I was going to ask both of you whether either one of you had been inside the lodge at that time. What might you remember of what the guest rooms looked like and what was out in the Great Hall?
The first year I worked up there, this is before I worked for the Park Service, I worked part of the year down on the boat. I rode up with my older brother on the stage from Medford. And I know I ate in the dining room, or where the help ate off the kitchen and took a lunch down to the lake. I spent the day there and people would come down and want to fish. They [the concessionaire] had a couple of row boats and if they wanted to fish, I’d take a row boat and take them out to Wizard Island, Phantom Ship, and you could see those big fish swimming around in that clear water and they’d catch a couple of fish and then they’d quit. That’s all I did, you know, but I can’t remember. I don’t think I stayed in the lodge. I think they had a cabin out there that I stayed in, but I ate. What was your question again? (AH)
What do you remember about the interior of the lodge?
Lots of times we’d go there in the evening and get some gal. We’d dance and sing and just have a good time. Tom Burnfiel worked up there. He kept wood for that big old fireplace. Somebody would bring it up, and he’d have to get help to wrestle it. Lots of times I’d help him get a big old log in the fireplace. We spent a little time in there, you know. I can’t remember too much about the interior. (AH)
That wasn’t the attraction. It was the music and the gals. If there’s only one gal, she probably got a good workout. But there’s a picture of Al Loomis and Dave Wilcox and Larry Robbins. (OH)
This is Dave Wilcox right here. He’s a good looking kid. He’s been to college a year or two. That’s Al Loomis and Dave. I guess they figured one wouldn’t be very good, so they took several of them. (AH)
Now, John Maben was up there at the time.
He was up there before my time. I remember the Maben name, but I don’t remember ever seeing him up there. We were talking about the skiing up there. I was kind of like Albert. Trying it once was all I did. (OH)
What kind of cameras did you use to take all these questions?
A little Eastman Kodak. One of those you pull out and take a picture, you know. I still have it, but the darn thing – when you take the picture, it has a white streak in it. It’s got a leak in the bellows. It took good pictures. The big pictures, I think Sparrow must have had a camera (13). It wasn’t mine. I think he must have taken those pictures and gave them to me. (AH)
