Business and Economy

Frank Yparraguirre: An Oral History

A Contribution to a Survey of Life in Carson Valley from First Settlement through the 1950s

Interviewee: Frank Yparraguirre with Raymond Borda
Interviewed: 1984
Published: 1984
Interviewer: R. T. King
UNOHP Catalog #130

Americans of Basque ancestry figure prominently in the history of Nevada. Sheepherding and innkeeping are the activities most commonly associated with the state’s Basques in the mind of the general public, but that is an excessively narrow interpretation of their role, particularly in Carson Valley.

Ruth D. Achard and Margaret D. McDonald: An Oral History

Ruth D. Achard and Margaret D. McDonald: A Contribution to a Survey of Life in Carson Valley from First Settlement through the 1950s

Interviewees: Ruth D. Achard and Margaret D. McDonald
Interviewed: 1984
Published: 1984
Interviewer: R. T. King
UNOHP Catalog #107

George Whittell Jr.

George Whittell Jr. was born in 1881 to one of San Francisco's wealthiest families. He never worked a day in his life, instead choosing to live off the interest generated by the millions he inherited from his parents, George Sr. and Anna Whittell. His enormous assets allowed him to purchase the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe where he built the Thunderbird Lodge in the 1930s.

Sands Hotel Implosion

Las Vegas has developed a reputation for imploding its past. Actually, the reputation is neither deserved nor unique. Other cities have blown up historic buildings whose owners or the community had decided had outlived their usefulness—Reno’s Mapes Hotel serving as an example. And Las Vegas has imploded mainly hotel-casinos in financial trouble or unlikely to compete with newer, more modern, larger resorts. What Las Vegas has done differently, though, is turn these implosions into spectacles.

Stardust Hotel Implosion

Las Vegas has developed a reputation for imploding its past. Actually, the reputation is neither deserved nor unique. Other cities have blown up historic buildings whose owners or the community had decided had outlived their usefulness—Reno’s Mapes Hotel serving as an example. And Las Vegas has imploded mainly hotel-casinos in financial trouble or unlikely to compete with newer, more modern, larger resorts. What Las Vegas has done differently, though, is turn these implosions into spectacles.

Gerlach History

The town of Gerlach sits about 100 miles northeast of Reno. More than a two-hour drive from any semblance of a city, the town has become known as an outpost for the Burning Man Festival, as well as the kind of place where residents can count on their neighbors for food and comfort.

The town, along with Empire, had a total of 499 residents in the 2000 census.

Gerlach was founded in 1906, when construction began on the Feather River Route of the Western Pacific Railroad. The route connected Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Felice Cohn

This entry was provided through a partnership with the Nevada Women's History Project.

Thomas Detter

Though not well known among Nevadans of European descent during his lifetime, and largely forgotten by historians until the 1970s, Thomas Detter was a prominent member of western African-American society. He wrote numerous letters to California's African-American newspapers, and he was asked to give speeches in a variety of locales. Most of the residents of Elko and Eureka, Nevada, though, would know him as a prominent African-American businessman—a barber and proprietor of barber shops and "bathing establishments.

Sheldon Adelson

Sheldon Adelson (1933 - ), the at times controversial billionaire casino developer who made and lost fortunes in the 1960s, rode the tide of the personal computer revolution in the 1980s and 1990s with his computer trade show, and used the revenue to build The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Strip.

Nathan Abelman

Nathan "Nick" Abelman was born in 1875 or 1876 to Yiddish-speaking parents and with various partners owned saloons in Bessemer, Michigan, and Hurley, Wisconsin, before joining the rush to Goldfield in 1906. There, also with a partner, he operated the Bon Ton saloon and also ran an auto livery service. He became well acquainted with Harry Stimler, who is credited with the discovery of gold in the area, and from whom Abelman learned the technicalities of locating mining sites.

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