Sources on Big John

This foundation is our conceptual framework of interpretation but is incomplete without the incorporation of one key individual; the architect and designer of these artifacts. Big John Silveira started out as elusive actor in this story; a lawman but also an artist. The kind of sources he is mentioned in, from the contemporary to the vintage, give us informal insight into the specifics that do not make it into our other sources. For such specifics on the Nipton Gardens, refer to John McKinney’s “Getting Sidetracked Into the Quirky,” (Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1997, Accessed: November 21, 2019, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-02-02-tr-24590-story.html) and “History of Nipton” (Magical Nipton, Accessed: November 21, 2019, https://nipton.com/history-of-nipton/). There may be more in the “Cultural Resource Assessment of Nipton, California,” Gerald A. Smith, 1981, The Digital Archeological Record: Center for Digital Antiquity, Accessed December 3, 2019, https://core.tdar.org/document/183392/cultural-resource-assessment-of-nipton-california, as the Nipton site cites this document, but the database did not have it posted. We have since acquired a digital copy from the San Bernadino County Museum. Big John is mentioned in Desert Magazine, July 1947, (Accessed November 21, 2019. http://www.swdeserts.com/index_htm_files/194707-DesertMagazine-1947-July.pdf). This is where our combination of oral histories and public records is most useful because it fills in these very large gaps.

The exploration of Public Records for Big John was most useful because we knew so little of him at the start of this project. The twenty-some documents in this component were acquired via Ancestry. Approximately half of the records were added to the site’s database in association with the National Records and Archives Administration; Federal Census records from 1900-1930, WWI and WWII Draft Registrations and the like; digitally collected from their original microfilm. The other half, State and County Records, City Directories, Social Security and Veterans Affairs documents, gravesite photographs, were collected in different databases organized on the site. These records informed us a great deal on Big John’ background; his early childhood, wartime service, occupations and places of residence, marriage, career as the Sherriff of Searchlight, and eventual death. Public records can show us the milestones of a life, but it does not tell their story. This is why the methodology of oral history is crucial to our ability to capture the human experience of the Walking Box Ranch. We need these sources to uncover more of Big John’s persona and what the people of Searchlight had to say about him.

We conducted two oral histories this semester to tap into existing knowledge of the Walking Box Ranch and Searchlight, which at the moment remain unpublished. Sam Cramer’s “An Interview with Senator Harry Reid,” (Senator Harry Reid, Transcript of an Oral History Conducted November 15, 2019 by Mary Ludwig, Jennifer Kimball, Paige Figanbuam, Sam Cramer, and Nicole Batten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019) really illuminates our broader understanding of Searchlight from Reid’s experience growing up in the mining town, and how it shaped his political career. For a more in-depth history of Searchlight, refer to Senator Reid’s Searchlight: The Camp that Didn’t Fail, (Reno: University of Nevada Press. 2007). For a published interview that adds to our narrative of the Ranch after the Clara Bow/Rex Bell story, refer to Barbara Tabach’s “An interview with (William) Carl Weikel: An Oral History by Barbara Tabach, May 10th, 2012, (Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Oral History Research Center, UNLV, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 2014). Weikel, along with Reid, provide valuable anecdotal sources that help frame our portfolio of this character. For a source that contextualizes John’s artistic contribution to the Walking Box, see Claytee D. White’s Transcript of interview with Rex Bell Jr. by Claytee D. White, March 2, 2010 (The Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project, Oral History Research Center at UNLV, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2010).  Less relevant to Big John, but more to the Walking Box overall, is Craig S. Klatt’s Interview with Rex A. Bell: An Oral History by Craig Klatt, March 1, 1977 (Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Oral History Research Center, Special Collections, University Libraries. University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 1977) For a source that taps into the professional and academic evolution of the Ranch as a historical and environmental site, see Paige Figanbuam’s “An Interview with Paula Garrett,” (Paula Garrett, Transcript of an Oral History Conducted November 15, 2019 by Mary Ludwig, Jennifer Kimball, Paige Figanbuam, Sam Cramer, and Nicole Batten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019). Garett’s connections as an academic opens up further avenues to explore; Jane Overy, who worked at the Searchlight Museum, and Donna Andress, a 93-year-old woman who had an association with the Walking Box during her childhood.

These interviews give remarkable insight, but also demonstrate the fragility of oral history, because Rex Bell Jr. passed away the following year after the second interview was conducted. Out of respect to the individuals involved in the story of this very important site, we as historians have a responsibility to use our skills and document their life experience, so it can be preserved for future generations We hope to interview Donna Andress in the future and add her valuable insight to our story of the Walking Box Ranch.