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SRL: He had a very nasty attitude, and there's a lot of errors in
his book, a lot a lot of errors.

CT: And this is?

SL: "This Land Was Ours"
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SRL: He resented, and said it over and over again, he resented
anybody buying the ranch; taking over from the del Valles,
and of course the Del Valles, bless them, they hung on as
long as they could.
They were deeply in debt, and the family ... they all ...
it was a large family, and they all grew up and married and
stayed, they didn't leave, so they kept adding roofs. And
then there was infighting, and unhappiness,.and they
wouldn't speak to each other and they wouldn't even eat
together, and- so it got to the point -where there was no -
return on it.

SL: But that was just_that kind of wishful thinking, that the
myth were [still] true.

SRL: Yeah, and it was wonderful. Essentially, it was not a myth,
it happened, it was just that as the years went by and the
whole agricultural thing sort of fell- apart, and the
Americans came in with their cars and their trucks, and the
ranch was working with wagons and horses, and they didn't
have the ability to adjust.

CT: Everything outgrows its time.

SRL: Yes, and it-was really sad, but -there didn't seem to be any
member of the family to take over, to be a leader.

SL: That's a thing that I have begun to realize ... Was he
overtly criticized or ostracized for buying the ranch?

SRL: No, not at all.

SL: The realists recognized that it had to happen.

SRL: Oh yes. Lots of ... this was happening all over the west.
The land grants were being broken up because they just
couldn't operate with Indian labor (essentially "slave
labor") etc. and the economy was changing so rapidly.

CT: Particularly after World War I; the economy changed
tremendously, and technology changed the world.

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