Vacation, Day 7, First Half of the Day!

Lee and I are one of those couples who like history and read all the signs at museums. Oh, I am sorry, I should have prefaced that with we are one of those couples who GO to museums. So the more you wish to learn about the interesting history of the Dam, the more you can click on the linkys that are provided. There won't be a quiz, I promise.

Here we are at the Hoover Dam! Boulder City, where we stayed, started as a tent city for the men who came to work here in the 1930's. During the Great Depression, men came from all over the country for the good pay they could receive. The best pay was for the "High Scalers", who were paid 75 cents per hour as opposed to the 50 cents other workers received.

They are building a massive by-pass bridge over the canyon.

I personally LOVE historic photos. Times change but people don't and in my humble estimation we don't give enough credit or respect to those who came before us. Over 25 men, women and children died in the first summer of construction just from the heat conditions in "Ragtown". The second man to die on the project was a man named J.G. Tierney and the 95th man to die was his son, Patrick W. Tierney. I can't imagine what the wife and mother of this pair felt. The total lost just in construction was 98 men.

In those days, of course, racism was rampant and only a token 30 black men were hired out of 21,000 men. The same went for the Native Americans, even though they were in abundance in the area.

Here we are 539 below ground by the generators. The floors in here were marble! Certainly something that would not take place today, especially UNDER GROUND.

Lake Mead

There was interesting artwork around, too, though I noticed that most people didn't even walk around to see what it was all about. If you are sight-seeing, don't forget to SEE what is around you.

Class dismissed!