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[Hoover Dam]
Large Group of Photos Documenting Early Days of Construction, 1932
Silver prints (93)
Each 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches
Most dated in pencil verso.
Most dated in pencil verso.
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The 93 photographs in this collection document construction efforts from August to December of 1932, starting just over a year after construction began in April of 1931, and ending shortly...
The 93 photographs in this collection document construction efforts from August to December of 1932, starting just over a year after construction began in April of 1931, and ending shortly after the Colorado river was diverted in November of '32. (One photo is dated 1-31 and one is dated 1-33.)
One major focus of the photos in the collection is on tunnel construction. From the Bureau of Reclamation: “To divert the Colorado River's flow around the Hoover Dam construction site, four 56-foot-diameter tunnels were driven through the walls of Black Canyon, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 feet.”
To create the tunnels, workers drilled holes for explosives into the rock using a “drilling jumbo” constructed on the back of a ten-ton truck, then filling the hole with dynamite (one ton for every 14 feet of tunnel dug), and blasting away. Present in the collection are numerous views of this arduous and difficult endeavor, from Lewis-Hine like shots of laborers burrowing deep into the earth, to landscape views of the newly-pockmarked terrain.
“In November 1932, the tunnels were complete, and a barrier across the inlets of the Arizona tunnels was breached with explosives. Earth and rock were dumped from a trestle bridge to block the river channel, forcing the entire flow of water into the tunnels.” Seen as well are stunning views of these blast operations, which show tremendous plumes of dust rising up into the air.
Also present are Lewis Hine-like shots of workers building temporary suspension bridges over the Colorado, views of the cofferdams and industrial scenes, landscape shots, group portraits of the workers, and a few photos showing an accident involving a Six Companies railroad car.
One major focus of the photos in the collection is on tunnel construction. From the Bureau of Reclamation: “To divert the Colorado River's flow around the Hoover Dam construction site, four 56-foot-diameter tunnels were driven through the walls of Black Canyon, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 feet.”
To create the tunnels, workers drilled holes for explosives into the rock using a “drilling jumbo” constructed on the back of a ten-ton truck, then filling the hole with dynamite (one ton for every 14 feet of tunnel dug), and blasting away. Present in the collection are numerous views of this arduous and difficult endeavor, from Lewis-Hine like shots of laborers burrowing deep into the earth, to landscape views of the newly-pockmarked terrain.
“In November 1932, the tunnels were complete, and a barrier across the inlets of the Arizona tunnels was breached with explosives. Earth and rock were dumped from a trestle bridge to block the river channel, forcing the entire flow of water into the tunnels.” Seen as well are stunning views of these blast operations, which show tremendous plumes of dust rising up into the air.
Also present are Lewis Hine-like shots of workers building temporary suspension bridges over the Colorado, views of the cofferdams and industrial scenes, landscape shots, group portraits of the workers, and a few photos showing an accident involving a Six Companies railroad car.