When I was a little kid in the 50's we lived in Young AZ, where my old man was from. No electricity, lighting by candles or kerosene lamps, the proverbial two-room school, a couple of dirt roads thru town. There was a rambling general store in Young operated by two bachelor brothers, Ray and Glen Hougland. Houglands' store sat on a small rise in the middle of town and had a gravity gas pump out front. I remember one day walking over to Hougland's store with my dad because Glen asked my old man to help him inventory the place. I sat on the counter eating saltine crackers while Glen and my dad heaved stuff around and dug thru years' worth of accumulated odds-and-ends. At one point, I specifically recall my dad tossing back a dusty tarp to reveal an enormous folded pile of brand-new Levis 501's. When he pointed them out to Glen, Glen basically scratched his head and muttered about "wondering where those were." Later, my old man removed the covering from a large wooden barrel and discovered the barrel was full of money! Because Young had no bank, the Houghlands simply kept their cash in a barrel in their store. Glen shrugged, considering the matter completely unremarkable.
Ray and Glen are both long dead, and their store, insofar as I know, has long been closed. I still wonder about that barrel of money, however....
