Hoover Dam

Making Connections, Revealing Relationships

Kids at dam Some of our most deeply satisfying work over the past decade has involved digging around in the memory banks of human history. So what makes the difference between the deadly dull stuff we remember from school, and the living, breathing thing that can cause us to lose ourselves eagerly in a different time and place?

The key lies in telling stories — in creative, memorable ways that invite participation, provoke attention and curiosity, and make connections to the core ideas, values, interests, and feelings of the visitors’ own lives. Working under contract with a Portland-based exhibit company, we’ve told stories for a variety of regional and national projects. Here's a glimpse of one of them.

We Built Hoover Dam

That great 60-story wedge in the Colorado River is made not just of steel and concrete, but of muscle, sweat, fear, and pride. The museum tells the human story of building the dam many still call a miracle.

As exhibit planner and writer, Cyrano principal George Taylor drew upon a large collection of period photographs, artifacts, oral histories, and sounds to recreate a sense of the complexity, danger, and immense scale of the construction project, as well as a picture of ordinary life in an extraordinary time and place.

The museum’s three-dimensional, interactive displays and exhibits describe the great social and economic forces surrounding the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression that drove thousands of unemployed citizens from their homes into the isolation of the Nevada desert, one of the few places in the United States where men could find work.

Welcome to Hard Times

“We in America are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us.” —Herbert Hoover, campaign speech, August, 1928

On October 29, 1929—Black Tuesday—the stock market crashed, plunging the United States into the Great Depression. By the end of the 1930s, nine million Americans had lost their life savings. Many more lost their jobs, and then their homes.

“There is something about too much prosperity that ruins the fiber of the people.” —Dwight Morrow, running for the Senate in 1930

“The whole country is with Roosevelt, just so he does something. If he burned down the capitol, we would cheer and say ‘well, we at least got a fire started anyhow.’” —Will Rogers

Return to top

Eden in the Midst of Hell
The government wanted Boulder City to be a model family town, where desert heat wouldn’t sap worker health and morale. Gambling, liquor, and other vices were prohibited inside the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation. Government rangers made sure those laws were enforced.

“There is a strong feeling that liquor and dynamite as well as liquor and the Nevada desert climate are mixtures likely to prove fatal to both health and the dam construction project itself.” —The New York Times, July 1931

DANGER! MEN AT WORK
High scalers Employment hit its peak on July 20, 1934, when 5,251 men were at work on the dam, spillways, and towers—or building Boulder City.

“The problem was to set up the right sequence of jobs so the workers wouldn’t kill each other off.” —Frank Crowe, manager of the project

The high scalers had the most glamorous job, hanging hundreds of feet up in a swing-like bosun’s chairs. Leaning back over the void, they pried off slabs of rock, or used 44-pound jackhammers to drill blasting holes. At $5.60 per day, they made more than most other workers. But then, as one man put it, “A fellow got to risk his life to make that money.”

Some high scalers tried to see how far out from the canyon wall they could swing, like trapeze artists. Others saw high scaling as “no worse than anything else. At least you were sitting down.”

Who’s Buried in Hoover Dam?
Despite the stories, no worker was buried alive in the concrete. Each 8-yard bucket raised the level only about 2 feet, not deep enough to bury a worker. But there were some hair-raising accidents. In one case, 100 tons of wet concrete slid like a lava flow down the central slot of the dam, sweeping a worker to his death.

Return to top

C Y R A N O Writing and editorial services for business, nonprofits, and government	cyrano@europa.com
	Home Portfolio Who we are What we do Contact Previous \| Next
Making Connections, Revealing Relationships Some of our most deeply satisfying work over the past decade has involved digging around in the memory banks of human history. So what makes the difference between the deadly dull stuff we remember from school, and the living, breathing thing that can cause us to lose ourselves eagerly in a different time and place? The key lies in telling stories — in creative, memorable ways that invite participation, provoke attention and curiosity, and make connections to the core ideas, values, interests, and feelings of the visitors’ own lives. Working under contract with a Portland-based exhibit company, we’ve told stories for a variety of regional and national projects. Here's a glimpse of one of them. We Built Hoover Dam That great 60-story wedge in the Colorado River is made not just of steel and concrete, but of muscle, sweat, fear, and pride. The museum tells the human story of building the dam many still call a miracle. As exhibit planner and writer, Cyrano principal George Taylor drew upon a large collection of period photographs, artifacts, oral histories, and sounds to recreate a sense of the complexity, danger, and immense scale of the construction project, as well as a picture of ordinary life in an extraordinary time and place. The museum’s three-dimensional, interactive displays and exhibits describe the great social and economic forces surrounding the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression that drove thousands of unemployed citizens from their homes into the isolation of the Nevada desert, one of the few places in the United States where men could find work. Welcome to Hard Times “We in America are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us.” —Herbert Hoover, campaign speech, August, 1928 On October 29, 1929—Black Tuesday—the stock market crashed, plunging the United States into the Great Depression. By the end of the 1930s, nine million Americans had lost their life savings. Many more lost their jobs, and then their homes. “There is something about too much prosperity that ruins the fiber of the people.” —Dwight Morrow, running for the Senate in 1930 “The whole country is with Roosevelt, just so he does something. If he burned down the capitol, we would cheer and say ‘well, we at least got a fire started anyhow.’” —Will Rogers Return to top Eden in the Midst of Hell The government wanted Boulder City to be a model family town, where desert heat wouldn’t sap worker health and morale. Gambling, liquor, and other vices were prohibited inside the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation. Government rangers made sure those laws were enforced. “There is a strong feeling that liquor and dynamite as well as liquor and the Nevada desert climate are mixtures likely to prove fatal to both health and the dam construction project itself.” —The New York Times, July 1931 DANGER! MEN AT WORK Employment hit its peak on July 20, 1934, when 5,251 men were at work on the dam, spillways, and towers—or building Boulder City. “The problem was to set up the right sequence of jobs so the workers wouldn’t kill each other off.” —Frank Crowe, manager of the project The high scalers had the most glamorous job, hanging hundreds of feet up in a swing-like bosun’s chairs. Leaning back over the void, they pried off slabs of rock, or used 44-pound jackhammers to drill blasting holes. At $5.60 per day, they made more than most other workers. But then, as one man put it, “A fellow got to risk his life to make that money.” Some high scalers tried to see how far out from the canyon wall they could swing, like trapeze artists. Others saw high scaling as “no worse than anything else. At least you were sitting down.” Who’s Buried in Hoover Dam? Despite the stories, no worker was buried alive in the concrete. Each 8-yard bucket raised the level only about 2 feet, not deep enough to bury a worker. But there were some hair-raising accidents. In one case, 100 tons of wet concrete slid like a lava flow down the central slot of the dam, sweeping a worker to his death. Return to top
CYRANO Communications	cyrano@europa.com