Interview with Dorothy Pearce and Linda Whitlock
Pearce, Dorothy; Whitlock, Linda Pearce
2026-04-21
Oral history interview with Dorothy "Dot" Pearce (b. 1938) and Linda Pearce Whitlock (b. 1963), owners of Pearce Hardware on Main Street from 1946 to 2009. Topics include the store as a community gathering place, extending credit after the 1974 flood, the 1988 highway bypass, competition from big-box retail, and the building's reuse as the centennial exhibit hall. Fictional demonstration recording.
- Small business
- Main Street
- Retail trade
- Floods
- Community life
Interview with Harold Vickers
Vickers, Harold
2026-04-14
Oral history interview with Harold Vickers (b. 1941), retired sugar beet farmer, recorded for the Alder Creek Centennial Oral History Project. Topics include the Basin Sugar beet dump, hand-topping harvests, migrant harvest crews, sprinkler irrigation, the 1981 loss of beet contracts, and the cooperative harvest after the 1974 canal breach. Fictional demonstration recording.
- Sugar beet industry
- Agriculture
- Irrigation
- Railroads
- Harvest labor