By a Dam Site

October 6, 2012

Lake Mead

We are currently in Boulder City, NV, the town was created to house the workers employed to build the Hoover Dam.  The dam was built during the height of the Depression and employed 3500 men per day at a wage of $4 a day.  They worked 8 hours/day, 7 days a week with 2 days off; July 4^th and Christmas.  If they didn’t show up for work on any of those 363 days, they were fired. As you might guess, working conditions were deplorable.  Over 700 documented deaths occurred, many more “undocumented” deaths also occurred.  There was always a line up of replacements, even a strike that stopped work briefly but didn’t change much.

Out of their $4, $1.60 was deducted for housing, transportation, and food.  Amazingly most still managed to get in trouble with the remaining $2.40.  In Boulder City, even today, there is no gambling and no casinos.  But there was booze, and they got drunk frequently.  The Dam made SW Nevada very prosperous during the Depression.

Getting into this place was quite an ordeal today.  Just like at the Arch, you must pass though metal detector screening, and your vehicle is subject to search before crossing the Dam.  I had to drop the tailgate and roll back the bed cover. As most know, they built a by-pass bridge for traffic following Hwy 93.  Completion got accelerated with 9-11, but was in planning since the 60s.  Prior to that, all traffic followed the 2 lane road over the Dam, with major traffic snarls.  Today with the Dam tourists (pun intended) traffic was terrible, we can’t imagine what it was like before the by-pass bridge.  They really need to take a page from Grand Canyon and Zion.  Setup a shuttle only system with a big parking lot on the Nevada side.

 

Our impression of this feat of man was somewhat below expectation.  We aren’t sure why, but as we reflect, it may be the extremely low water level.  The level is 50 feet below design level.  As you see in the pictures, the ideal water level should be at the top of the white area.  The spillway should be under water, but it is high and dry.  The Hoover Dam is only providing electricity during peak use.  Today, on the Nevada side, only 3 of 8 turbines were running.  The tour guide told us water is dropping 10 feet per year.  Another 50 foot drop and they will not be able to generate any electricity here.

Spillway

 An interesting fact is that making electricity is secondary to providing water to the three states served by this impoundment.  At 50 feet low, there is really a critical water supply issue here.  As I’m sure we will appreciate tomorrow, the extravagant use of water by Las Vegas makes this seem ridiculous.

Our second stop was the Nevada State Railroad Museum. Dan can’t seem to pass these up, and this was no exception.  We took a ride on a 1930s restored passenger train down a set of tracks used to bring materials to the Dam during construction.  It was pulled by a 1950s era locomotive obtained from the US Army Ordinance Depot.  It was actually a switch engine powered by a 6 cylinder Fairbanks-Morse engine. 

 

 

Additionally, the Museum had several other unique cars and locomotives both steam and diesel.  The conductors were part of the restoration team.  Dan chatted up oil for that F-M engine, which they have a hard time finding.  The oil companies do not seem to understand that these 60+ year old engines continue to live on.

Tomorrow’s plan is to go up to Las Vegas for the day.