Well after doing much research on sheldon's site (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html) I have found that I am currently running a Shimano "G" 13-30 7 speed cassette, and that another wheel I have has a Shimano "E" 12-28 which is an 8 speed cassette. The 8 speed is the Mavic A231/XTR combo which is nice and strong. I have the shifter off of the parts bike and so I'll swap to that as soon as I get the wheel trued up. Its only a tad bit out, but it hops. It DOES fit my dropouts tho

Well I have learned much in this discussion thus far. THANK YOU to all who replied!