1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. It rises over the 5 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,599 Speaker 1: Colorado River, a concrete protector for the areas below. It 6 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: irrigates more than one point five million acres of land 7 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: in the United States and Mexico, where much of our 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: fruit and cotton are grown, and it supplies water and 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: hydro electric power to Nevada, Arizona, and California without fail. 10 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: The Hoover Dam is truly a wonder of the modern world. 11 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: Built in ninety three, it took one thousand men, five years, 12 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: and four point four million cubic yards of concrete to 13 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: finish it, and like all great structures, it started out 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: as little more than an idea. As families began moving 15 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: out west in the late eighteen hundreds, they found themselves 16 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: at the mercy of all sorts of things, including the 17 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 1: local wildlife, harsh weather conditions, and the most dangerous natural 18 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: phenomenon of all, the Colorado River. People living in the 19 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: lower River Valley often lost their homes and sometimes even 20 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: their lives during the time is when the Colorado flooded, 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: so in a group of surveyors decided to do something 22 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: about it. They saw what could be possible if a 23 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: dam was built in just the right spot on the river, 24 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: and what it could do for the neighboring territories. No 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: more devastating floods. Instead, they could provide electric power for 26 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: thousands and a feather in America's cap as an agricultural innovator. 27 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: They considered blasting the walls of nearby Boulder Canyon, collapsing 28 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: it into a sort of natural dam, but the met 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: it was untested and there were no guarantees that would 30 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: save money in the long run. Instead, on December twenty nineteen, 31 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: five days before Christmas, the surveyors set out to find 32 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: the perfect spot to build their damn from scratch. It 33 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: was during this hunt when the Colorado River experienced a 34 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,919 Speaker 1: flash flood. No one saw it coming, especially not John 35 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: Gregory Tierney, who was caught in the rush and washed 36 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,959 Speaker 1: away in the river. Though his remains were never found, 37 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: John was presumed to be dead. He became the first 38 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: of almost one casualties of the Hoover Dam, both before 39 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: and during its construction. John left behind a son, Patrick 40 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: William Tierney, who learned to get by without his father 41 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: there to guide him. Before the damn's completion, however, Patrick 42 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: experienced the second worst thing to happen to his family 43 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: since his father is untimely death, the Great Depression. Everyone 44 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: was out of work, and without his father there to 45 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: help make ends meet, it was up to Patrick to 46 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: support the rest of the family. He sought work wherever 47 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: he could. Unfortunately, Patrick had no notable skills and jobs 48 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,679 Speaker 1: were hard to come by. Then one day he came 49 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: across an open position as an electrician's helper on a 50 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: major construction project out west. You can probably guess what 51 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: that project was too. That's right, the Hoover Dam. The 52 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: wild endeavor his father never got to see get off 53 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: the ground was now his Patrick worked on the enormous 54 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: intake towers, responsible for moving water throughout the dam for 55 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: irrigation and hydro electric power. It was a good job 56 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: and he earned a lot of money doing it. But 57 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: then the unthinkable happened. In nineteen thirty five, three months 58 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: after President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the dam in front of 59 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: the American public, a freak accident sent Patrick falling off 60 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: one of the intake towers on the Arizona side of 61 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: the dam. He pomittedt to his death below. Patrick was 62 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: officially listed as the final casualty of the Hoover Damn's construction. 63 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: The date of his death December, exactly fourteen years to 64 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: the day his father, the very first casualty, was swept 65 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,799 Speaker 1: away by the Colorado River. It was a tragedy, for sure, 66 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: but you know what they say, like father, like son. 67 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: Long before we were shaking polaroids and our phones became 68 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: our primary camera, we looked at photography through a different lens. 69 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: It required large, specialized equipment to shoot photos. The process 70 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: was slow, expensive, and the results were hit or miss. 71 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: In short, it needed time to develop. In eighteen twenty four, 72 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:07,600 Speaker 1: a process known as heliography allowed Joseph Nissa for Naps 73 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: to take the first photograph. He would expose a plate 74 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: of glass coated with a type of naturally occurring asphalt 75 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: to the light in order for the asphalt to harden. 76 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: After washing the plate with oil of lavender, the hardened 77 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: areas stayed behind while the rest fell away, leaving Nieps 78 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: with what we know today as a photograph. But the 79 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: process was long and cumbersome. Exposure times took days, and 80 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: the only subjects that would sit still long enough to 81 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: have their pictures taken for trees. As the years went on, 82 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: scientists worked to refine those early techniques. New materials such 83 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: as silver I had died and mercury vapors were introduced, 84 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: and exposure time shrunk from days two hours, and then 85 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:56,239 Speaker 1: two minutes. In eighteen forty one, almost twenty years after 86 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: heliography's debut, one physicist realized that if he swapped silver 87 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: I had died for silver bromide, he could shrink exposure 88 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: times even more. What once took minutes now took seconds 89 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: and made portraits of real life human beings possible. Add 90 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: in the introduction of paper in eighty seven, and we 91 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: start to get the picture of what would come to 92 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: be recognized as modern photography. But before we started winding 93 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: rolls of cellul Lloyd into the backs of our codax, 94 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: amateur photos were still being taken on photographic plates, rectangular 95 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: sheets of glass coated in light sensitive silver salts. Once used, 96 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: these plates were taken to specialty shops where they were 97 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: developed onto paper. This is what happened to a mother 98 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: in Germany in nineteen fourteen. Like any camera toting parent 99 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: of a young child, she wanted to preserve a moment 100 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 1: in time of her little boy. She propped him up 101 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,679 Speaker 1: in his adorable white outfit and snapped a photo, burning 102 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: the image into the glass plates ready to be developed. 103 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: A Fortunately, the only thing developing in Germany in nineteen 104 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: fourteen was War World War One, to be precise. The 105 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: woman took the plate to a store in Strasburg, hoping 106 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: she'd have the image back in time, but it was 107 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: too late. War had broken out and the town grew 108 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: too dangerous for her and her family to live in. 109 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: The mother fled to Frankfort just after dropping off the 110 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: plate to be developed. The photo of her bouncing baby 111 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: boy stayed behind, lost forever. Two years later, the woman, 112 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: safe from the tanks and guns and grenades, gave birth 113 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: to another child, this time a daughter. She wanted to 114 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: commemorate the newest addition to her family with you guessed 115 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: it a photograph. This time would be different. They were 116 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: not at risk of the war finding them again, so 117 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: after a quick stroll to buy a new photographic plate, 118 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: she did the same thing she had done two years 119 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: earlier with her son. She propped her daughter up in 120 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: front of the camera and click. There she was, her 121 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: little girl, immortalized on glass. The woman dropped the plate 122 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: at the nearest shop, and this time she was able 123 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: to stick around long enough to pick up her prince. 124 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: But when she saw the photo, something was wrong. There 125 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: was someone else in the picture. The new plate she'd 126 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: bought hadn't been new at all. It had been mislabeled 127 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: when it was transferred from a shop in Strasburg all 128 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: the way to Frankfurt during the war. Behind the image 129 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: of her beautiful baby girl was another person, a little 130 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: boy dressed in white. Her little boy the photographs she 131 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: had left behind at the beginning of World War One, 132 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: it found its way home, and the mother had somehow 133 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: pulled off the impossible. She managed to get her two 134 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: young children to sit still long enough or a picture together. 135 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 136 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 137 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 138 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 139 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 140 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: called Lore which is a podcast, book series, and television 141 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: show and you can learn all about it over at 142 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: the world of lore dot com. And until next time, 143 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: stay curious.