We're Back!

To make a long story shorter… after all, I was working as a wrangler for only one week a year; I will return to it later. Let’s just say that the first year was great! I enjoyed it thoroughly and was asked to return the next spring. And for 9 more years.

Back in Reno, life was fine. Since Solari & Sons had no competition for the majority of jobs, we rarely went without work. And when I got back I had a new project to start; Harrah’s Hotel Tower expansion. Harrah’s didn’t want to miss out on the remodeling frenzy that had gripped the town, but they were short on space and already had a 24 story hotel on Center Street. They had begun a casino expansion on Lake Street with a new Sports Book casino and the only place left to add on for hotel space was directly over the top of the Seafood restaurant on the corner of Second and Center. This expansion would tie into the existing hotel and add a dozen or more rooms per floor.

It had been decided that the expansion would never shut down the restaurant or the casino below it. These were located in what was called the Dondero building. The two-story structure had been absorbed into the Harrah’s building without ever demolishing it in its entirety. When we entered the ceiling space above the restaurant and the casino, we actually walked across the old roof of the Dondero building. Looking over the edge of the ‘roof’, we could see that the walls of the old building were enclosed by false walls in the casino. And this roof top area was also used as the spot for security to set up their monitors; the camera feeds that watched all the gambling below.

Needless to say, it was a tight little corner to have to build a very tall and tiny high-rise hotel. To erect the steel, they had to dig deep into the corners of the Dondero building without bothering anyone. Concrete footings were poured in the dark of the basement and behind walls. And it was our job to follow along behind that work and repair any damage that was caused.

Once the steel reached the level of the third floor, it was time to bring in a crane to erect the rest of the building. But not an ordinary crane; the site already took one lane out of Second Street and the city wasn’t going to allow any more than that. A very special Manitowoc crawler was brought in and it was able to stand its mast vertically and use the jib section almost as if it were a tower crane. But, as it squeezed itself into position, next to the manlift, it had to ‘squirm’, rotating the tracks on one side while braking the other. This action actually broke the concrete walls down in the Dondero basement and that caused flooding from groundwater.

But, we were soon moving upwards and onwards. Steel flew into place and we sprayed fireproofing on it just as soon as the concrete deck was poured. A few days after that we were doing the layout and building walls. Electricians and plumbers were right behind us. Progress!

And then we got to the 5^th floor…

Dreaming

On the highway and on our way to the first camp.

It was only going to take us about an hour or so to drive the distance; the riders would take all day to reach the same site. A couple of the catering trucks would meet them at noon for their lunch break, while the main kitchen truck followed us and would setup in the same location. Well, almost the same location. It was always important for the kitchen to be upwind of the mangers and sometimes there was some bickering about where we were going to be located. Especially if there was a good sized tree to be used for a ‘deadman’ for one end of the mangers and that tree happened to be close to where the kitchen was going to be.

A note about our camp sites: About half were on private property; large ranches were preferred. The board of directors for the ride had chosen the various sites and had used their friendship with many ranchers and horsemen to secure us a good site. But…not all sites were created equal and the board members were not always knowledgeable about our requirements. Trying to fit 150 horses, mangers, kitchen and all the assorted vehicles that came with that, into a ‘scenic’ spot was sometimes very difficult!

Once we entered the area, we tried to keep the motor homes from crowding us; telling them they had to wait on the road, at least till we were in place. Some riders had begun bringing large motor homes with them so they could enjoy the comforts of home after a hard day in the saddle. TV and a couple of cold brews after a hot shower. This was an expensive way to go; as they had to pay their own way plus pay for their drivers’ meals and his bar tab. When I was involved in the ride, there was a limit of twenty motor homes and no more. Even with just twenty of them, they could crowd the campsite down to a painful minimum. The riders that chose to rough it and camp on the ground were our kind of guys!

Now it was time for us to set up the camp… all over again. Our goal each time was to have the camp ready and waiting for the riders at least an hour before they arrived. That would give us time to get cleaned up as best we could, enjoy a quick lunch and maybe even a nap in the back of the bed truck.

Did I mention the toilets? As it turned out, the only flush toilets we would see were at the beginning and at the end of the ride, a week later. In between we had to use pit toilets; hand dug by the wranglers. Being the new guy, I was included in the toilet digging chore every time. Once a deep trench was dug, we placed long and narrow 5 sided boxes with toilet seats screwed to the top of them over the trench. I’ve said enough…

And since we (wranglers) hated these toilets, we were always hoping that some minor county official would happen by someday and see them in use and then, in our dreams, he would put a halt to their use. “What do you people think you’re doing? You’re going to have to rent portable toilets and immediately!” Just a dream of course.

Calm before the storm

Where was I? In a dirt parking lot in Riverside and in the back of a truck. OK, it wasn’t quite that bad; the Riverside Rancheros club site was actually secluded and surrounded by thick Eucalyptus groves. With some imagination you could believe that you were far away from civilization.

With the horses quieted down, it was time for dinner. Since the caterers’ truck hadn’t arrived from Arizona, we were on our own for this meal. Burger King. But…all of the meals, beginning the next day, would be catered by a crew from Wickenburg and we had already been given a menu for the week ahead. Steak and lots of it. Plus the occasional lobster.

Most of the riders were socializing in the club house while we set up our sleeping spaces in the bed truck. A few of the riders did manage to stumble down to the mangers later in the evening to see to their horses, but not many. Most were too busy with partying. Although it wasn’t really our responsibility to care for the horses on that first night, we took the remaining horses to water.

My first lesson as a wrangler was to learn how to tie and untie horses from their assigned spots on the manger. And to remember where they were tied. Each manger space had a number and I learned quickly that horses don’t necessarily like their neighbors. Get a horse in the wrong spot and it’s likely to cause a fight. A horse wreck. I was also told to gather up as many horses as possible when watering, at least 3 of them and 4 would be even better. So I would carefully note the numbers as I untied the 4 horses and led them out. But, horses, being as stupid as they are, would quickly move back and forth and all around me as I tried to keep them separated. I soon had a tangle of horses in my hands, all pulling in different directions. And as soon as they were at the water troughs, they would move from trough to trough, sampling a little water from each, while I tried to keep them in some semblance of order. Impossible. Once they were full, I would lead them back while I tried to remember which one went where? What was that number? Talk to me horse! Where do you belong?

With 6 wranglers working, it didn’t take long to get the horses watered and back in some order. But this was easy, I was told, we only had about 90 horses and tomorrow we would see the additional 60 added to the mangers. Oh, oh!

Judy woke us up at 5:30 and we began our day by filling the water tubs and adding some hay to the mangers. Then it was time to begin the daily watering rodeo. And it really was a rodeo as the horses had grown quite thirsty overnight and pulled us to the water. After a few trips, I switched to taking no more than two at a time, just to avoid being crushed in the rush to water.

After the horses were back in place, it was time for our breakfast. The cooks had arrived late last night and had been up since 4. And being wranglers meant that we were always first in line for food. A perk we loved!

A little while later, relaxing with coffee cups in hand, we watched as the riders gathered for the ceremonial beginning of their first ride, 17 miles to the south. And once they had left, the work began for us. The mangers and all that gear had to be taken apart and placed in trucks and trailers for our trip to the first nights campsite.

About 1-1/2 hours later, we had everything packed and our bed truck was now filled with the suitcases, cots and bedrolls of the riders. A mountain of gear. And since I was the spare driver, I was given the veterinarian’s truck to drive. A brand new Chevy pickup with all of the luxury items included.

It was time to hit the highway and our caravan went just as fast as its slowest vehicle, the hay truck. But we were moving and the adventure had begun.

First Day

We pulled in to the long and narrow dirt parking lot of the Riverside Rancheros club and then we began the drill of setting up a camp for the first time. My fellow wranglers were already complaining about the location for the setup; being new, I didn’t have much to say. I would learn.

Setting up required that we first unroll the heavy bundles of canvas and steel cable that made up the mangers. Hay, from the hay truck was dropped as directed and then the truck was parked. The ‘bed’ truck (where we would live and sleep) was placed in position as the center anchor for the mangers. Cables and chains would secure the end of the mangers to the frame of the truck. The hay truck would serve as the anchor for the other end of one manger and a buried ‘deadman’ or a convenient tree would be the anchor for the end of the other manger. Since this was the first night, some horses wouldn’t show until morning and so we didn’t need to set up the ‘little manger’, a separate unit that required its own anchors.

Here’s the picture; from right to left, the hay truck followed by a length of manger that could accommodate about 60 horses. That manger was then attached to the right side of the bed truck. On the left side, another long manger was attached and that ended with an attachment to a large eucalyptus tree. Heavy chains and cable ‘come-alongs’ made the final attachment at the bed truck. These would be tightened, which would lift the manger off of the ground. And to complete the lifting, drive poles were hammered into the ground at 3’ intervals and the manger lifted onto the hooks on the poles. These drive poles were made of heavy 2” pipe with a sharpened point to penetrate the soil. And the only way to install them was to use a sledge hammer. One man would hold the pole and the other would swing. Once it had been well started, we would alternate the swings. (We used to joke that we were well qualified to work in the circus) The goal was to drive the pole till the hook reached the level of our belt buckle. And I quickly learned to rise up on my toes to make this critical measurement! And I also learned why the others had complained about this location; it was a parking lot and the many vehicles had compacted the soil. I soon became an expert on soil types.

After the manger was in place and lifted onto the poles, we opened the bales and put a flake of hay into each numbered spot on the manger. Then it was time to get out the large water tubs and the smaller grain tubs. Hoses were linked and we soon had all 6 tubs filled with water. Our bed truck was our next chore and so we arranged the bags of grain at the far end and then set up our sleeping spaces; a foam bed roll, a pillow and a sleeping bag. We placed our other gear wherever we could find space. Since the bed truck didn’t really carry anything important, like hay… it became the truck that anyone could throw whatever they wanted, into. The riders would use it to carry their bedrolls and extra gear. It was the baggage cart, despite the fact that it was also our home for the next 7 days. We would have to rearrange this mess every night after making camp.

That first night came quickly and we soon had about 80 or 90 horses tied to the manger. Unhappy horses. They had spent the winter in tall grass and roaming free at their owners’ ranch. Most didn’t like the neighbor they had been tied next to and so we had to put up kick poles between them. Dave, one of the wranglers and our farrier, would gather up a supply of small rocks and whenever a horse would start kicking at its neighbor, he would nail it with a well placed rock to its rear. I liked that!

Trailing

Should I be posting something here about vacations? After all, the focus is supposed to be on my working life. Well, these one week vacations where I imitated a ‘wrangler’ were working vacations, so I think they qualify for entry.

The first year of the ride, I had no idea of what I might be doing during this one very long week with 150 horses and riders. I got a list of things to take with me, from Bill. The list included gloves (2 pair), hay hooks, hats, boots, socks, shirts, thermal underwear and lots of Levi’s. And a camera. Oops, almost forgot; a bedroll and a pillow.

We left very early on a Saturday morning and drove down US 395, on our way to Riverside. We were supposed to drive into San Bernardino first and meet up with Judy, the head wrangler, and then pick up the trucks and trailers we would need to load all of the gear onto.

All went according to plan. Even if we weren’t, Judy was very efficient. He had been doing this for many years. We stopped at a truck rental firm and picked up the ‘bed’ truck and another, larger truck for hauling hay. We were all assigned trucks to drive; except for me…the new guy. I would fill in as needed.

Then it was time to pick up the ‘iron’. The word described it well. Steel posts and cables and Come-alongs and chains and nuts and bolts, huge bundles of portable mangers…tons of gear that I had no idea as to its purpose. But…I would find out. This was all loaded into a horse trailer, along with about 50 long and narrow wooden poles; ‘kick poles’ that were placed between horses to keep them from kicking. Horses kicked?

After all was loaded, we followed Judy to a hay supplier who loaded our hay truck for us. OK, we helped, a lot. A full load of heavy 3-wire bales. Giving me a chance to see how my new hay hooks worked.

Once loaded, we headed over to the club headquarters of the Riverside Rancheros. It was from here that the ride would begin.

Explanation: Every year a different trail was used. I believe there were about half a dozen different ones. And every other year, the ride would begin in Riverside. In alternate years, we would begin somewhere far away and then trail back to Riverside. This year we were going to San Diego; actually a little bit east of the city, to Alpine.

This is fun?

Construction in Reno was not all about hotels and casinos; there were plenty of times when I was sent to ‘normal’ jobs. And it was always a relief to get away from downtown and all that it represented. Plus, parking was easier!

And one of those jobs was Saint Mary’s Hospital. When I started working there, it was a small hospital, run by a charitable Catholic order. And it was during the 1980’s that this small and aging order decided that they couldn’t run the hospital any longer and so they hired a firm to manage it for them. The ‘Sisters’ were still around and would remain so, but they no longer had to worry about day to day operations.

This was when the hospital began to grow. Prices for medical care went up. Patients; all patients, had to pay their bills. The hospital was soon a thriving business and the hospital began to buy up property around the hospital in hopes of a future expansion.

At first, the projects at Saint Mary’s were quite small. Carl and I would be sent over to build a new office or add a wall in the pharmacy. These were jobs that could be handled by two people and be completed in just a day or two.

As the money rolled in, the projects grew in scope and pretty soon we had jobs that would take us a few weeks to complete and we had to bring additional crew in to help us. And it was during that time that a new man showed up one day, Bill Smith.

It didn’t take long for the two of us to become friends; especially when we discovered, during a lunch time conversation, that we both read books…lots of books. You have to understand that most drywallers did not read any more than they had to. So to find one that actually sought out books to read was a rare find indeed!

Bill, besides being a drywaller, was a cowboy. The real deal. And when I met him, he was also a new father and he lived with his growing family in Sun Valley. This part of the Reno suburbs had boomed during the casino construction times and it was now wall to wall in mobile homes. When you crested the hill that led to the valley, you were faced with what looked like the world’s largest ‘trailer park’.

It was during one of our lunchtime conversations, held while sitting on a large stack of sheetrock, that he mentioned his vacation adventures. Every year, he went down to Riverside, California and spent a week working as a wrangler for a group of horsemen on a long trail ride. 150 horsemen and their horses to be exact. These were the De Anza Trail Caballeros and most were lawyers, doctors, some dentists and a wide range of other ‘professionals’. All were wealthy enough to afford horses and the lifestyle that went with them.

Somehow or another, the conversation came around to the question; would I like to join him? There was going to be an opening for another wrangler that year and he knew the head wrangler quite well. He could get me the position if I wanted it.

Horses? I wasn’t sure about that. And 150 of them? At this time I had a general dislike of horses, a fear, and then the thought entered my mind; maybe I could get over this horse phobia by confronting it head on? That was how I had conquered my fear of heights and it was worth a try, besides, it seemed like it might be fun to take a working vacation. Yes, they would feed and pay us for the week. (That was in 1978)

Back at the Sahara

On another morning, I took my place in the office of our superintendent and waited for an assignment. A normal, but time wasting routine. And that morning I was sent back downtown to the Sahara hotel once more. There I met Phil and we went to the roof to find ‘Trini’, the project foreman.

Phil and I were foremen, but without current assignments and so Trini, also a foreman, would try to find us a project that would fit our somewhat elevated pay schedule. Even if we volunteered to do the simple work, the mindless work…it wasn’t going to happen. We would be given a 'challenge'.

This morning he led us across the roof to a small steel structure that rose about 20’ above the roof. We climbed the stairs and found ourselves on a concrete pad that measured about 10’x8’. What a great view! There were no other buildings in the way and we could see all over town. And it was windy! There were also 2 large electric motors and other gear on the deck. This was going to be the elevator machine room for the two elevators that serviced the restaurant just below us. The only things missing here were the walls and the roof. And it was our job to measure for them, weld in some brackets and go to the panel plant and frame them. It was going to be a rush job, so as soon as we had the walls framed and boarded, the plasterers would install the EIFS finish on them.

So it was about 3 days later and we were up on our elevated perch with welding leads in hand and lots of clamps. The wall sections were soon flying up to us and we guided them into place. Now we had to become creative. There were no structural plans for this room and we had planned it so that the roof panel would tie all of the components together. But, in the meantime, we had hold the walls in place, temporarily. But how?

We had a full lift of 1-1/2’ black iron sitting on the roof and I began cutting it up into 6’ and 4’ pieces. We would weld those to the elevator motor brackets and then to the walls while the crane held them in place.

The first panel was the scariest. About 4’ wide and 10’ tall, and that meant that I had to use a stepladder to reach the top of it and release the crane. If I thought it was a great view from the floor, it was an even more spectacular view from the top of a stepladder placed against a narrow metal panel that was quivering in the wind. Or was I shaking?

The panels blocked the wind, so gradually it became easier and more comfortable for us as more panels were put into place. But, we were creating a spider web of black iron welded to black iron within the confines of the small room. When the last panel was flown into position, we could barely move through the maze of iron we had created.

Finally, it was time to place the roof panel. It was going to be flown up in a horizontal position, ready to drop onto the walls. Fine, except someone would have to climb up on that roof panel to release the chokers. Oh no!

With the roof in position and welded in place, we could safely remove all of the black iron. As I remember it, it took us most of a day to remove the iron and grind off our welds. We had already taken some verbal abuse from the elevator installers and so we had to leave the room looking a little better than how we had found it when we began.

Iron(ing)

With so many projects ongoing in the Reno area; if you were a foreman without a current project, you were sent to whichever project needed some extra help. It was great! Variety was the spice of my life! I would check in with the office on a daily basis to find out where I was needed. One of the projects that I was sent to was the Porte Cochere at the MGM Grand Hotel.

I don’t remember how tall the structure was, but I do remember that the scaffolding was quite high, maybe 40’? and it seemed to cover about a football field in size. It was solidly planked and there were about 3 dozen people working up there. Ironworkers, electricians, carpenters and lathers.

For this job I became a lather, something I was still new at. But with hundreds of yards of 3.4 galvanized metal lath to install on the ceiling, I was going to become better in a hurry. Interesting thing about the 3.4 metal lath; it’s very sharp! Rub your hand across it in one direction and it’s quite smooth. Rub the other direction and it’s sharp as razors. We would wear gloves with the fingertips cut out so that we could handle the wire ties, while we used the back of our hands (and glove) to smooth the lath as we tied it to the ¾” black iron supports.

Another bit of info… the black iron we used came from Japan and it was always dipped into some cheap black paint before being bundled and shipped. And this paint would flake off constantly, landing on our upturned faces as we tied the lath to the iron. At the end of the day, our faces were a mass of black specks and our fingers were bloody. Great combination!

Dizzy!

The Circus Circus tower was finishing up as we placed the large roof panels. But there were still plenty of projects to work on downtown. Every casino wanted part of the action and there were remodels being planned almost daily.

One project that I was sent to was the final phase of the Sahara hotel and casino. They were hanging the last 3 or 4 floors of panels and help was needed. Especially help that knew something about panels, hoisting and welding. That was us.

These panels were being made in Arizona and shipped via truck to the jobsite. Once the trucks pulled into town, the drivers wanted to unload and get back on the road, but with no storage available on the site, we had to quickly hoist the panels off of the truck and install them at the same time.

Luckily, the Sahara had two tower cranes on the job; one about 40’ taller than the other, so they could swing over and under one another. And they were always busy, hoisting panels and steel.

One day, I was working with the North crane, the taller of the two, and I was unloading a truck that was parked in the alley. I was actually up on the roof, about 280’ up, but I could see the crew on the ground and see their hand signals. The crane operator couldn’t see into that alley, so it was my job to relay the instructions via radio. No problem; at first. But then an odd thing happened in the middle of the day; the sky was a perfect blue as the sky in Reno usually is and I had glanced up just after I told the operator to begin hoisting a panel. There were puffy while clouds sailing by and just then the South crane rotated and the boom and his load swung past me, I felt a twinge of dizziness and looked down. Oops! As I looked down, I saw the panel coming up out of the alley and at the same time I watched the manlift begin its descent. I looked up again, quickly, and I suddenly had a sensory overload! I was falling! Luckily, I remembered that I was standing with one foot on the parapet, a parapet that was only about 2’ high, so I tried to make sure I fell back onto the deck… and I did.

It took me a few minutes to recover and in the meantime, the panel simply hung there in the air while the crane operator, who could see me, tried calling me on the radio. Another one of the crew grabbed the radio and talked the panel into place while I tried to figure out what had happened to me. Vertigo?

I was shaky for the rest of the day and certainly didn’t want to get too close to the edge of the building. Next day, I was back at it, but with a new awareness of my surroundings. And I never forgot that day.

Getting Better

The large arched panels at the roof line were, at the time, the largest prefabricated panels ever lifted. A record. The very first one was delivered early in the morning by our crew from the panel plant on Tampa Ave. The plant was probably 4 or 5 miles away from the jobsite and since the panels were too big to ever be legally transported, they would bring them down around 4 in the morning, hoping no one would see them. It worked.

Since these panels had large structural elements built into them, we had to hire Iron Workers to do the final welding and we used a composite crew to set them in place. Since we knew all of the local iron workers, it wasn't a problem...except for the local Carpenter's Business Agent, who was ticked off.

The panels were over 16' wide, 16' tall and about 6' deep. But, being made of lightweight materials, they were going to be an easy lift for the crane. And we had built a lifting point into the panel, so rigging was very simple...attach one choker and let it fly!

And so we did. After some tense moments as the crew made sure everything lined up with the panels below, we finally saw some sparks flying and knew the panel was being tack welded into place.

We were going to have to wait until the next morning for another arched panel to make it's secret journey down the hill to us, or so we thought. But then, the owner of McKenzie Construction came out of the job trailer to tell me to take the panel back down. What? He wanted to have the local TV news cover the story and we would have to fly the panel back up for the cameras. The owners of the Circus Circus also wanted the publicity. I said, 'No!' There was some shouting and some threats were made. Finally, I said I would take it back down when Mr. Solari told me to. I didn't have to wait long. In a few minutes the Project manager called me into the trailer, "Phone call for you, Steve."

So... we hooked the panel to the crane, cut the welds loose and lowered it to the ground. 30 minutes later, the TV crew arrived and we did it all over again. Better, of course.

Really High

After a few weeks, we had developed a good pattern and could lift and weld in about 20 panels a day and we were quickly gaining on the concrete crews. The ‘Flyers’, the forms for pouring the floors, extended out past the edge of the building, so we had to stay at least a floor away from them if we were going to be able to hang the panels. When we came too close, we would take a break for a week and let the form work get ahead of us.

It was definitely exciting work as we had to remove the safety cables from the floor we were working on and then reach out to grab a swinging panel and pull it in close enough to get a hook on it. Naturally, the windy days were the worst. It didn’t take a lot of wind to make a panel spin like a top. The tag lines would keep the panel steady… until the panel reached a height beyond the limits of the ropes and the handlers had to let go of them.

I found this great photo of the project and it shows the tower crane, the manlift hoist and 5 of the 6 large arched panels at the roof line. You can see the brace connecting the tower crane to the building. I think that was on the 16^th floor and every day, Dennis would climb out the window and then walk across the narrow beam to the tower and then climb the rest of the way up via the internal stairs on the crane. I wonder where I was when this photo was taken? I was certainly there that day.

I remember standing on that floor and talking to Dennis when he asked if I wanted to come up and see how the crane worked. I really did, but when faced with stepping out onto that beam… I suddenly remembered something else I needed to do, somewhere on the ground!

Normal?

After the grand opening of all of the casinos, life became a little less hectic, but only a little less. The various hotel towers still needed to be completed so that the casinos could be filled with happy (overnight) guests.

And it was about this time that I was asked to be the foreman for the framing and drywall on the Circus Circus tower. Sure! The Money Tree could be completed in just a few weeks and since the two jobs were only a few blocks apart, I could walk between them to make sure everything was going well. And the two jobs had the same general contractor and project manager. I already knew everyone!

The Circus Circus was the second ‘flying form’ post tensioned slab building I had worked on and so I knew a little about how it would go together. But, what was different this time was the fact that we were supplying the exterior ‘skin’ of the building as well as all the interior partitions.

It wasn’t long before my duties were expanded to oversight of the panel crew. These were the guys that were installing those panels that I had worked on while at the panel plant during the previous winter. I knew the panels and I had a general idea of how they were installed. This might be fun… and it was.

First, I had to get used to working with a tower crane. Luckily, the crane operator, Dennis was a great guy to work with. Serious, while he still had a relaxed manner about him. And he told me, ahead of time, what he wanted from me. Most of the time, a tower crane operator is working ‘blind’. He can’t always see the load and/or its final destination. When the crane is used for pouring concrete on a deck, he can see the entire operation. But we would have him swinging out to a spot he might not be able to see. We would be his eyes. And as he said, “When you’re signaling me…it’s your crane and you are the operator. Pay attention. I’m just your tool.” Scary! Normally, we used our radios to direct him, but there were times when you had to have both hands ready to grab onto something… anything at all! A radio would only get in your way, and then it was time to use hand signals. Something new for me to learn.

Here’s how it would work. First we would determine by measuring and leveling, just where we wanted the panel to be. Then we would weld angle iron clips at the floor level. We had already installed steel backing plates in the concrete forms and now we had a secure place to weld our angles. A truckload of panels would arrive on the jobsite, but since there was no room for the truck and trailer, we would block a lane of traffic with safety cones while we unloaded them, one at a time. I would have 4 people in the tower itself, ready to clamp and hold the panel in place once it reached them. On the ground we had the truck driver and two men to secure the chokers and hold the tag lines once Dennis started the lift.

I was usually on the floor above the top of the panel, so that I could see the whole operation. I would call Dennis, “Trolley out. Easy, high...hold the trolley. Swing right. High. C’mon down… down. Easy now. High.” (The word 'high' stops the crane) The guys on the trailer would hook up the chokers with a clevis through the studs and then hook the chokers to the hook that was now swinging just above their heads.

Now the guys on the trailer would use hand signals to direct Dennis to raise one end of the panel while swinging the boom slowly and smoothly. The panel would slip off of the trailer without disturbing or damaging the one below it. Then it would hang in place for a moment or two while the tag lines were attached to the bottom of the panel. Once the two men had moved across the street with the tag lines and we had traffic stopped, Dennis was given the signal to raise the panel.

Tower cranes are powered by electric motors and so they are very quiet. On the ground, you ccould only hear a faint whine as the panel would quickly rise to its spot on the building. The tag lines would be released and I could then guide Dennis as he maneuvered the 24’ long panel closer to the building. Close enough, someone would reach out and with a come-along hook, begin pulling it closer. Because of overhead obstructions, Dennis couldn’t get the panel tight against the building; we had to pull it over and then clamp it.

As soon as we had 4 clamps on it, we would release the chokers and let the crane go back to the ground and prepare for another hoist. The 8’ x 24’ panel was held to the building by 4 clamps and nothing else while we pried and pushed to align it with our layout marks. And once we had it where we thought it should be… we welded it in place. Just a few spot welds, as we had to get the next panel, which was already flying up towards us. The real welds would come later, after the truck and trailer were empty and the traffic was back to normal on the street below.

Race Over

The crane wreck was just a minor glitch in the race towards July 1^st and the opening of half a dozen casinos. The damage was quickly repaired and we were soon working double shifts every day of the week. When I wasn’t running my own job, I was usually to be found at the Gold Dust casino, working for another Solari foreman.

Finally it was over and the casinos were due to be open at midnight. Well, maybe not completely over. I remember being up on a tall ladder at 11:30 PM, replacing ceiling tile behind a sprinkler fitter, who was taking them out to put in the new heads. Below me, a laborer stood by with a vacuum to clean up the mess I was making. Since the ceiling had already been painted a bright red, my new tiles (white) stood out like beacons. But no one cared, the gamblers, when they arrived at midnight, would be focused on the machines and not the ceiling.

A note about the ceilings; as a drywall carpenter from Los Angeles, I was accustomed to doing the work of my trade and my trade only. Drywall and steel stud framing. In Reno, I was supposed to know something about every trade involved in finishes. So I quickly became a lather and an acoustical ceiling installer. It was simply expected of you and you had to learn on your own.

Luckily for me, the concealed spline ceiling system used on the Money Tree was a brand new one and the ‘real’ acoustical ceiling installers that worked for me had never seen it before, so we were somewhat equal and I could catch up to them in expertise. Pretty soon, I was accepted by the acoustical ceiling crews and we got along fine for the rest of my career in Reno.

Taking it down

The wind in the Truckee Meadows can be very deceptive. At ground level; all is calm. Climb up about 30 feet to the second or third floor of an open steel structure and you might find a gale blowing. And without any letup. We were soon accustomed to this phenomenon and modified our work methods to suit.

Apparently the operator of that large crane used on the Sahara hotel hadn’t been told of those winds; winds that swept down from the Sierra’s. He wasn’t a local; being brought in for just this one lift. And now it was time to bring the giant mast of the crane down and let the ironworkers put it all back on the trailers and then onto the train.

It was early and I was touring the job site, (The Money Tree) making sure that everyone was busy and had all of the materials they needed. I had started down in the basement where I had half a dozen men working. Completed, I was climbing the stairs up on the west side of the building and had almost reached ground level when there was a tremendous noise and the pedestrian barricade, just in front of me, exploded in dust and splinters of plywood. I crouched down and covered my head. I wasn’t sure of what had happened. When I looked up again, I could see a mass of thick cables swaying where the plywood barricade used to be.

I still didn’t know what had happened, but I knew I wanted out of the spot I was in, so I pushed past the broken wood and the cables and got out onto Sierra Street. It was an unbelievable sight. The crane had fallen. The cab and body of the crane was lying on its side, two broken outriggers spraying hydraulic fluid onto the road. The main mast, the boom and jib had fallen across the Ace Motel and I joined 2 or 3 others in racing into the courtyard of the motel to see if anyone was hurt. Motel guest were pouring out of their rooms; a few wearing only towels for modesty.

We quickly determined that no one was hurt in the rooms affected by the boom landing in them and so we continued over to Virginia Street, where the hardcore gamblers were oblivious to the fact that the crane had also fallen onto the Nevada Club. It turned out that the ‘headache ball’ had remained on the roof of the club, but the block, much heavier, had crashed through and into the second floor women’s restroom. Unoccupied!

The same good luck had occurred when the crane was dragged sideways by the falling mast. Ordinarily, there was a long line of cars next to the crane because of the lane closure. Since it was early, and the signal had just changed, there hadn’t been any cars in that lane. And it was the same with the pedestrian barricade at the Money Tree; it was simply too early for the crowds to be out and walking around downtown. Besides taking out the barricade, the cables had also sliced off a corner of one of my panels. Like a knife through butter. Scary!

We returned to the crane to see how the operator was and found out that he had ridden it down safely, but as soon as the noise and confusion was over… he had left the scene. Not to be found anywhere.

It didn’t take long to find out what had happened from the ‘oiler’ on the crane. When they started the crane up that morning, the oiler said he saw the flag on the boom whipping back and forth as the wind raced across the roof of the Sahara, about 270’ feet above the ground. The boom had been placed in a near vertical position overnight and the swing brakes were locked. Safe. But as soon as the operator released the swing brake, the boom swiveled in the wind and the operator tried to lower the boom quickly to get it out of the wind, but he couldn’t stop the swing and between the two actions, it was soon out of control and dragging the crane across the pavement as the 300+ feet of boom and jib settled across 3 buildings.

We were working double shifts and later that night, I watched as ironworkers took what was left of the crane apart with cutting torches; not wrenches. Trailer loads of very expensive, bent and twisted tubing went down the alley that night.

High Lift

And speaking of cranes, as I was… The Sahara hotel was directly to the west of the Money Tree and although they had two tower cranes on the project, they needed one very powerful crane to make a lift that the tower cranes couldn’t. It was a cooling tower assembly that had to be on the roof. And one day a train arrived in Reno and unloaded a brand new Manitowoc crane that would do the job. It had over 300’ of ‘stick’ and a lengthy jib section as well. The equipment made a grand parade up Second Street as they headed to the job site. We heard that the manufacturer was selling this crane to someone in the Bay area, but since it was passing through Reno on the train, they might as well try it out for one tall and heavy lift.

Once they were at the site and they had the crane situated on Sierra Street, they brought in the trucks that held all of the boom sections. These were quickly unloaded by the tower cranes and ‘shook out’ along the road so that the ironworkers could assemble them and string the cables.

The rumor that quickly circulated was this; the crane was so powerful that it was going to be able to lift its own boom off of the street. Most cranes needed another crane to help in getting the mast vertical. Of course everyone wanted to see this!

There were probably a couple hundred construction workers lining the sidewalks when the operator fired up the big diesel engine that powered this giant. Outriggers were extended into a blocked off traffic lane. It was time. Sure enough, a large cloud of black smoke erupted from the stack and the boom began to lift free of the pavement. We were impressed. And in less than a minute the boom was vertical and easily reaching past the 24 stories of the Sahara.

A little while later, the cooling tower arrived on a truck and it was almost anticlimactic as the crane easily swung it up onto the roof. One lift. They were through and the crane was scheduled to be taken apart and put back on the train during the next two days, to continue its journey to the Bay area.

Of course we all speculated; what did that cost? Hey! It’s a casino. Money was no object…

Crane time

I may have gotten ahead of myself with that last story. Of course I had to have installed the panels before the kitchen was ready.

Back to the panels. The Money Tree construction site could only be described as ‘tight’. We were building right along the property lines and had covered barricades for the protection of pedestrians on two side of the lot, There was an alley on the east side and we were located right up against the Ace Motel on the north side. There was no room for storage of material near the site and whatever was delivered had to be placed inside the work area immediately. I soon learned how to control traffic and to hold up a ‘Stop’ sign with an air of authority while a drywall or stud delivery was being made.

Installing the panels though, was a little different. We had to get a permit from the city to shut down a lane of traffic for the amount of time it would take a crane to lift the panels from the trailer and install them. Since I had never installed a panel, I was only guessing. But each day, we had a deadline to get out of the way and re-open the lane to traffic.

We were using a local crane service, A&KW Cranes. Lonnie and Eli Walker. They did most of the crane work in town for the various sign companies and so their cranes were fairly lightweight. But they did have a Grove hydro truck crane with 125’ of boom, including a 30’ jib, or ‘fly’ section. And they would be able to lift the majority of the panels for us. For the longer reach to the north, McKenzie was going to let us use their much bigger conventional crane. This crane could reach all of the way across the roof, but the hitch was that we would have to share the crane time with the air conditioning contractor. We would have to hurry to set all of the panels that butted up against the Ace Motel.

When it came time to set the first panel, I was immediately impressed with Lonnie’s skill. He could lift the panels off of the trailers without even scratching the panels stacked below. Smooth. And then he would hold the panel right where we needed it while we attached the ‘tag lines’, long ropes that we would hold and try to keep the panel from crashing into something while Lonnie swung it up from the street and up against the building, near it’s final destination. Holding the tag lines required a lot of strength and skill, plus some bravery as you would sometimes have to rush out into traffic as you pulled the panel away from certain disaster.

All went well, in spite of my concerns and within a week we had the building covered with a prefabricated finish, ready for the sign companies to begin their work.

This job was my introduction to the world of cranes and crane operators and I soon knew all of the operators in town; working with them on many projects.

Back then

Despite the lack of adequate and skilled labor, the Money Tree project rushed towards the July 1 opening date; along with all of the other projects in town. I had only been in Reno for a little over a year and had never seen anything like this before. Casino building defied all of the usual rules of construction; rules that I knew well from my years of working in Los Angeles.

One incident from that time: I was talking to Greg McKenzie, the project manager for McKenzie Construction. We were in the kitchen of the new second floor restaurant. We heard a crashing noise and then someone yelled, ‘Call the fire department!’ and a crowd of men rushed over to where someone lay on the floor amidst a broken ladder and a lot of blood.

The man on the floor was shaking violently and someone, luckily, spotted the fact that he was clutching a drill motor in his hands and they yanked on the cord, unplugging it before anyone touched him.

We recognized the worker; Karl, the foreman for the crew that was installing the stainless steel kitchen equipment. He was also one of the most thoroughly disliked men on the job. He was from Oregon and had no intention of making friends in Reno. But, someone in the crowd began CPR and everyone looked on, anxiously. He may not have had friends, but he was one of us.

That was when Charlie Mapes, the owner of the Money Tree, walked in. He spotted Greg and I and after looking at the scene for just a moment, he told Greg, “You better get these men back to work.” and he then turned and walked away.

Yes, Karl survived and returned to Oregon. Charlie never asked about him.

Careful!

Pretty soon I had most of the panels completed for the Money Tree casino and it was time for me to actually begin some work on the project. The building consisted of a basement and two floors above that. A very small project for downtown Reno.

The basement held the money counting rooms, slot machine repair and general supplies for the casino. The first floor was almost all open floor space and would be filled with slot machines and table games. The second floor was reserved for a large restaurant and bar.

When we started the project, it was understood that we would have to be finished by July 1. Every new casino in town was aiming for that date and there was going to be a grand celebration downtown when about 7 casinos opened at the same time. Ads were going to be placed in all of the major newspapers throughout the country, but focusing mainly on California, where most of Reno’s customers came from.

On the corner opposite where the Money Tree was located, the new 24 story Sahara hotel/casino was being built. On the other corner, the Gold Dust casino was being given a major remodeling. A few blocks away were the Circus Circus, Comstock, Harrah’s and a few minor remodels among the smaller casinos. And Solari held the contracts for all of them. It was soon evident that there weren’t enough carpenters or lathers in town for all of the work that we had and we were soon forced into overtime. Major overtime!

The Sahara and the Circus Circus were among the largest contracts and so they received the most attention when a call was made for additional labor. My project was usually ignored and so I had to fight for any additional help. At one time, our superintendent told each project foreman to tell the crew that could work as many hours as they wanted and anywhere at all in the downtown area. Some of my crew would work at the Money Tree for 10 hours and then walk across the street and work for an additional 10 hours at the Sahara or Gold Dust. They would then sleep for a few hours, resting their heads on their tools, somewhere on the floor of the casino, away from the crowds of workers doing their own shifts. (Giant rolls of carpet or padding were great for sleeping on) Someone would always come along and wake them up in time for another shift.

One afternoon, I left my project and went across to the Gold Dust for lunch. Sitting at the bar, I saw about a dozen of my morning crew asleep, while sitting up and leaning against a temporary partition in the bar. A few were sprawled out on the floor itself. Customers would simply step over them carefully.

A Career Move

When I first arrived at the panel plant, I was put to work on the panels for the Circus Circus hotel tower. My panels for the Money Tree could wait for a little while; at least until the concrete was poured on the decks.

So, Circus Circus. The schedule called for Solari to complete the casino first and then work on the high-rise hotel would begin later in the summer. Phil, the project foreman, would line up the work for us and then go down to the casino worksite and spend most of the day there.

The panels that had been designed for the hotel were quite large, 8’ wide and 24’ long. They would cover a section that was three floors tall, all in one lift from the crane.

And for us, in the plant, it was also a ‘lift’. We had no crane and so we would gather a crowd around the panel and lift it together (hopefully) as we moved it from station to station in the manufacturing process. 4 people could lift it when it was only a metal frame, but it required twice that number when the drywall sheathing and EPS foam had been added to it. And that was where we had to move it to the finisher’s room. A warm haven! The EIFS system required a minimum of 50 degrees and we welcomed a chance to warm up, even if it did mean we had to haul that heavy panel with us.

At this time, it was also revealed to me that I would complete the Money Tree casino project and then I was slated to be the foreman for the interior framing and drywall on the Circus Circus hotel. It looked like I had begun a career.

Break Time!

Back at the panel plant. As I wrote earlier, the plant was actually an old aircraft hanger. It had been built at the Stead Air Force Base, north of Reno, during WWII. After being declared ‘surplus’ sometime in the 50’s, it had been dismantled and moved to a hillside location on Tampa Avenue, just above the city. When reconstructed, it was over 300’ long and about 80’ wide. It was probably close to 40’ high and had 3 overhead cranes installed. There were additional buildings connected to it and these were used by the plasterers when finishing the panels.

Al Solari had owned the empty building for quite awhile but hadn’t used it for anything, and so when we made it into a ‘panel’ factory, we had to do some renovations. Such as adding water and electricity. The former owners, a cabinet manufacturer, had removed much of anything valuable and what was left didn’t work.

One of Mr. Solari’s ‘virtues’ was his thrifty nature. He hated to spend money. So the overhead cranes were not repaired. Nor was the heating system. Or cooling. In general, the roof kept us dry and that was about all we could expect in the way of comfort.

We had built large, flat and level framing ‘tables’ to build the panels on. These tables would allow us to clamp the framing components into the required shape and hold them steady while we welded them together.

The framing components were cut with a large ‘chop’ saw and then placed on the table, all laid out according to the drawings we had from our designers. Al Solari had decided to save money by consulting with structural engineers only when absolutely necessary and doing the drawings in-house by hiring a draftsmen and a helper. Our design team.

The welding began. The studs and track were all made from painted steel and as you welded, the smoke from the burning paint would creep under your welding hood. Pretty soon we were all coughing and complaining of sore throats. Solution; install a fan at the end of the table. Did I tell you how cold it was in this building? If it was 20° outside, it was 15° inside; no sun. The fans were only run when the temperatures rose into the 30’s and we resigned ourselves to the coughing.

Some days, after a lot of welding had taken place, you could look up into the trusses above you and the smoke obscured any view of the roof itself. Part of that smoke came from the fires we built in 55 gallon drums. There were always a couple of these fires going and it was the job of one of the plant ‘go’fers’ to keep the fires going by breaking up old pallets. All coffee breaks were taken standing around the barrels and warming our hands. And Al Solari had the habit of showing up at break time every day. 10 minutes. No more.

Another note; we all wore welding protection clothing, 'leathers'. But these thin leather jackets wouldn't fit well over down filled jackets, so the one thing that would keep you warm, was removed. For those times when we simply couldn't or wouldn't remove the warmth... we suffered later, as the sparks would burn holes in our nice down filled jackets and soon there were little feathers floating in the chilly air.

Barbwire by Barbano

MapesXecution: the slivered legacy of lesser royalty

Some good stuff about Charlie Mapes and a little about the Money Tree casino. Yes, I knew him. Didn't like him.

Measuring Up

A note; Al Solari was determined to get every bit of benefit from his panel plant, the old aircraft hanger, and so every building project we had under contract was examined to see if we could use pre-fabrication in the construction of it. Invariably, it was determined that we could and we would. In the case of the Money Tree, there were no drawings made for panelizing. No engineers looked at it. I was simply told to go to the project and design it myself. A few weeks previous, I was a sheetrocker and now I was a structural engineer? OK.

As the weather changed and became more spring-like, I began to plan for the pre-fabricated panels that were going to be placed on the new Money Tree casino. This meant that I had to climb all over the structural framework of the emerging structure, placing me in a working relationship with ‘ironworkers’, a trade group that I knew little of. I soon knew them all quite well.

A little bit of info about Reno in those days, the 70’s and 80’s; Unlike Los Angeles, you would almost always work with the same tradesmen on each and every job. Within a few years I knew every ironworker, electrician, plumber, ‘tin knocker’ and laborer in town. Worked with them on every project. So you learned very quickly that it made sense to be helpful to one another. We looked out for each other, where in Los Angeles it was exactly the opposite. It was very refreshing!

So there I was, climbing up onto the steel structure and measuring for the panels to be built. And designing the structural attachments as I went. And after a week of measuring, by myself… Mr. Solari didn’t believe in unnecessary labor costs, I was back at the plant and building the panels. By myself.

Some Money Tree memorabilia