They used to put them in vases and have them in front of the Community House, too.
(DR) They had them at the lodge, but we thought they picked them outside of the park. I didn’t get a reprimand, but I sure was nervous.
We enjoyed the period here. We felt that we were fortunate to be park of the Park Service in this hey day, in my estimation, during those thirties. Everything was favorable for that. They had the CCC. It was a wonderful opportunity. It was a busy time, but it was enjoyable.
Did you ever get to meet any of the big wigs when they came in?
(DR) Not that I can remember. The ranger staff had that opportunity because they were usually involved in guiding the around. I know we had Mr. Ickes out here once (13). Then there was Mr. Tolson, who was the assistant director of the Park Service (14). He was out here once during the time when I was here. Was it Ansel Adams, a photographer?
Yes.
(DR) I met him a couple of time.
Do you know the building that sits up on the hill and has all been repainted? You call it a center, now of some kind, a rim center or something. It was know as the old community building, community hall, and it was threatened with destruction because it was entirely unsafe.
It still is.
(DR) This was 50 years ago. Low and behold, here it is with the porch taken off and all painted. At that time, they kept a piano in there that belonged to the park. The first or second winter that we were in (I think it must have been the first winter) Dave wondered if, Sadie played a little in those days, we would like to have a piano. And, we said sure. We didn’t have too much furniture and there was a space for it over in a corner. They brought the piano in and set in into place and the floor broke away.
Oh, no. This was in the stone house?
(DR) Right. So the upshot of that was they got under all of those houses and redid them. It was all dry rot. So they did all three of them. They put new footings under new sills. And that was wonderful. They painted them all nice and put new fiber board and wainscoting and did a real nice job. Only one little thing. All of the underneath girders and joists were treated with creosote and it permeated all of the foods.
