:00] me,” because I couldn’t go. But anyway, that’s how different we were raised. And they had dances and from where we lived, why, my mother could hear them playing “Home Sweet Home,” and I was to show up immediately after. So, that’s the way I was raised, and Bert almost as carefully, I think. JANET: Lots of good times. It sounds like lots of good times. MARIE: But Frank, our son, why, he had such a wonderful time in school, but he never thought of having a girl anyplace. And Bert didn’t understand that, because Bert liked women. He liked girls. And loved to dance, just loved to. I know when we came to Nampa, why, everybody wanted us to learn this square dance. And [00:30:00] he said, “Anytime I have to have anybody tell me where to put my foot here and there, and when to turn on it, that’s not dancing.” He wanted nothing to do with it. But I remember that Frank would just come home with all of this, excited over things they were having, and he was, oh, the junior-senior prom would be right away, and Bert said, “Who are you taking?” And he said, “Oh Pat, Pat Duffy,” his best friend. They weren’t taken anybody. And Bert said, “Look, son, if you don’t have a date, (inaudible) tomorrow noon, you can’t go, because” he said, “A girl has to know ahead. If she’s going to the prom, she probably wants to buy a new dress.” And he looked so downcast, and the next noon, he came in just hilarious. He had to ask [00:31:00] I can’t remember her last name, but she was by far the most sophisticated one in the class because she taught dancing and had a class down in Caldwell that she taught dancing. But he took her... END OF RECORDING https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/e222dcc871328ba18ed689df6fa3ed5f.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=PZc5Yv3CIa26HaBDqeyv%7EdqmCI8h-b6bmHdGI5Mh9qAUnW8dGSFiJ0Am0ytpg0qZlKygCa7fYX-8vnnnfSxC62uABhj4V0TWzUeRohAR-hQL8e0LU9mVBXXTLqNx0VnOtLrClGfFVCxWvObF22m645Imrx6IZukQqmSd8WpNo-h-mrBmGJVEyesUuAwngte0qzyjWn3Lzc5TY4Bm8HnmfTNx6lKNweT7DGOtbz5YWPMUu-dytwpYAWskrQxul-ERqzxWc6ktbpDZcEYq%7EVTDP3UMghfZ84aZwTHsWGR8aNS8rh3M14YtWvPcUzM3aB6KtMsBuYrHFbE%7EA%7ESPN-RrOw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 02fe80a414a6ff080e6cc0453543daa6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Marie Stone Recording 3 of 4 PDF Text Text MARIE: -- one place I wouldn’t want to go without a date would be on a hayride. But anyway, he wasn’t a bit interested in getting a date. But it was just so different from now. So, very different. JANET: It was, yeah. MARIE: You’ve got young people, you know. JANET: Mm-hmm. There weren’t as many problems as there are now, I think. MARIE: No, no. JANET: Not so many distractions. I think television has made a big difference. Do you think that? MARIE: Oh, I do, too. I do, too. JANET: Really interferes. MARIE: And all the horrid things you show on television half of the youngsters in small towns, I don’t think would ever know about if they didn’t watch television, would they? JANET: No, no, they wouldn’t. You’re right. MARIE: They wouldn’t know that was going on. JANET: No. No [00:01:00] I think that’s true. Do you think that’s made a big impact on family life, and on schools? MARIE: Yes, I do. Because children are glued to that television. JANET: They don’t read as much. MARIE: No, they don’t. (break in audio) MARIE: Although now, those youngsters of Barbara and Frank’s, they were very good school, except came to the third one, Bob, and he wasn’t very interested. And his reading was very hard for him, and he didn’t want to read. And oh, they worried about it. So, then somebody came here and had some kind of a thing downtown. You paid for it. And Bert, or Frank was so upset, [00:02:00] our son Frank, with Bob, he just went down. He said, “Come on, Bob.” And he enrolled in it, too, so the two of them would be involved in it. And part of it was that he was to read out loud for an hour a day. Somebody was to listen to him. They had five children. So, Barbara took two days a week, and the other three days while Frank would bring him over here. The books they had for him to read, they weren’t just childlike books, they were really interesting stories. You could listen to them without being bored. It wasn’t I saw Jane, and threw the ball, and what have you. And so, he went through that. Well, then he went on through school, didn’t do as well as the others, or the ones after him, but always had a job. And he always had a better job than any of the others. And this went on through high school and then into college. And [00:03:00] then he seemed to be so disinterested, and Barbara said, “You know, I’m not going to hound Bob. If he wants to drop out of school, it’s up to him. He’s old enough to know he shouldn’t, and if he wants to do it regardless.” He was at Oregon State. He went to Portland, got a job that some -- I forgot how he got it, but it was in one of those big plants. And it paid better, oh, he was making more than the other kids were all put together. But the man came, it was almost like that, remember that book Wheels, where they put the same boat in the same place, all day long? Well, those men came in, older men that had been doing that for years, [00:04:00] and he watched that. And that did something to him. I think he said to Barbara, “Well, I don’t want to spend my life like that.” So, when we went down to his graduation at Oregon State, he had a 3.4 average. It had done something to him. Well then, he came and the first time he came and spent time with me after he was out of college -- he went immediately to Alaska because he’d been up at Mount McKinley for two summers, and then had this full-time job with them when he went up there -- came here, I watched him and he was here about two weeks, just the two of us, and I can’t tell you how many books he took down off those shelves and read. I was so glad; I didn’t know what to do. Now that child, which it still seems to be, he’s 29, is manager of that Traveler’s Inn [00:05:00] in Fairbanks -- or he’s 30, now -- the manager of that Traveler’s Inn had the Pope and Reagan there for his guests, has 45 people working for him... (break in audio) JANET: -- impressions, which times were the...? MARIE: I don't know, but I think is a wonderful place to live because the friendships you make in a town this size are, well, there’s nothing that can compare with it. That’s the way I feel, anyway. JANET: I do, too. MARIE: I wouldn’t leave here now that I’m old and alone, I wouldn’t leave here to go anyplace else. I’m going to finish right here. JANET: You still have your friends here. MARIE: Oh, yes. Of course, it’s getting down. Now, it’s kind of pathetic. We had this dinner club with 18 of us, [00:06:00] nine couples, and Emily Lloyd and myself are the only two left of it. JANET: Tell me about your dinner club. What kinds of things did you do, and what... MARIE: Well, we always, there was the Dr. Drew’s and the Dr. Kellogg’s, and the Reed’s, and the Duck’s, he was the head of the PFE, then, and who all was in it? Oh, the Finlinson’s, and he was head of the sugar factory. There were nine couples of us, and we had lovely dinners, in the homes. Lovely dinners. And played bridge, [00:07:00] men played as well, too, and there was no grumbling from men playing bridge then. And just had a wonderful time. And the only time when it got so we didn’t have the dinners at home, did you come while Doyle King still had the white house out there beyond the high school? JANET: Yes, yes. MARIE: Then we used to have them out there, the dinners, those chicken dinners. That was when everybody from the valley came to that. JANET: Yes, that was a popular thing. MARIE: We’ve never had any place like that, since. But we did all kinds of things. We’d go up to the Lloyd’s, rent a car in the summer, all of us go up there, and stay, and go out boating and do things like that out there. Oh, [00:08:00] it was just good fellowship. And I liked, this winter, Emily called, of course you can’t understand her, now, she’s had two strokes in her throat, but anyway, she wanted me to go to the Episcopal dinner. And the lady and her husband, one of them, she has three ladies there that are on the clock, and I mean, they take their turns. And one of their husbands would take us, because I can’t handle her anymore, when she’s either in the wheelchair, or I think we took her in a wheelchair that night. And this man sat by me, and across from Emily and her lady, and he said to me, “You know, I’ve never understood it. They were competitors, [00:09:00] and your husband and Mr. Lloyd, such good friends, and you such good friends all these years, competitors aren’t usually that way.” And I said, “Why not? Their problems were all the same. They had more in common with each other than they would with anybody else.” But his idea was that because we were competitors in business, why, we couldn’t be good friends. Funny thing (break in audio) MARIE: -- problems were the other one’s problems, too. They both knew what they meant when they talked to each other. They knew what they’re talking about. But I thought the other day, here’s something that has changed. I don’t know what came up the other day, somebody was saying something else. Well, I remember when Bert’s father’s funeral and they said that the -- [00:10:00] Marge Way said it was the largest funeral they’d ever had. But Windsor and Bert, I think, of course, for years, they were the pallbearers, every old-timer that died, why, they called them to be pallbearers, you know, until Jill Salter finally called Al Simpson and said, “Do not let Bert Stone be put down to be called for a pallbearer again, because he shouldn’t be doing it, at all.” Well, anyway this man had had a store down there were Calvin’s is, I’m trying to think of his name. He was a Jew. And nobody was ever liked any better than that man was in this town. And he died, and Bert and Windsor had gone to the services, and came back, and they were out there on the porch. And whenever Windsor was upset, his jaw shook. And he was so upset. There was such a few people there, you know. [00:11:00] And I can hear Bert telling him, “Listen, Winsor, whenever you quit your business, and aren’t downtown, you’re forgotten. You might as well get used to it and know that that’s what happens. And from then on, you’re just forgotten. You’re somebody that used to be there.” But Winsor couldn’t. “I know, but that man,” and Bert said, “I can’t help it, but that’s the way they live. That’s the way it goes in this world. As long as you’re in the middle of things, why, people are aware. And once you aren’t, that’s that.” (break in audio) MARIE: -- and just one. Now the oldest grandson, I think, at least he has all -- now, he graduated in landscape architecture and right for the City of Spokane. And he is loyal to the university, loyal to the City of Spokane, [00:12:00] helps with the ball games and things in his church and in his town. He has it. I don’t think the others have that. JANET: But this is the quality that Bert had. MARIE: Yeah. And he got it from Dad. JANET: From his father. (break in audio) MARIE: -- you ought to, said Dad, “You ought to.” (break in audio) JANET: He instilled that in his children, and his grandchildren. MARIE: Yeah. But I don’t think the rest of the grandchildren, I don’t think they have it. Or at least, of course they live in, I don't know, they just live in a different -- [00:13:00] and maybe they don’t get to know people as well as Mike over there, in Spokane. (break in audio) JANET: Well, we’ve talked a little bit about how Nampa has changed. But if you were to tell me about the biggest changes that you’ve seen since you first moved here, what would they be? MARIE: Well, I don’t think I’m any judge of that, because of my age. You see, because when I came here, I was young and dumb and everything, too. JANET: Well, but that makes you a good judge because you’ve seen a lot of things take place. MARIE: Yeah, but listen, there’s a lot of them doing all that now. And I’m not. I wish I was doing it; I think it’s [00:14:00] -- and I think people, they do volunteer for a lot. JANET: But more women work now, do you think that makes a big difference? MARIE: Yes, it does make a big difference. Now, I remember when they started the volunteers at the hospital. I said to Barbara, I said, “Well, now one of us will have to work at the hospital,” and I said, “If I were sick, I’d much rather have a pretty young girl come into my room than an old lady,” so I said, “I’ll babysit if you will do the hospital.” Well, she enjoyed it a lot. In fact, she was president of the auxiliary. And then she suddenly was pregnant again, because Mary was born seven years after the others. So, she said, “You will have to take over.” [00:15:00] Well, Gladys Belknap lived next door to me, you see, and she had given all the anesthetics for many years here. So, we took over on Tuesdays. That was in the old hospital. And I still go on Tuesdays. JANET: You do? MARIE: Yeah, 21 years of Tuesdays. But I think that the young women do a marvelous job at that. I think it’s just wonderful what they do. JANET: And is the auxiliary getting plenty of volunteers? Do they have enough women who are able to – MARIE: I think so. JANET: -- work who don’t hold full-time jobs? That’s great. MARIE: But those are older people. But what [00:16:00] they do is just -- well, it’s unbelievable the money they make and all up there. And when you think that that work would have to be done that, we do out there all the time, and the money, just imagine the money that means. (break in audio) MARIE: I think young people are maybe even more so. JANET: You’re a real optimist. MARIE: Well, no, I’m not. I just think from watching them. JANET: They do a good job. MARIE: And (inaudible) some of them. Of course, there are some now, like, Evelyn Heglund, and Francis Shar, and a few of those that that’s their life, and they wouldn’t have any if they didn’t. It’s filled a big need for them, too. JANET: So, [00:17:00] it does as much good for them as they do for the hospital. MARIE: Yes. But the hospital’s the one that benefits from it. JANET: Yes, it does. MARIE: But I think -- of course, I can remember when they first decided that. That’s after we moved into the new hospital that they decided to have a paid coordinator for volunteers. And I remember the different ones that put in their applications for it. Well, I didn’t know this Betty Harker at all, but I knew several of them. And I knew one or two that I knew, I thought, well, they won’t be able to, you have to have quite a personality to get along with people that call up the last minute and say they can’t be there, and this and that and the other thing. How they ever were wise enough to choose Betty Harker out of that group, I’ll never know, because I’ve never seen anybody better. I have never seen -- [00:18:00] I told her, I said one time, I said, “The only time I’ve ever seen you show any sign of temper was when you borrowed my telephone once to call an insurance company. “ (laughs) She is just marvelous. (break in audio) JANET: Yeah, she does a good job. MARIE: But my, those girls do lots of work. JANET: Now, was there a hospital auxiliary in the old hospital? MARIE: Yes. JANET: Were you involved with that? MARIE: Yes, for several years. JANET: Did you have your son in the hospital here? Was he born here? Or was he born in Boise? MARIE: He was born in Boise. And when we came over here, [00:19:00] in fact we he went to kindergarten over there. And when he went to school, they wouldn’t take him in the first grade. They said, well, we couldn’t keep his interest, she taught him too much, kindergarten did. So, they put him in the second grade, which we didn’t like. And we thought when we came over here, Bert said, “Well, we’ll just put him in the second grade over here, instead of the third.” Well, we went up to school and talked to them, and they said, well, they had a huge second grade, and they had a wonderful third grade teacher and very small class, and that would be better, because if he needed extra help, she could give it to him. Well, it went along fine, except that he graduated at 16 and went up to university with a house full of returning veterans and that wasn’t good. JANET: That would be difficult. MARIE: And it did caught up with him, [00:20:00] and he did very well till then. And he always did all right, but he did better after he got married. (laughs) He had a boss. Then, he went, suddenly started getting A’s. He was married the last year of college and the next thing we knew, he got his master’s degree the next year, and got wonderful grades in that. But that was all due to Barbara, because that’s the way she believed in everything. That’s the way you do it. But anyway, I just felt that when Gladys and I went out there, why, of course, she knew everything about the hospital. I didn’t know one thing. And she loved to tell that she came back from something, and I look so worried, and she said, [00:21:00] “What’s the matter?” And I said, “Well, they just called and said that Dr. Taylor had to have a quick lunch in surgery.” I said, “Do I go get -- what do I,” she said, “Well, all you have to do is call the kitchen.” I thought, “What do I fix for him?” (laughs) (break in audio) JANET: Well, Gladys must have had a lot of stories about the early days of medicine in Nampa. MARIE: Oh, I’ll say she did because she had, for years, had done all the anesthetics. All the anesthetics. JANET: Do you remember some of the stories that she told? MARIE: Oh, I don’t know. She used to -- goodness me. So, then, we worked together, then she got sick. JANET: But she gave anesthetics for her husband, did she? MARIE: For all the doctors. [00:22:00] JANET: For all the doctors? MARIE: Oh, yes. All of them. She knew the doctors better than anybody else in town. JANET: And what, they just used what? MARIE: And she saw them at their (laughs) worst and best. JANET: But that was, what, they just used ether, didn’t they, in those? MARIE: And then she was -- see, they lived on the other side of us. They lived there. They didn’t build this until just -- well, it wasn’t done when he died. But anyway. She was on call night and day. JANET: She was? MARIE: Yeah. Always. JANET: She was the only one who gave anesthetics? MARIE: Mm-hmm. JANET: That’s really incredible. MARIE: She had... (break in audio) MARIE: So, we went on Tuesdays till she got sick. (break in audio) MARIE: Why, [00:23:00] she rented the basement to a young couple. She teaches kindergarten, and he teaches, I think, over at Middleton. And they have a little boy. And they’re an awful nice couple. And this winter, she came home from school on Friday afternoon and went to the hospital, had a baby that night, and brought that baby home about four o’clock the next afternoon. And that baby is the sweetest thing you ever saw. She didn’t go back to school for a week, but she was only gone a week. JANET: That’s amazing that they can do that. MARIE: Isn’t that? JANET: It really is. MARIE: I never saw... (break in audio) JANET: -- 1950. And you built it here. You planned it. MARIE: Oh, yeah. Frank came home from school, and he said [00:24:00] -- when we’d said something about that house was so big because -- but then Bert’s mother stayed with us some, and Vivian, his sister who taught art stayed with us quite a bit. And my mother from Payette would be over, it was full, but it was a big old baby. And, oh... You know, woodworkers (inaudible). JANET: Yes. Did you have help with the housework in it? Or did you do all that yourself? MARIE: Well, I did it myself for quite a while and then when I got involved down at the yard and all, why, that lady that worked for the (inaudible) next to us, and lived with them, helped me some. But every time we’d mention that we ought to get a smaller house, Frank [00:25:00] couldn’t give up that house. He just had a fit. So, this one he went away to school and came back, and he said, “Well, I see now, I can understand why this is too big a house.” So, we’d have a hard time selling it, you know, because five bedrooms, and halls, and windows, and venetian blinds everywhere, and a workout, really. And the kitchen is about the size of this. Well, anyway, Bert told Bake Young who lived across from us, then he said, “Now, Bake, just don’t bring anybody unless they’re really interested in that size house.” And so, Bert said, “It’d probably take us 10 years to sell this size house, nobody wants it anymore.” He brought the Rossman’s, and they called up and said they’d take [00:26:00] it and they want to move in right away because it was nearly time for school to start, and their kids were still home. And, you know, we couldn’t find a motel room to rent in this town. We didn’t know what to do. So, the Driscoll’s lived over on 13th, and they had somebody, the men, living in their basement. It was just very -- well, there was a bathroom, and you could cook down, and sleep. And she said, “Well, you’re sure welcome to come down there.” And all while we talked about it, I said, “Well, if we’re gonna build a little house, I’d like it not to be just on the level someplace, just looking in at anybody else’s.” And so, we drove around on the benches, you know where they’re at, but it seemed [00:27:00] so far from town. And Bert said, “You know, I think there’s room out there, at Doctor’s.” And I said, “No, the railroad track’s right there.” “Well,” he said, “Let’s go by.” And Doctor was home, and he said, “Now, Horace, I want to build a little house. Have you got room?” “Yes, he said, “Come on.” And he said, “Now one thing, I’ll tell you one thing. If you want to build a house here, why, that’s fine. But we won’t give you the deed to it until you get the house built, because I’m buying a neighbor, I’m not selling ground.” And he was over here every night. Well, then Bert came in with a Better Homes and Garden. He said, “I think this is about what we need.” [00:28:00] And by that time, that’s when the bookkeeper had been called back to the Navy, I was down at the yard all day long. I hadn’t hardly the time to look at it. And I said, “Why I don’t care what it is, except I want a porch, another porch.” And so, we built. And I said, “And promise me one thing. If we build a house, we won’t move into it until everything is completely finished.” He said, “I agree with you.” Well, this house, the next day, they were digging. I didn’t know what we were getting into, and neither did Bert. Some things we would have done differently if we’d have thought it over. But anyway, I remember Bert was all so upset because he thought the bedrooms are smaller than he thought they’d be. And Horace said, “Well, what do you -- crabbing about the bedrooms, what do you do in there anyway, except just go in and go to bed?” [00:29:00] And he was over here every night, and so was Bert, out here every night, and so was I, because I didn’t know... (break in audio) MARIE: Oh, and he said, “Well, now maybe you’re going to sleep in that basement.” So, this garage was Doctor’s workshop. And it didn’t have the doors and hinges on it. And Bert said, “Why don’t you let me take that for a garage, and I’ll finish it up, and I’ll duplicate it across the alley for you?” And so, he did, and we had put all of our furniture out there. And as soon as there was a place to put a bed up, he said, “Maybe you’re going to sleep in this basement but I’m not going to sleep in it one more night.” (laughs) Anyway, we were coming out here every evening, you know? So, we moved in here when there wasn’t one thing ready. JANET: Despite all your promises. [00:30:00] MARIE: Of course, we were away all day, and I could remember, Bert said, “Well, you’ve got quite a reputation. The men up on the roof said when you drove out there yesterday, ‘Hold everything, here comes Marie with another Better Homes and Gardens.’” But moving from that great big house down into these small quarters, I was afraid there wouldn’t have room to put anything away. And so, everything I could think of where they could put a cupboard or something, why, I wanted it in there. JANET: Yes, I understand. MARIE: And I couldn’t think of much. And Bert said to Gladys, “Now, we can’t put up any window blinds or anything, so we’ll just have to go on the honor system.” And she said, “That’s all right. The human body holds little allure for me whatsoever. So, don’t worry.” And the Gales, he was superintendent of schools, then, you remember the Fulton Gales? [00:31:00] JANET: I remember the name. MARIE: Yes. Well, anyway, they were awfully close friends of ours, had always been when we were in Moscow. And finally, she came out one day and she said, “Well, when are you going to get your stuff unpacked?” I said, “I don’t know when I’m going to.” She said, “Why don’t I take over some of it?” She unpacked all this stuff, and put all the stuff in the shelves in a way, and the dishes, and everything, and brought them in and put them in the cupboards and everything. And she had more fun, and she went to Boise one day and she came back, and she said, “You owe the mode 35 dollars, because you need the lamp over,” I think it was that lamp that’s over there in the corner, now. JANET: And she just bought it for you. MARIE: “I just bought it and charged it to you, because you need it.” (laughter) And I don’t think we’d have ever gotten moved into this house if [00:32:00] she hadn’t taken over and unpacked the stuff. JANET: Oh, how wonderful to have a friend like that. (laughs) Well, it’s a beautiful place. You must really enjoy it. You had a lovely view. You really do. What can you think of any other... MARIE: There’s nothing to do with Nampa. JANET: Things to do with Nampa? Can you think of any? MARIE: Well, I’ll tell you something that -- what did I put down here on my little notebook here that impressed me as much as anything that’s ever taken place around this. And that was... END OF RECORDING https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/ae9c47fcdcb9f62152d912e6c932d557.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=Noq1e1L3ZBQrSKWOtC1c55XdR0T4Qr4sySUUFREs-5wwGEVE9MBEcJuHdo2cQhJ2B7T9e0qDIbG-%7ExlhpU-c7HpAGPPrDnvB8VQSftlNVd5VZqiBGEWwrsMXlkvU%7EkaFX8ByOtVaaNaGvBQ6hbLSeSNgvrBBYXT3eVf8ScaSXobRbyd%7EpxG0o%7ETmL70scdURuSCc5fMXsnqxmIsq0vigTchMXRQv17L%7Ew3Ki7YCdWmeMfq3AgSTHwQrBN5mYfx3BoEuWP9yjSbe%7ETOpCKz1Uv7elr6%7ERtBJoZTjziHQbCPKp6DfY4LwDGDBEJQoIDDzp6VXzspOd4APahV7LOBz3Xw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 48ed1b7be0f9077544f1533698949886 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Marie Stone Recording 4 of 4 PDF Text Text MARIE: -- like to drive down through Utah. I remember when Bert was teaching Frank to drive a car, he took him out there on Deer Flat, and had him drive out there round and round, and back up, and learn all the tricks of driving a car out there. And now, the way that thing suddenly, when they brought that water up from the river there, and got water on that country out there, look at it now, it’s just grown into an empire, almost. JANET: It has. MARIE: Beautiful homes, beautiful farms. I think that was one of the -- I used to say to Bert, “Well, the Bible said that desert that bloom like a rose. If that isn’t a pure example of it there.” I’ve never seen anything equal to that. JANET: It really is remarkable, isn’t it? MARIE: And I think that’s one of the most important things that’s ever happened to Nampa, [00:01:00] is the way that country has developed. And think of the produce and, I don’t know right now, whether this particular Treasure Valley is, but at one time, it produced more produce than any other spot in the United States. JANET: I think it is still one of the most productive areas. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. MARIE: And that was all no water on it, you see. JANET: And you remember it as sagebrush. MARIE: Oh, yes. I think, to me, that was the most important thing that’s ever happened around here. JANET: Well, it sure had a lot to do with the economic development and population in this area. MARIE: And the beauty. JANET: And the beauty. It really has. MARIE: No, I just get a thrill whenever I go out there, being in their homes or anything. I think this [00:02:00] is just unbelievable, just what water can do. JANET: What water can do. And you’ve really seen it happen. MARIE: Oh, yes. That was something. JANET: We have good soil in this area, so that when you put water on it, things really grow. MARIE: I wonder, do you ever go to Givens? JANET: Oh, not for a long time. (break in audio) MARIE: -- but anyway, he got enthusiastic. And every day after work, we drove out to Givens and they had masseuse there, then, too, and we’d get in that hot water, and, oh, I just wonder if it’s -- somebody told me that someone new has it, or it may be the children of the others, I don’t know, but anyway, they’ve made it into quite a nice spot for people with trailers and all to stay there, [00:03:00] and that they have quite a program there. JANET: I think that’s right. Our children used to go out there occasionally. But that’s been there a long time. You used to go Givens. MARIE: Yes. JANET: That was a long trip, then, wasn’t it? MARIE: Well, I know it, but that’s -- oh boy, we’d leave the yard in the late afternoon and go out there. (break in audio) MARIE: That’s one of the main things, of course, Don took me not too long ago. He said, “Now, do you keep up with all what’s going on around here?” And I said, “No. I drive very carefully and just on errands and things, and I don’t leave home like I’m running around like I used to do, and I don’t think anybody my age should be out on the road any more than they have to be.” [00:04:00] But anyway, he took me all around where all these industries and all are. JANET: Really something. MARIE: Yes, it is. That makes you understand why the population’s grown how it has. You wonder, with all this Shalimar and all, where all the people come from, to build those homes. But... (break in audio) JANET: You see the industry. MARIE: Yes, I should say. (break in audio) JANET: Down there, and you worked... MARIE: (inaudible) (break in audio) MARIE: -- and stuff, or down at the museum. (break in audio) MARIE: The library board not that long ago. (break in audio) MARIE: It was -- I never will forget that. I never will forget the shock I went through when I realized that we were just buying, spending what money we had to buy new books just for what the agent said they had to [00:05:00] sell. JANET: Now, who was the chairman of the board? MARIE: Frank Estabrook. And he ruled it with an iron hand. As I say, he never let us make a motion. Didn’t do any good to make a motion. But Annie Laurie and I persisted. May was alone, which, of course, they were very close friends, George, and May, and Frank, and his wife. And I suppose she didn’t want a piece of it, but I was just busy making motions, and so was Annie Laurie Bird, and seconding them, and there, they died. (laughs) We never got our way in a thing. JANET: I’m not sure that that’s really proper, according to Robert’s Rules of Order. (laughs) MARIE: Oh, and I remember this one time, I’ll never forget this. Of course, Annie Laurie Bird, you know, was writing books then. And Frank was telling us one night about years before, here in Nampa, a couple from Russia [00:06:00] came here and had a dairy. And they drove around in a quite a showy buggy of some kind, or I think it would be more than one seat and all, and she always had on black fur. And they delivered the milk. And well, it made quite a story. And he told quite a lot about it. And Annie Laurie was just listening to him so intently and she said -- she lisped, and she said, “Oh, Mr. Estabrook, could I come down to your office and you tell me more about that? Because I like to write that.” And he said, “No, I won’t. I may want to write about it myself someday.” (laughs) Oh, dear. JANET: Oh, that’s... (break in audio) JANET: This is the conclusion of an interview with Marie Stone on June 3, 1985, [00:07:00] at her home on Park Avenue. The interviewer is Janet Hay. Mrs. Stone has a number of very interesting and complete scrapbooks of her years in Nampa, which she would be willing to share with the centennial committee. And she’s willing for Linda Clark to listen to and to transcribe the tapes, but I believe she would like to check with you further on any material which you might want to make public. So, thank you very much. END OF RECORDING Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nampa Oral History Collection Description An account of the resource Oral histories recorded 1984-1986 for Nampa's Centennial celebration. About 60 individuals shared their recollection of the early days of living in Nampa. Some of these people's stories relate to photos in the Historic Photo Exhibit. Click on the name or subject listed under "Relation" to discover more details about life in Nampa. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-1986 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Nampa Centennial Committee Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Janet Hay Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Marie Stone Location The location of the interview 1643 Park Ave, Nampa, ID Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Marie Stone Description An account of the resource Marie discusses her experiences attending University of Idaho in the 1920s, and her later work managing a lumberyard and serving on the board for the Nampa Public Library. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985, June 3 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nampa Centennial Committee Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Interviews recorded for the library's oral history program are copyrighted to the Nampa Public Library which maintains rights to reproduce the recordings in all existing and future formats for the purposes of preservation and access. Researchers may quote portions of interviews in non-commercial projects, unless otherwise noted. Proper credit should be given. No part of the interviews may be used in commercial, for-profit projects without permission from Nampa Public Library. Relation A related resource <a href="https://nampalibrary.omeka.net/files/show/764" title="Stone Lumber Company Office">Stone Lumber Company Office</a><br /><a href="https://nampalibrary.omeka.net/files/show/987" title="1913 - East View of Nampa">1913 - East View of Nampa</a> Boise Little Theater Dewey Palace Entertainment Hospitals Houses & Homes Lumberyards Nampa Public Library Snake River Stampede University of Idaho https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/d19484e87b1c568fa354327db202fb1a.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=wRCyUyc2T7Y1UZqPR3lzRSPpvQ8e-vHoKzaUC71PVJa9O3duLPU5yLBJGSCRpZUnbPtU3dN%7ESuxpOhtUqcaqDLC%7EtWNBaFhlq3GJoLDtD6Bwxpa49tdRL5J31hMFo50P5axAw2eVnxLlQGgLB6zcg5y%7E6lBklLa-f7aQyOroae7pDAQs8y9LZQDBsS8JqYZF1gnE8M54hYaY6xDkyOUogQ0E65WjgR2ofcC9%7EChyCjuJZGNsPO1OD5z81Dmy9yCEX0PBhh4EVz8LnLEyuG3ZMcEIefgmLGWu0iS88CXu2xxglWIWK46qPILUgdMacrNpgrdkol%7E2-pwz3vMRSeNltw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 9a7a84699c85f009f40a87a3f3965859 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Frances McGinnis Recording 1 of 1 PDF Text Text EVA VERNER: This is an interview with Mrs. Frances McGinnis, who with her husband Robert came to Nampa from Nebraska in May of 1938. The interview took place on May 30, 1935 -- 1985 -- in my kitchen, as I live next door to Mrs. McGinnis. She tells about the Depression years and many other interesting miscellaneous comments about life in Nampa. (break in audio) You don’t need to be nervous about any of this. Though I was looking at the dates and things you gave me when you filled out the – FRANCES MCGINNIS: Oh? EVA: -- paper database. And is it right that you’d been married about 12 years when you came to [00:01:00] Nampa? FRANCES: A little bit longer than that, because we were married in ’24, and we came to Nampa in ’38. So that would be -- EVA: So that would have been about 14 years, yeah. What caused you to come to Nampa? FRANCES: The lack of work in that area. It was the Depression time, and we couldn’t -- Robert couldn’t find work, so he had -- I had answered an ad out of the Omaha World Herald. They wanted a mechanic in Rupert, Idaho, and then also we had a friend who was here in Nampa, a barber. And he suggested that we come here. So we came to Idaho, and we stopped in Rupert, and Robert had the job in the [00:02:00] garage. But we decided we still wanted to come to Nampa, and so we came to Nampa. And we arrived in Nampa on Memorial Day in 1938. EVA: Well, was that in the years of the Depression, wasn’t it? FRANCES: Yes. Yes. EVA: What was Nampa like in those years? FRANCES: It didn’t have all of the buildings that they have now. It was -- well, it was just like a small town. EVA: Was the downtown area where it is now? FRANCES: Oh, yes. EVA: Which stores do you remember? FRANCES: Well, Albertson’s was uptown, and then Safeway’s came in, and Pennywise used to be uptown, and Montgomery Awards had a retail store, [00:03:00] and I can’t think of anything more right offhand, but – EVA: Where did you shop mostly? FRANCES: Albertson’s, at that time. And it was later that Safeway came in, and I don’t remember just exactly where Safeway was, but it wasn’t uptown. EVA: Yeah. That Albertson’s wasn’t where the Albertson’s is now, there. FRANCES: Oh no. Oh no. It’s where -- Albertson’s was where-- I believe where Statewide is, and we enjoyed their ice cream. They made good ice cream, and we always got ice cream cones. EVA: [00:04:00] Well wasn’t money kind of scarce? FRANCES: Oh yeah. EVA: Did you have very much when you arrived, and – FRANCES: No. Very little. EVA: And you had three children? FRANCES: Yes, and we picked peas, we tended bees, we picked spuds -- early potatoes. EVA: Where did you do all that? FRANCES: Different fields. First one field was on King's Corner, it was pea picking out there, and there was one field down the south of town. I don’t remember who owned it, but anyway, we had to get up early in the morning and get out there before it got hot. We got paid so much a hamper for peas. EVA: What time of -- or you came on Memorial Day, so – FRANCES: Yeah. EVA: What kind of payment did you get for those jobs? FRANCES: I don’t know, but it was so much a pound or so much a hamper, and – EVA: [00:05:00] Did the children all work too? FRANCES: Yes. They went along with us. And same way with blocking and thinning beets, and we blocked and thinned beets at Rupert, and then came on. We did various things like that to give us a little bit of money. EVA: Well that’s kind of backbreaking work, isn’t it? FRANCES: Oh yes. EVA: Do you remember any incidents that happened while you were doing that? FRANCES: Not that I can recall right now. EVA: Any interesting people you met who were also working there? FRANCES: Who? Pea pickers. They’re migrant workers, and they travel from one, you know, from the south up to the north. EVA: [00:06:00] Now they didn’t tend to be the Mexican Americans that we have now. FRANCES: No, no. They were perfect -- poor people just like us, but one incident Robert tells about, he heard something that one morning, and it was thump. After a while, another thump, and he couldn’t imagine what it was. So we watched, and this lady was chewing [Snooth?] and spitting it, and that’s what made the thump noise, as she spit and hit the pea vines. EVA: Oh. (laughter) Added a little good fertilizer to the ground, I guess. FRANCES: Yes. Yes. But that’s -- but the migrant workers were white people same as Mexicans. Not many Mexicans as white people. But they traveled in groups. EVA: Was it hard to find a place to live when you got to Nampa? FRANCES: Yes and no. These friends of ours, his brother was just [00:07:00] leaving a place, and it was just a garage. I think they had a cold water tap and an outside toilet. It was a WPA toilet. And it was a real – EVA: What’s a WPA toilet? FRANCES: (laughs) Well, it was a basically built toilet seat, and I called it a throne. It was -- well, it was a more elaborate toilet, and WPA-ers made it. That was their project, and so that’s what we had. And I did washing on the board there, but anyway, we had a roof over our head. Finally one day, Robert got tired of getting out and going pea picking, [00:08:00] and he came in and cleaned up. And I asked him where he was going, and he says, “Well, I’m going to go to a garage and see what I can find.” So he went to the Hudson Garage, and they hired him as a mechanic. EVA: How long had you been in Nampa when that happened? FRANCES: Oh, we came, of course, the last of May, and it probably was maybe a couple of months or something like that. EVA: Then how long before you moved to a better house? FRANCES: Well, let’s see. Well, I don’t remember just exactly. It was later in the summer, and we had a nice little house. And then Robert got a job over at [00:09:00] the Eagle working in a garage over there, so we moved over to Eagle, and we were there maybe a year or so, and then we came over and rented a place out on South Powerline Road, which was not much. It was a roof over our head. But it gave us an opportunity to get started, and my oldest brother was with us at that time. And we had a cow, and some chickens, and a goat or two, and we did a little -- just got a -- had just a little bit more, and from there we bought an acre and a half, or about two acres, [00:10:00] it was called commercial acres, out on Northside Boulevard, which at that time was a wheat field. And there was just one tree there. We had our choice of either locating on Northside Boulevard or on Sixth Avenue. On Sixth Avenue, we’d have water, but no lights, so we chose to live on a -- settle on Northside Boulevard. We had electricity, but we had to haul water. EVA: How far did you have to haul it? FRANCES: Oh, maybe two or three blocks. It was from an artisan well which is now dry. And at that time, we could cross the railroad tracks where the overpass is now. [00:11:00] And it was kind of confusing at times that the train would block the tracks, and then we’d have to go down First Avenue and cross on Sixth. So I worked -- Robert worked in the garage, and I worked in produce, sorting produce. EVA: For the railroad? FRANCES: No. For Sue Packing Company, and I guess that’s the only one I worked for. I trimmed lettuce, sorted potatoes and onions. EVA: And what did the children do while you were both working? FRANCES: Betty May took care of little -- a couple little children just north of us, and Bob worked [00:12:00] something. I don’t remember just exactly, but Bill kind of just stayed around home, and that was about the sum and substance of it. We all just cooperated as far as work was concerned. EVA: Then when the fall came, the children were all school age, so they all went to school. FRANCES: Yes. Yes. They caught the bus right in front of the house. EVA: Which school did they go to? FRANCES: Bob went to junior high. I think that was Kenwood at the time. I’m not sure. And Betty May and Bill, they went to Lakeview. At the time, we lived out on South Powerline Road, they -- Bill and Betty May went to Eastside, so. EVA: [00:13:00] Have those schools changed their exterior appearance much since those days? FRANCES: Lakeview hasn’t. Neither has Eastside. But of course, Kenwood’s gone. They tore it down. And then the high school’s gone. Bob went to high school. EVA: Where was the old high school? FRANCES: Where the city hall is. EVA: Oh. FRANCES: See the gym -- there’s still the gym there, so. EVA: Yeah. And they made that into a junior high school, though, didn’t they, after? FRANCES: I couldn’t say. EVA: That’s probably when you were gone. FRANCES: Yes. Because we left -- we went to Portland. Robert went in ’41, and then I went up. Well, we left Nampa the day of -- the last day of ’41 and got into Portland as the New Year’s was being [00:14:00] welcomed. EVA: Well who are some of the people you remember meeting in Nampa from those early years that you were here? FRANCES: Well, most of them are dead. George Brooks, who is dead. His wife, Velma, also is dead, and – EVA: Were they neighbors? Or -- FRANCES: No. We used to go to the beer parlor. That was one recreation. And -- or supposedly thinking it was. And that building is gone. And then Robert worked for George Mitchell, and his wife was a whistle, a green whistle, and she has passed [00:15:00] away. So has George, passed away. And this barber friend of ours, who has passed away, and nearly all of the people that we knew and associated with at that time have gone to their reward, so it’s kind of -- makes it seem kind of lonely in a way. EVA: Yeah. FRANCES: We had a pinochle party or group or club, or whatever you want to call it, and all of the couples that were in it are gone except Robert and me and Faye Koontz, who was the barber’s wife. And she lives over in Boise. EVA: How often would you [00:16:00] get together to play pinochle? FRANCES: Oh, maybe a couple times a month. EVA: And would you go to one another’s homes? FRANCES: Yes. EVA: Could you always have a lot of fun? FRANCES: Oh yes. EVA: Did you have prizes or anything? FRANCES: Oh yes. Prizes. EVA: What kind of things for prizes? FRANCES: Any -- something that was inexpensive. (laughter) I don’t remember just exactly what we had, but they weren’t too expensive. It was just the idea. EVA: Yeah. Who was the best pinochle player? FRANCES: Well, I couldn’t say exactly. Robert and I used to be a pretty good pair to play pinochle. EVA: Would you all stay paired with your own husband? FRANCES: No, not necessarily. We played pinochle quite a bit in St. Paul. We lived at St. Paul at that time, when he worked in a garage there, [00:17:00] but we played pinochle with the Danes, and they’re -- they were pretty good pinochle. EVA: When you met for these pinochle parties, would you also have refreshments and things? FRANCES: Oh yes. EVA: What sort of things would you have to eat? FRANCES: Well, we always had coffee at that time, and maybe we had a sandwich -- sandwiches, open-faced sandwiches, maybe cake, if we were fortunate enough to have cake. But it wasn’t an elaborate lunch, refreshment, or whatever you want to call it. EVA: Would you play at card tables or -- FRANCES: Oh yes. EVA: -- around the kitchen table? FRANCES: Well, we nearly always managed to have card tables apiece. EVA: Would you all take the card table [00:18:00] if you had one? FRANCES: Yes. One of us -- sometimes we’d use the kitchen table, but it was an enjoyable time. EVA: How many couples in a group like that? FRANCES: Well, I think we had three tables, so that would mean 12 couples. But we always went for the fun of it, not for the – EVA: Yeah. Would the children go with you? FRANCES: No, not necessarily. They stayed at home. They were able to stay by themselves. EVA: They were old enough then. Did they start dating while they were living here in Nampa? FRANCES: At that time, I think [00:19:00] Bob had a girlfriend at school, and I don’t think he dated as, per se, but I know he came back from Portland a couple times and visited with the kids from school. Whether it’s a special girl or not I don’t know. But anyway, he had a pal, George Rhodes, that he has kept in contact with and he lives at Riddle, Oregon now, George Rhodes does. So I feel that they -- that the youngsters had a good experience. Betty May -- the two children that Betty May took care of was [00:20:00] Gawkner’s, and he had gone volunteer -- he had gone with the MK to Wake Island, and he was on Wake when it was taken by the Japanese. So she went to work, and Betty May took care of the youngsters. EVA: Does that mean he was killed on Wake? FRANCES: No. He came home, but we were in Portland at the time he came home. But by the time he came home, she had left him, and the two children were with his folks. I don’t know where they were, but anyway, they were in the area. But anyway, that’s – EVA: Well were you here in Nampa when World War II started? FRANCES: Yes. EVA: How did that affect the community and your jobs and so forth? FRANCES: [00:21:00] Well, I can’t say that it affected jobs per se, just the same as always. They never paid anything -- the wage was equal to what you would get in war production work, because I know I trimmed lettuce for 18 cents an hour, and long hours. But anyway, it was money. This helped to sustain us. EVA: And then when you went to Portland and started working in the -- what was it, the shipyard or something you worked in? FRANCES: I didn’t work in the shipyard until maybe a year and a half later. I went to welding training school, and then I went -- [00:22:00] took a test and went up into the shipyard. I went into Oregon Shipyard. EVA: And then how much an hour did you make then? FRANCES: A dollar and 45 cents. EVA: And were the lettuce trimmers back in Nampa still getting 18 cents an hour? FRANCES: Yes. If there was any left. EVA: Yeah. Was there quite an exodus from Nampa? FRANCES: I couldn’t say, but I presume so. I don’t know of any of our friends that left Nampa. EVA: What about churches in Nampa when you lived here in those days? Were there as many as there are now? FRANCES: No, because there isn’t as many people as there is now. The Presbyterian church is the Nazarene church uptown. [00:23:00] That was a Presbyterian church. That’s where we went. And while we were gone, I haven’t been able to learn why, but anyway, the congregation split up. EVA: The Presbyterian congregation? FRANCES: Yes. Over some -- something. I don’t know. But they divided, and part of them built the Presbyterian church where it is now, and the other part built the Congregational church out on -- I think it’s Midland. So therefore, when I came -- we came back this time, I was able to go to the Congregational church, and pick up acquaintances there that we knew. EVA: Well, that’s interesting. How many Nazarene churches were here then? FRANCES: [00:24:00] I know there wasn’t many because they had the college -- the campus, which was small. And I can’t recall right now of any Nazarene church other than -- than what was in the campus area. EVA: Was there a Nazarene hospital – FRANCES: Yes. EVA: -- in those days? FRANCES: Good Samaritan. Yeah. I can’t tell you his name, but Doctor – EVA: Mangum? FRANCES: -- Mangum had that hospital. And I often wondered why they discontinued that, but [00:25:00] I imagine it was the financial burden. But anyway, I think that they should have more than one hospital to maintain that little competition. EVA: Did you ever have to go to the hospital? Or were you or any of your family ill? FRANCES: No. We never had any hospital. EVA: Did you go to a doctor? FRANCES: Yes, Bill now. And he’s gone -- or both of them are gone. And Dr. Horton, I think he’s still -- the son is still practicing. And in the building that Magnum had his office in, I can’t recall just exactly what was [00:26:00] downstairs on the first floor, but it burned at some time, and that’s -- part of that is still vacant, that area. EVA: Now where was that? FRANCES: It’s on First Avenue, but I can’t tell you just exactly. EVA: Was the hospital down on First Avenue, too? FRANCES: No. No, no. It’s where – EVA: It was on the campus, wasn’t it? FRANCES: Yes. Where the campus is now. EVA: Yeah. Was the railroad an important part of life here? FRANCES: Yes. Because they iced the refrigerator cars here, and that was -- the ice -- we called them the ice chutes, was over the end. They began at the street where we would cross, and then into town, and in the summertime, [00:27:00] in the busy time, and we’d always -- it was noisy because they would be loading -- or icing up cars. And then the PFE also had shop here, so that was -- of course has been discontinued I think. EVA: How about holiday celebrations like the Fourth of July? FRANCES: Huh? Stampede is the only thing I remember having. EVA: They had big parades and – FRANCES: I can’t say that because I never attended them, especially. But the stampede is always a highlight of everybody’s entertainment. EVA: Did you go to some of those performances? FRANCES: Oh, once in a while we went [00:28:00] to the rodeo, and we became acquainted with A.I. Meyers, who was a brother to the man that my father rented from in Custer County. So we felt like we kind of halfway knew him, and he was a very kind gentleman, and at times he was a very lonesome man. He wanted someone to be with him, to go to entertainments, and so he kind of adopted Robert, and he would come from Caldwell to our place there at Northside Boulevard, and Robert would drive to the entertainment in Boise. They went to rafting matches and ball games, and that was the main [00:29:00] recreation. And A.I. Meyers was -- and he took Robert on a hunting trip one year, but of course A.I. Meyers is gone. EVA: What was his business? FRANCES: Insurance. A. Insurance Meyers. I know what his first name really was, but anyway, Kirkham, see, his wife is a daughter of A.I. Meyers. EVA: Had the seed companies started here? FRANCES: (coughs) No, I don’t think they had started. EVA: What were the sugar beets, potatoes? What were the – FRANCES: They didn’t have sugar beets. We had -- they had potatoes [00:30:00] and peas and onions and potatoes. EVA: How about the fruit out on the Sunnyslope area? FRANCES: Yes, there was fruit out there. Cherries and apples. So the -- but the orchards have grown. Sims Orchard is just the same. Of course it’s grown larger in the years, and -- but they’re still there. And other ones -- I don’t remember any of the others exactly, but I do remember Sims especially. EVA: Did you used to do a lot of canning and preserving? FRANCES: Oh yes. I canned and canned and canned. EVA: What things did you? FRANCES: Well, we’d get culled peaches, and I canned them. There was nothing wrong with them, just [00:31:00] they were overripe, too large, too small. But anyway, I canned peaches. END OF RECORDING Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nampa Oral History Collection Description An account of the resource Oral histories recorded 1984-1986 for Nampa's Centennial celebration. About 60 individuals shared their recollection of the early days of living in Nampa. Some of these people's stories relate to photos in the Historic Photo Exhibit. Click on the name or subject listed under "Relation" to discover more details about life in Nampa. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-1986 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Nampa Centennial Committee Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Frances McGinnis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Eva Verner Location The location of the interview 513 Lake Ridge Dr, Nampa, Idaho, 83686 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Frances McGinnis Description An account of the resource Frances recalls moving with her husband to Nampa during the Great Depression in search of work. She discusses her home on Northside Boulevard, and the local schools and churches. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985, May 30 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nampa Centennial Committee Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Interviews recorded for the library's oral history program are copyrighted to the Nampa Public Library which maintains rights to reproduce the recordings in all existing and future formats for the purposes of preservation and access. Researchers may quote portions of interviews in non-commercial projects, unless otherwise noted. Proper credit should be given. No part of the interviews may be used in commercial, for-profit projects without permission from Nampa Public Library. Doctors Farm labor Fourth of July Great Depression Houses & Homes Mechanics Schools Stores World War II https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/6829692dae15690fd2c006e684ed14b7.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=grumH6RpGJCY7%7Eg4bAfK7MysW5Ro-UNXUB%7EjMvICcYjuOjyikXsFCRBfuR44iKSMWKd23EhDgeFCmKQNPIt5R1LI3oZRn7IyVD7FTF-QOnDiQ57EThw24jkKqzcxUI3JuuO3OcRw047TXyJzuk0E3sAKki6JiNwetuYc81xk5Bf15nbw-JXqNHbCvLSupvDsXqu2mIzi2YiPaJ8UGm2Lg-0GhPmjk3YUAnzz2Moo-5jX6xPBpWuq4vYPzHILh5ETFdn6Al%7EC6zw432tiuC1pR3Qx1szzE0-KaRyi1SRlA5AAJKjD%7EyGnZTBqjUZUkcm74Oe5KBSes0CaBivf2C5qdw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM d96ccd17f908cbb5f809468d638bf60b PDF Text Text JACI WILKENS: This is an interview of Lloyd Castagneto given by his grandson, Craig Castagneto. It took place on May 29, 1985. It was given in the home of Lloyd Castagneto on 224 Westwood Boulevard. It concerns [00:00:30] the history of Nampa. SILENCE: [Gap] CRAIG CASTAGNETO: [00:01:30] One of the first things that I thought we'd go over, Grandpa, is this 1900s, the 1910 to 1920, that was the period you came to Nampa. LLOYD CASTAGNETO: See, I came to Nampa in 1917. CRAIG: Tell me for a minute what brought you here and how you were introduced to Nampa. LLOYD: Well, I was working for the railroad in [00:02:00] Pocatello, and I was working as a carpenter there in the gang, and they used to send me out for a lot of jobs down at this end of Boise, Nampa, Ontario, Payette, Weiser, and out and home all these places when there was a little job of some kind around the depot with the door checks and various [00:02:30] things, money kills and so on and so forth. And I'd ride all day down, or ride all night down, ride back on the train. Clear to Pocatello. Yeah, no expense money, my own meal. And I was getting 35 cents an hour. And that's what—so along [00:03:00] one day, Mom and I was wheeling the baby buggy down Carrison Avenue there in Pocatello, and it was in the evening. It It was right around—that's where all the fishers—and we happened to go by the MB&B supervisor's house, and he was out working in the yard, this old fella. And he—I stopped and asked him, I stopped [00:03:30] and talked to him a minute or two, and I told him, I said, I I said, I spent an awful lot of time going back and forth out of the West End, and I said, Did you ever give any thoughts to putting a man down on that end somewhere? See, Nampa, for instance. And he said, No, I never have. And I said, I'll give it a thought. So [00:04:00] in less than a month, he called me up one day and asked me if I wanted to go down there. And I said, Sure. He said, I got authority to do it, and authority to put you on a flat salary of $99 a month. He said, That's the same salary that a passenger brakeman gets now. LLOYD: And I said, Okay. So he made arrangements for her to have a boxcar set [00:04:30] aside there where I could put her things in, free billing, down on load. And we landed in here at 2 o'clock in the morning, two little girls and another boy on the way. And we were at the depot at 2 o'clock in the morning, and we didn't know a soul in Nampa. [00:05:00] And we sat there in that hour of daylight, and then we set out, and we went across the street there. There there. There was five, four or five restaurants there, I forget. I don't know. I think there was four that I know of. And then we started out hunting a place to celebrate. And we walked over to the north side, and we saw where there was a little house there for rent. So we found out we could rent it for $20. And, by the way, we landed in Nampa with [00:05:30] $38 for her name. That's the only money we had. Twenty of it went there, and ten of it paid the payment over there, and I had $8 left. Ten of it went for what? CRAIG: Huh? You spent ten for what? LLOYD: Having the furniture brought out of the boxcar. See, See, it was shipped down pre-building in a boxcar from Pocatello. [00:06:00] And I had to hire a driver here to bring it over there. CRAIG: Oh, so somebody brought their wagon cart over and carted it over to your new place where you rented, huh? LLOYD: Well, I hired a fellow in the town, a #dreamer. They had dreamers that ran here through different ones here. They did that because everything was doing with horses then, you know. And then [00:06:30] after we got the furniture in, I went out looking for a place where we could get a few groceries. And I #equated around, and I come up on 12th Avenue just between 1st and 2nd Street, and there was two brothers, #shoemate [00:07:00] brothers, that had a store there, and a grocery, and they had a butcher shop. So I stopped there and went in there, and I introduced myself, and I told them I had been moved down here, and told them what we had, and two youngsters, and told them what my work was, and all that. LLOYD: [00:07:30] And I all that. And I said, one thing I don't have, and that's any money. And I got to have some credit. Okay, we'll take care of you. So they did. I traded with them a long time for that reason. And then I used [00:08:00] to go out of here to Weezer, Ontario, and Payette, and Boise, and Bounton Road, and those places. And it just started to grow then. CRAIG: Now, was Nampa a big railroad town then, or what kind of railroad town was it? LLOYD: Nampa? Nampa was a good railroad town. You know, see, in there then, Nampa [00:08:30] was on the main line. Boise was not. See, the main line went right through here. There was a ___line through here to Boise. There was a branch line from here to Boise. And there were lots of passenger trains then, about six or eight passenger trains each way every day. And there was a train that came in from Boise, and met up a train too, and they took the passengers, brought them in, took them back. That's why there were [00:09:00] so many restaurants right across from people, because people, while they were waiting for a train, they'd go over there and eat and whatnot. And, yeah, Nampa's always been a good railroad town. LLOYD: And then, I was trying to think what it was. [00:09:30] I didn't know the year they built the railroad around through Boise. I'd Boise. I'd forgotten. But anyway, that was, the job that I had was a job called a traveling carpenter. And the first thing I knew, I had an interest in more jobs, a bigger job, and job, and then some men. And first thing, I was still a traveling [00:10:00] carpenter, but I had a crew of 22 men. That was a long time. I I was putting in the track scales there. And so then... CRAIG: Now, the track scales, what scales were these? Track. these? Track. LLOYD: It's a track scale with [00:10:30] a whole freight car on it, see? Tracks run right over it. CRAIG: I see. LLOYD: And, yeah, it was quite a big job. CRAIG: That was here at Nampa? LLOYD: Yeah. CRAIG: Uh-huh. Now, what was Nampa like when you came here? There were just... LLOYD: Well, it wasn't too big, and it wasn't too small because there was quite a few... CRAIG: #Have you talked to them personally? CRAIG: [00:11:00] Anyway, back to this deal with Nampa in 1917. That place that you got, you paid $20 rent for. What did you get for $20 in those days for rent? LLOYD: Oh, this is a small house. It had two little bedrooms in it. It was a very small house. But I suppose there was [00:11:30] places in town that rented from us, they rented for even more, but I don't... I really don't know what it was. CRAIG: So it was just a... LLOYD: Yeah, what the regular rent was. We moved out of there after about a little over a year, a year and a half, and moved over onto 18th [00:12:00] Avenue and rented a larger place because we were cramped up there after Bealcon. And we lived there through one winter. And then the next June, I went down and bought [00:12:30] a lot down on 6th Avenue South, the 300 block, and bought that lot, and then I started to build a little house in there. And I in there. And I worked nights and Sundays, built a little home on the back of the lot so we could live there. LLOYD: And Mom and the kids would... [00:13:00] And I'd go out on the road and come in on what they called a little pony. It had two trains that were called a pony. One left in the morning at Boise and went to Huntington, and one left Huntington to Boise, same thing in the morning, and they'd just reverse at night. So I'd come back on that at 6 o'clock, about 6 o'clock in the evening, and I'd get right off of the train and go right straight over there and start on the house, [00:13:30] get all the daylight, all the summer daylight. I got it so we could move in after about three months. We moved in there in 1919 and lived there in that little house in the back where the kids were growing up. LLOYD: And 1926, I built a house on the front of the lot. [00:14:00] The one in the back wasn't good. There was no sewer there. The toilet was just outside the back door and just a hole in the ground, a typical toilet. CRAIG: [00:14:30] Was the high school there at that time, just a street over? LLOYD: No, the house, no. I forget when they built the house. LLOYD: I see the house, hm, LLOYD: [Silence] LLOYD: I guess it was, [ ] yeah, I guess it was built just about that time. CRAIG: And that was just a street or two over, just one street over? LLOYD: Hmm? [Timestamp correction] CRAIG: [00:15:00] And that was just a street or two over, just one street over? CRAIG: Was the high school just one street over? LLOYD: Well, it was the same as it is where the city hall is now. It would be about two blocks. CRAIG: [00:15:30] Two blocks away. Was that just the high school or was that the elementary school too? LLOYD: That was the whole thing. They had another elementary school over here too. CRAIG: Was Kenwood around in those days? That Kenwood school that used to be where? LLOYD: Yeah. CRAIG: I think that's where Dad went to school, [00:16:00] wasn't it? LLOYD: Yeah. CRAIG: Went to Kenwood then over the high school. LLOYD: Yeah. Well, then he went to high school too. He graduated from high school. CRAIG: Now, during this period of 1917, 1919, when you were renting and then you built the little house, okay, that was the period of time right coming to the end of World War I. Did [00:16:30] that affect Nampa very much that you knew of? LLOYD: No, I don't think it affected them very much. I think it was a very patriotic place here. Everybody was in O.C. It's hard to remember some of those things in there. A [00:17:00] year or two ago, I wouldn't have had a bit of trouble with them. CRAIG: Well, some of the things I'm going to ask are some that probably we don't even need to, you know, they might be things that you remember, they might not be. I was wondering, was there more railroad traffic in those days because of the war or transporting things back and forth? LLOYD: Oh, yes, CRAIG: Transporting important stuff because of the slowdown because of the war? LLOYD: Oh yes, because they you see you didn't have trucks. [00:17:30] You didn't have good highways. You didn't have anything like that. You had highway, but you didn't have good. They were have good. They were just two-lane roads. You didn't have any big trucks of any kind. And [00:18:00] so railroad moved an awful lot of stuff. Yeah, they were not big, long trains like they have now, but they were short trains with lots of traffic on them. And in 1926 when I got that house on the front of the lot there on 6th Avenue, [00:18:30] that's the first time the kids, it was such a thing as a bedroom, a separate bedroom because there was only two rooms and a lean-to in the little house in the back. That same little house was over there on Dewey. CRAIG: [00:19:00] Un-huh, On Diamond? LLOYD: Yeah. CRAIG: On Diamond, yeah. LLOYD: Not Dewey, yeah. CRAIG: What was there for entertainment in those days? Just building houses? or were there uh? LLOYD: Well, it was a big dance hall up on the north side, and that was a very popular place to have a dance, except Sunday almost every day [00:19:30] of the week. People would just crowd in there dancing. It was... And then there was a couple of picture shows. People used to, back then, of course, it only cost 15 cents, so they could afford to go, you know. CRAIG: What [00:20:00] did... Did the dance cost anything? Did Did they have a live band there every night? LLOYD: Oh, they used to. Different price, but most of them was 5 cents a dance. You got tickets. Sometimes, you know, you'd buy a bunch of tickets for 5 cents a ticket, and then they'd come around every so often and pick them up off there, see, from there. CRAIG: [00:20:30] Also, to a certain degree, it was like you paid by the dance, just about, rather than for the whole evening. So a guy could sit there and listen. LLOYD: Yeah uh, The main thing about it was that they were such clean debts, you know. There wasn't a lot of drinking and whatnot. There was things like that weren't served there. Oh, I don't say that there wasn't guys [00:21:00] that'd go there that'd been drinking, of course, but it just wasn't a regular general practice. CRAIG: Was Prohibition at this time existing in Nampa? LLOYD: Yeah. I can't remember the year, but it had Prohibition here, yeah. CRAIG: Now, what was downtown? Right across from the railroad, you said, were restaurants. LLOYD: Yeah, Yeah, there's a bunch of restaurants [00:21:30] there, and then there's stores, see, because a lot of things, a lot of people would come out from different places. You didn't have these little places around here, there, and around here. You had only just the main stores. So there was lots of business here for what they had there. Some of these old stores are still big stores now. [00:22:00] I don't think Penny had one here, but the different ones, the Fox at Boise, they had a store here at Nampa. CRAIG: Now, the only restaurants in town were the ones that were right across from the bus depot, or from the train depot? Those were the only restaurants? LLOYD: Oh, Oh, no, I think there was [00:22:30] probably a restaurant or two, I can't recall, because that was the main thing right there, the people that ate most. There wasn't too many people looking for a restaurant, and if they did, they could go down there and eat anyhow, too, see. I see there was the Nebraska and the Oregon, and nearly all of them were. Idaho, nearly [00:23:00] all of them was named after a state. CRAIG: You said Nebraska? One restaurant's name was what, Nebraska? LLOYD: Nebraska, Oregon, Nebraska, for nearly all of them, they were in a row along there. CRAIG: And they were named after states, huh? LLOYD: Yeah, they just used the state's name, yeah. CRAIG: How would a typical meal go? I mean, [00:23:30] was there lots of beefsteak in those days? Every meal was a beefsteak meal? LLOYD: Oh, yes, they had typical meals like people had in their home. They were more like that, you know, see. They'd bring you a plate out there with a great big T-bone on there, you know, and fried potatoes, and people, hey, you're going to know what fried potatoes is now, you know. And [00:24:00] soup, and homemade bread, and all that kind of things. I can remember them when they moved up to 35 cents a meal, and then 50 cents, and they moved up a little less. At first, Frank Kibler's father had one of them. [00:24:30] He used to own or manage, whether they owned it or not, the Ontario Hotel, which was the main hotel outside of the Dewey Palace here, west of here. People used to come a hundred miles there. They'd have balls for dancing. They'd [00:25:00] have a ball there. They'd come from everywhere, you know. See, clear up in Burns, all that country in there. And Frank Kibler's father owned that. And he'd come up here then, and he had one of these restrooms. [00:25:30] See, I think Frank Kibler probably was only about four or five years old when they moved up here. They ought to get a hold of him. His memory's better than mine. He can really fill them in. CRAIG: You've got a plenty good memory. So when you first started coming to Nampa, back when [00:26:00] you were traveling on the train every day, you could buy a great big meal like you described for what, for how much money? What's the lowest figure you can remember? LLOYD: Oh, I can remember 25-cent meals. CRAIG: With the T-bone steak and the whole works, huh? Yeah. Yeah. LLOYD: Oh, yes. Yeah, I can remember that. I say that as business began to pick [00:26:30] up a lot more, why, they began charging a little more of them. Because their help, you see, didn't cost them anything, hardly. And then I started to tell you a little bit ago, while I was building this [00:27:00] little house on the back there on 6th Avenue, we were living over on 18th Avenue, and Mom would wheel the kids over and bring a hot dinner over. I'd work till I couldn't see anymore for the darkness, and then we'd all sit down and eat a dinner, then we'd go back. And sometimes it'd be 10, 10.30 before we'd get back over there home, and I'd be up at 6 [00:27:30] o'clock the next morning headed on the road someplace to wherever the job happened to be. CRAIG: Very little of your work then was here in Nampa. Most of it was traveling. LLOYD: Well, right at first it was, and then I began to pile on a little bit more and a little bit more while I built a shop over across on 14th Avenue [00:28:00] and started hiring men, like I told you there. And from then on, they had four or five bridge gangs outfit cars at several locations around, see, up on Burns Branch, [00:28:30] up out of Weiser, and out of Payette, to McCall, and then it began to drop off, Lord, and we began to get more things in the radius of a certain distance of Nampa here. That was my beat, you see, and each one of them had one. CRAIG: Mm-hmm. [00:29:00] So you got to spend more and more time closer to Nampa as the years went on then. LLOYD: Yeah. CRAIG: Okay. When you built these houses then, you were spending, when you built your house in 1926, how do you finance a house in those days? LLOYD: Well, finally I had to get a loan, and, see, it only cost, [00:29:30] I think it only cost about $4,000 and something for three bedrooms and almost a full basement and three bedrooms and a big living room, and it's between $4,000 and $5,000. It wasn't hard to [00:30:00] get a loan like that because you didn't have to pay too much interest, and maybe interest, and maybe you didn't have to pay too much interest, but it was probably 5% or 6%, and you didn't have to, what was I going to say? CRAIG: Would you get it from the bank? LLOYD: Oh, yes, you'd get it from the bank or a loan company. I think [00:30:30] I got mine from a loan company that headquarters, the the first one was the headquarters in Salt Lake City, I think. I forget the name of it right now, but I think that's where it was. And, of course, your payments probably didn't run over 25 a month, you know, see? CRAIG: What did you do for your first little house, [00:31:00] the one that only had two rooms in it that was at the back of your lot? LLOYD: I left that there and rented it for a long time. That helped to pay for the first house in the front, see? And then, of course, one thing that helped, see, after I built that house in there, [00:31:30] I was gradually advancing in the work that I was doing, see? There see? There was an increasing in the credit loan and the payment work until finally, and I was still, like I told you, I had 22 men that time working one time, and I was still supervising [00:32:00] them as a traveling carpenter. The various bridge gangs in the territory were all getting seniority over me. So I said to the supervisor, I said, I'm going to have to do something about this. I said, I'm just... END OF RECORDING Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lloyd William Castagneto Recording 1 of 2 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/76642/archive/files/6f0bfec1f3b8793e805a37d5dc85c9d8.mp3?Expires=1774483200&Signature=kDLhGnhJniGwVFFxpJiPjH8k%7E25F9oTheNKtvmPrUCT%7ELhD2H5MAgl1tL55ipOCSY50dEPdicpEh5HqjI3iqUk38lk0RkYF2IG49oPq-PfycUhLlhd9pAWfYsVi92mUHUJHMYbYQNK-sq7TrGGGYiauhmF3BnCu8IAZFUhIEoR8iZZZ6-k5mDw9%7E%7EnBNgsxpv7MX5BDE-SY9HfYbDchzBJnhPYTwrUsOTiHxaR8306cFWzHqX6EcscbEC7gEciK6i8-v63uBUr1hCidhAmq9kmbdu320rTv3q3aNYN42T6xW1nsI877sFSWbgg24fJZvLjWZDw9SDOcWPKrmAgLsCQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 3318f68b9f3a90d3bf00bee184f6c349 PDF Text Text SILENCE: COUGHS CRAIG: [00:00:30] OK. LLOYD: See, the reason that he didn't, uh, he said the reason he didn't put it up for bids and all these furnitures out on the road could, one of them would bid it in and I'd lose it. Then I'd have to go out on the road. And, uh, I said, well, that, that has to come sometime [00:01:00] so just might just well come now. I said, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, right now, let's see, that was 21, 930, I'm just 30 years old. And I just didn't have a title of a foreman or something, although although I was working for twice as many men as they were. I said, so I might just as well take a chance. Well, there was [00:01:30] an old, one of the oldest, he was the oldest, uh, foreman in the, out on the line in the territory. And, uh, he knew I wanted this and he told me, he said, if you want it, he said, you, you bid on it. He said, I'll, I'll get the word around that I want to get off the road and get [00:02:00] in and I'm going to bid it in. And he, he scared, he threw the scare in all of them, I bid on it and then they only bid the reserve was mine. So I was appointed then in 1921 as a, made a, a foreman. LLOYD: So I worked as a foreman with the headquarters here at Nampa. From then on, it was, it was big enough to work around here and to work within [00:02:30] 15 to 20 miles, any direction. Uh, see, there was lots of work out on the Morphin Line and that, in those days, they were shipping lots of stock. And, uh, there was lots of work at the stockyards, the, the raw wooden stockyards in O.C. And, uh, they, uh, [00:03:00] so I stayed as a foreman at the headquarters right here. And then in 1926, the supervisor retired, B&B supervisor of the territory from, from Glens Ferry to Huntington and the branches. Uh, he retired. And those were appointed [00:03:30] jobs. They didn't have to give it to the oldest foreman, but they had, before this time, they'd always give it to the oldest foreman that was out on the road. But I was the youngest foreman and they, they appointed me to that job, 1926. So— CRAIG: [00:04:00] Now, with these stockyards around, did Nampa have a big stockyard? LLOYD: Oh, yes. Nampa had a big stockyard down there. CRAIG: Right, Right, right where it is still today? LLOYD: Yep. Yeah, right down in the, in the east end there. Oh, they've changed it all. They've turned a lot of it down now. They had big stockyards. They used to—you see, in those days, they'd have a train load out of, out of, off of the [00:04:30] Burns Branch there. It'd come off of there with two or three train loads in, over a period of a short time. And a train, of course, only, only run about, on the, on the stockyard. They'd only have about twenty-five or twenty or thirty at the most in the train. They'd all be all stock. They'd have to stop every so [00:05:00] often and feed and water. Nampa was one of the important places to feed and water. See, they'd come down here and they'd, then they'd, then they'd go, then they'd probably go from here to, to Pocatello. Speed wasn't what it is now. And the— CRAIG: So a lot of the business [00:05:30] in those days was, was livestock business. LLOYD: Oh, lots of it. Lots of livestock and hay. On the railroad, as many things fell, everything, everything moved on the railroad in those days, see, because there wasn't such thing as, any such thing as, as big trucks hauling things between places. Oh, now I have something else. [00:06:00] Oh, I was, I was just going to tell you something about, Ontario was a big shipping point. Before they got the, before they built the line into Burns, which was early [00:06:30] 1900s, before they built the line into Burns, why, they used to drive, they used to drive, used to drive, they used to drive, I don't want to sound big to you, but they used to drive 5,000 head of cattle. Because several of those boys, when I lived there then, several of those boys there, we had our horses, you know, and they'd hire us for a dollar a shift at night to help just keep [00:07:00] them surrounded out there in the pasture. They weren't fenced in. CRAIG: This was when you were a boy and lived in Ontario. LLOYD: I just, I mentioned that because to show you what was going on in those, in those days. CRAIG: Amazing. So you just, several of you boys would just stay on the perimeter of all these cattle and just keep them kind of, keep them [00:07:30] fenced in, kind of, huh? LLOYD: Yeah, just keep them. LLOYD: You know, it's a, where, it's a, it's a climate, I think, that I wish that there's more people that could have gone through the same era. I think because it isn't, it wasn't high speed like we got [00:08:00] now. I mean everything was in a hurry. You had team wagon. You used to get, we had, this happened before I come to Nampa here, but it happened, it happened before 1910. I had, we had a concrete business, my dad and I had concrete business, [00:08:30] and we used to have a team, we had two teams of horses, and we used to have, we'd have to haul our gravel from down on the river, go down on the river and haul it from up in there, and then in the wintertime, I'd have a bobsled, put the bobsled on, and we'd bundle up [00:09:00] a bunch of people in the bobsled, full of straw, take off for out into country, have somewhere, six or seven miles, somebody's house, and just have a big time. People don't know what it is to have a good time nowadays. They just don't know. CRAIG: Amazing. That's fantastic. What, what was Nampa like, [00:09:30] you know, as 1926 approached, and you were talking about that, and then you, you started into the 30s and such, and the depression came on. Was Nampa hard hit by that depression? LLOYD: Was I hard hit? CRAIG: Well, was Nampa hard hit, or were you hard hit, or was the railroad a pretty a pretty secure job, or what? LLOYD: I'd have to say in a way, but I don't think too much, because the railroad, [00:10:00] of course, you mean in the 30s, huh? CRAIG: Yeah. LLOYD: Well, it was, there was layoffs, there's no question about that. There was layoffs, but they had a, I left the railroad there in 1934 until 1936, when I came back, and I was, I was [00:10:30] working for the government. They had all kinds of buildings, building work, and, of course, it was old U.S., there was just no limit to the things building work, and, of course, it was old U.S., there was just no limit to the things that we built, schoolhouses, and Roosevelt down there was one of them. CRAIG: You were involved in building Roosevelt? LLOYD: Oh, yes, sure, I supervised in building Roosevelt. Oh, yes, sure, I supervised it. That was one of them that I was up. They, the fellow that, there's [00:11:00] a fellow here that had come out of Washington, and he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a, he was a was one of them that I was up. But they, the fellow that, there was a fellow here that had come out of Washington, and he, I was taking some of these locals around here, and they had [00:11:30] to work all over the state of Idaho, and, yes, he wanted me to go around and check all those things there. I drove around for two or three months there, did nothing but just driving around and checking the various jobs, and, of course, it was one thing. I don't, no, I don't want to think it's, it's I'm [00:12:00] not making a big thing of it, but everybody that is in on that wasn't trained for it, what I'm trying to say. See, they just wasn't trained for it. It was government money. CRAIG: Some of it were just work projects, LLOYD: and they just threw anybody in on it. Yeah, yeah, and the only ones that I had was a good project, see, and it [00:12:30] showed up good, so that's when this guy wanted me to take it, take it in the states, see, and get some of those booted up a little bit. And that wasn't very long after that, I railroaded one of me bags, and that's when I went back and went up to Sun Valley. CRAIG: What, tell me for just a minute, what projects were you involved in in Nampa? [00:13:00] Roosevelt School, you mentioned. LLOYD: Oh, Roosevelt School, another one was that little, they they used it for a little gymnasium out there that's out there back, the back of the city hall now, you know, see, but that's where the high school was. CRAIG: You put that gymnasium onto the... LLOYD: That little gymnasium there. That was one, and see, we had half a dozen of them around in the [00:13:30] country. CRAIG: Now, were you involved in Central at all, Central down there, Central Junior High School, where the big auditorium is there on 14th? LLOYD: Yes, I believe, I believe that. I didn't have anything do that, I don't believe, but I think it did. I think that come under that. CRAIG: Same program, huh? LLOYD: Mhmm CRAIG: What was the program called? LLOYD: I [00:14:00] was trying to think of it. I can't recall it now. CRAIG: Okay, um... LLOYD: What [00:14:30] was it? PWA, wasn't it TWA? CRAIG: W... WWA or something like that? LLOYD: No, no, there was another letter in there. Maybe I'll think of it, I don't see it. CRAIG: Public Works, wasn't that it? Public Works? LLOYD: Yeah, it was Public [00:15:00] Work, that's what it was, see. Yeah, PW... Several was paying all of it, and school districts was supposed to pay a small part, but it was a small part, see. That was just to get the men to work. And when we're talking about it, and these guys had loafed on the job, there wasn't very many. Most of those fellows [00:15:30] were men who had families here and something, and they wanted to work hard and do a good job doing what they were doing there, see, rather than, they wanted something to show for what they'd done after they served. And of course there was a certain amount of them that they didn't, they could lean on the shovel all day, they didn't care what they was doing, whether it was doing any good or not, you know. But most of them, most of them did. That's [00:16:00] why they took so much pride in the schoolhouses and things like that, see, because their kids were going to go to school there and so on and so forth. CRAIG: These were just men that were out of work at the time, and so this project came along and lots of them were good hard-working men, and some of them weren't, huh? LLOYD: Yeah, I think they made about, I think they made about $44 a month or something [00:16:30] like that, I forget. It wasn't too much that they made. I know they weren't paying me $200 a month for what I was supervising. CRAIG: Now, Now, from 1936 until [00:17:00] into the 40s or so, you spent most of your time at Sun Valley, is that right? LLOYD: Well, no. They sent me to Sun Valley Union Pacific they owned that, and they were starting in 1936. That's when it started, it was August or July 1936. They had [00:17:30] they had contracted with a Los Angeles outfit, O'Neil Brothers, to build a lodge. That's all. That was the only job. LLOYD: And then they decided, Mr. Harriman decided that he [00:18:00] wanted some kind of a chairlift of some kind to get the skiers up the mountains, up the smaller mountains. And, of course, nobody knows anything. At the time, there wasn't any thoughts of of of of individual chairlift because there's none in the world. But Jimmy Kerr, an architect there, [00:18:30] our office an architect there, our office in Omaha, he worked out this scheme of this single chair lift. Well, Mr. Harriman, he jumped right on to that right away and wanted, he said he wanted one built up Dollar Mountain and one up what they called Proctor Mountain, which was a little ways around, ya see see there was three men Proctor Mountain, which was a little ways Proctor Mountain, which was a little ways Proctor Mountain, which was a little ways around. See, there was three [00:19:00] men that were behind all of this before the railroad took it over. It was actually, the railroad took it over early, but these men had first decided that before they even started to build, but they were going to build, there was three of them. There was Mr. Harriman, and Proctor, [00:19:30] and big banker from— CRAIG: Morgan? LLOYD: Yeah, Morgan. But before they had got started, the railroad took it on. And they bought the brass ranch there. And so they sent me up there to the railroad, [00:20:00] sent me up there in 1936 in August to build this thing. He was—nobody had ever, nobody had had ever, nobody had ever seen any such a toy as a lift. But people went wild over it after it got built, you know. Of course, the one they built up, the hard [00:20:30] one, the one to the high mountain, the Proctor Mountain over there, people didn't like that one because it was too cold going up the canyon. And they took it down after a couple of years, and they put part of it down for us, ski jump. CRAIG: Now, as you—then when did you come back to Nampa? You spent a lot of time up at Sun Valley. When did you come back to Nampa? Did you ever leave Nampa? LLOYD: [00:21:00] Yeah, the—we rented a house, and we were traveling most of the time from—oh, well, you see what happened. What happened is, is after the first ones were built there in 1936, [00:21:30] the chief engineer was out there, Chief Engineer from Omaha was in charge of that. And he said—I was working as a foreman there, see, at that time, foreman rate. And when it come wintertime there, he had a little [00:22:00] job that he wanted finished that hadn't been listed to do, and I had cleaned up everything and was ready to leave out of there. And he said, what I want you to do, I want you to stay here this winter. He said, just as long as you want to, if you want to stay all winter. See, of course, we were living in one of the cabins up there, see, [00:22:30] and so we didn't—he said, I want you to stay here if you want to stay here all winter. You'd love it up here if you want to stay all winter. Well, he says, stay here. But he said, you know, you built them, you know more about them than anybody else, so we just knew there was going to be lots of different—different trouble, little trouble every now and then. LLOYD: And he said, [00:23:00] you stay right here until you're through. But, he said, I'm putting you on my roster as a steel erection officer. He said, you'll be an officer, a steel erection officer with ten headquarters at [00:23:30] Omaha. And he said, you won't spend too much time because he said there, but your headquarters will be there along with the rest of us. He says that you'll be spending most of your time in the West. So then we went on for—well, after—I stayed up there. I got tired. I didn't want to, and I stayed up [00:24:00] there through the month of January. Didn't have any snow for the big opening of Christmas, no. Not a bit of snow. And then it did—when it snowed, after it snowed once, and they tried it out a few—quite a few times, well, I left. LLOYD: Went back to Omaha, and we lived in a—in a hotel there [00:24:30] for several months, and then began to —send me this all over, all over this U.P. system for one job after another. Then when the war came on in the 40s there, I went down to—down to [00:25:00] Portland, and I—we lived in an apartment there in Portland for a year, Mom and I, and all I did was just kind of be there in case anything happened on any of the ports, you know. And a terrific amount, amount of—a lot of things that was going through [00:25:30] a port there, Portland. Then they decided they wanted a—for the war, so they'd have oil in special places. They wanted me to look after, supervise three three new steel, big steel, 125,000-gallon oil tanks, one at Hamilton, one at Le Grande, [00:26:00] and one at Huntington. So I had a—an apartment at—in the hotel there, the big hotel, and worked out of there for [00:26:30] a year. CRAIG: This was in—this was in Portland? LLOYD: No, no, this was Legrand. This is Legrand, okay. I was at Portland a year before that, then Legrand for a year, supervising these other three. Well, in fact, no matter where it is, we were at Pendleton for part of the time, and then come up to Le Grande. CRAIG: So you were—you were—then did you move back to Nampa after that? LLOYD: [00:27:00] No, I came back— CRAIG: When did you finally arrive back in Nampa? LLOYD: Let's Let's see. [Silence] LLOYD: Shut that off, man, if you want to. LLOYD: [00:27:30] [Tape resumed] Moved in our—we had rented our house, and we come in and— CRAIG: This was 44? LLOYD: Yeah, and went back in our house, and then I worked on that same job as [00:28:00] a—as a steel bridge inspector for all the U.P. territory, but I was—they let me call my headquarters there instead of being called up at Omaha, which was at the end of the district, you see. They let me call my district so we could get established in some place for more [00:28:30] of my kids, you know, see. Why, we came back here and made it to headquarters. I didn't—I didn't claim any expenses here, but I claimed expenses whenever I—anyplace else didn't claim any expenses here, but I claimed expenses whenever I—anyplace else I went, see, halfway from here. But then it was just one emergency But then [00:29:00] it was just one emergency after time. One emergency after time. They were all emergencies. CRAIG: So you were gone a lot? LLOYD: Yeah, I was gone the biggest part of the time, see. I'd get—oh, I'd get home every couple of weeks or something, or maybe a month or a day or two, and then go on again, see. CRAIG: When—when did your dad—when did your dad come to Nampa and start living? [00:29:30] About that same time, or— LLOYD: No, no, he was—he was here before that. He—he would—he'd been worked on—working on a—with a bridge gang. He worked on that, and then he began to lose his eyesight, and he came here in 1938, we see, yes, see, we built that house over there, and [00:30:00] he came here about— about 32. Yeah. CRAIG: So he lived in Nampa from 30—from about 1932 on, then, huh? LLOYD: Uh-huh. CRAIG: Now, what did he do from 1932 on? Did he work this bridge gang some, or— LLOYD: He was blind, but [00:30:30] he had a little cubbyhole down there by the—what's the name of that— CRAIG: Oh, the post office? LLOYD: It It was right back—right back at the post office. It's back at the post office there, see? He had a little cubbyhole there, there, and he opened a little [00:31:00] candy stand, see, and cigarettes and things like that. CRAIG: Newspapers and everything, huh? LLOYD: Yeah, just that. And being blind, and his hearing was a little bad, he fixed up a little bed, a little bed in there, see, and he'd sleep there, stay there nights. I'd go down and get him, and if [00:31:30] I was in, I'd go down and get him, feed him, and—oh, different ones helped. They liked him, you know. They took up with him, and they helped him. And then—and he put dozens of different kinds of candy in the case, you know, but he could just—they'd come in and ask for a piece of candy, you know, see, but he could just put his fingers right on it, [00:32:00] and he'd get—and when they'd—I can see many times when they was paying him, the kids and whatnot. END OF RECORDING Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lloyd William Castagneto Recording 2 of 2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nampa Oral History Collection Description An account of the resource Oral histories recorded 1984-1986 for Nampa's Centennial celebration. About 60 individuals shared their recollection of the early days of living in Nampa. Some of these people's stories relate to photos in the Historic Photo Exhibit. Click on the name or subject listed under "Relation" to discover more details about life in Nampa. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-1986 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Nampa Centennial Committee Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Craig Castagneto, Grandson Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Lloyd William Castagneto Location The location of the interview 224 Westwood Boulevard, Nampa, ID Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lloyd William Castagneto Description An account of the resource Lloyd Castagneto arrived in Nampa in 1917 and shares memories of living in Nampa in the mid-20th century. Lloyd recalls working for Union Pacific and living in Sun Valley to aid in building the world’s first chairlift. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985, May 29 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nampa Centennial Committee References A related resource that is referenced, cited, or otherwise pointed to by the described resource. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-railroad-engineer-from-nebraska-invented-worlds-first-ski-chairlift-180976878" target="_blank" title="Magazine Article - World's first chairlift" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-railroad-engineer-from-nebraska-invented-worlds-first-ski-chairlift-180976878</a>/; Kuta, Sara (Feb 2021). The Invention of the Ski Chairlift. Smithsonian Magazine (online) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Interviews recorded for the library's oral history program are copyrighted to the Nampa Public Library which maintains rights to reproduce the recordings in all existing and future formats for the purposes of preservation and access. Researchers may quote portions of interviews in non-commercial projects, unless otherwise noted. Proper credit should be given. No part of the interviews may be used in commercial, for-profit projects without permission from Nampa Public Library. Chairlift-World’s first Concrete industry Houses & Homes Proctor lift Railroad Railroad workers Sun Valley Transportation Union Pacific