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As we arrive at the work site of the Boulder
Canyon Project
we must stop at the security check point.
The work site was designated a Federal Reservation.
Anyone violating any of the laws within the work site
would be charged and prosecuted under federal law.
Please read the sign to your left
before attempting to enter the work site.
Thank you, and please drive responsibly.
If you are an employee, then you may have arrived to the work site aboard the
Big Motor Lorry, AKA - Big Bertha.
If you were an
employee of the Boulder Canyon Project,
you would also have to present the following card to enter the worksite:
Six Companies Inc. Employee card
To make purchases at the "company store",
you would have to have the following card:
Six Companies credit card for
use in Boulder City
If you were coming to the
work site on business,
not an employee, you would have to get the following card:
Visitor's Pass - used to travel
in and out of the area controlled
by the Department of the Interior
(All three cards are from the John and Barbara Kizziar Collection, UNLV Special Collections)
How many worker's are buried in the concrete of the dam?
| This long-standing
urban myth is the despair of Hoover Dam tour guides. Someone in every group taking the
tour is sure to ask how many men are buried in the concrete of the gigantic dam. According
to the story, on several occasions during the dam's construction in the 1930's a worker
slipped, fell, and was covered by concrete as it was being poured. Unable to stop the
cascade of concrete before the worker suffocated, supervisors had no choice but to allow
the concrete to continue flowing--covering the worker and sealing him in the dam. This
happened seven times during construction, according to the tale's most popular version. In 1986, Tom King, Director of the University of Nevada Oral History Program, interviewed several men who had labored on the construction of Hoover Dam that told him a number of bodies lie buried in it. "These stories were made somewhat plausible by the authority of the tellers, themselves dam workers, and by our knowledge that building the dam was indeed an extremely hazardous enterprise," according to King, "however, further questioning revealed that none of the storytellers had actually witnessed such a tragedy or knew the identity of any of the victims. This was not surprising: the tellers believed what they were saying, but their stories were folklore--there are no bodies in the dam.""The idea of workers forever entombed in the giant structure that they had helped build was so irresistibly poetic, so deliciously macabre," wrote Joseph Stevens in his award-winning book Hoover Dam: An American Adventure (1988), " that it became the basis for the most enduring legend of Hoover Dam, and article of faith for millions of visitors who down through the years would insist, despite the firm denials of tour guides, Bureau of Reclamation engineers, and historians, that the great arch was not only a dam but a sarcophagus." Actually, the dam was poured in relatively small sections, so about all a fallen worker had to do to get his face clear of the rising concrete was to stand up. Officially, 96 dam workers died of various causes, and 112 persons unofficially, but none were permanently buried in concrete. Myth # 1 - Workers Buried in Hoover Dam Reprinted as Myth #84 by Guy Rocha, former Nevada State Archivist and Dennis Myers, Journalist
|
From the time President Coolidge signed the Boulder Canyon Project Act on 21 December 1928, the construction of Hoover Dam was destined to become one of the greatest man-made endeavors of the modern world. Surpassed only by the likes of such monumental accomplishments as the Pyramids in Egypt and the Colosseum in Rome, it is by today's standards among the greatest achievements known to man.
Here is a small collection of photos
from the Boulder Canyon Project and Boulder City.
This page is currently under construction itself, so please check back again for further
updates and additional information.
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If anyone is interested in touring
the dam, here is a brochure with
some helpful information.
Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee the information to be up to date. But there phone
numbers
that might be helpful. Also, here is the information on the Boulder City - Hoover Dam Museum.
There used to be Hard Hat Tours, but
I can't say for certain if they still do that or not.
Click here for a large diagram of the dam
( 312.34k)
Give us a holler if ya got a question or comment
Click here for the whole story
