1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much 3 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: for tuning in. This is part two of the Hoover Damn. 4 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 2: Damn, Damn, Damn. I wish I was your love? Remember 5 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 2: that song Sophie? Was that Sophie B. Hawkins? Jam? I 6 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 2: think it is? It is. 7 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 3: She's in an episode of Community. 8 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 4: Uh huh, she's just good, that's right. 9 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 2: M h. 10 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 3: It's the gas leak season though, so that's why none 11 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 3: of us were remembering it fair enough. 12 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: Speaking, remember it, I forgot the shout out. I'm the 13 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: research associate for this and so, as always, send your 14 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: complaints to our complaint department, Jonathan Strickland at iHeartRadio dot com. 15 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: Let's do the damn thing, all right. The Great Depression 16 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: is a thing. It does happen, it unfolds, and this 17 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: is terrible for the United States. This is also terrible 18 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: for the Western world in general, if we're being honest. 19 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: But it is a silver lining for what we call 20 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: the Hoover dam because hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 21 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: people looking for work, the Great Age of the Hobo, 22 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: they descend on the Las Vegas area because they hear 23 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: the government is hiring and they're going to pay you 24 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: an honest wage. Not enough to become a millionaire or 25 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: a robber baron yourself, but enough to have a place 26 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: to live and make sure you and your family don't starve. 27 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: And of course a lot of them don't get hired. 28 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: When these guys get hired, they are moved out, unmassed 29 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: to a place called Boulder City, intentionally built community six 30 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: miles from the work side of the dam, which we visited. 31 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 2: And that's also definitely in Fallout New Vegas. Right, this 32 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 2: is in Boulder City like a place where you hang out. 33 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 2: I feel like it has to be, even if it 34 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 2: wasn't real. That's such a Fallout thing. It's like Rivet 35 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 2: City in Fallout four or no, sorry, Fallout three. And 36 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 2: then in New Vegas, I swear there was like Boulder City. 37 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 2: There's like there's a there's a sheriff kind of deal. 38 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 2: I'm almost positive, but I could be mistaken. But that's 39 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 2: another thing about that that film that we watched, you know, 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 2: the before very Fallout vibes very like raw, raw America 41 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 2: kind of stuff. But then also fall Out beautifully filters 42 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 2: all of that kind of flag waving sentiment through this 43 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 2: dystopian lens and just make ah, they're so good. I'm 44 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 2: bummed that people say Starfield sucks, but I don't know. 45 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 2: I think you like it, but I have I'm a 46 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 2: little thrown because a couple of these reviewers that I 47 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 2: really did are just really dumping. 48 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:03,399 Speaker 4: Dog it on it. 49 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: It's a it's a matter of expectations and also, uh, 50 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: to a point Max made in a previous episode, it 51 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: is a bethesta game, which means, in my opinion, it 52 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: is a crock pot game. You can eat it right 53 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: when uh right, right when the schedule says it's ready, 54 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: but it gets really good as time goes on. And 55 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: that's you gotta like, Nol, I know you had a 56 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: little bit of candidly put a little bit of fomo 57 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:30,799 Speaker 1: about not being on day. 58 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've never not loved one. 59 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: You're you're You're totally in the cappird seat on it 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: because weight I would say, wait like a year and 61 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: then a lot of the basic fixes will come out, 62 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: which always happens with this. 63 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 2: I'm just heard even the story set up is a 64 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 2: little silly, like it's like like it's like you're a 65 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 2: dirt farmer and then all of a sudden you get 66 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 2: picked up by the spaceship and now all of a 67 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 2: sudden you're an explorer or whatever. 68 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 3: I mean. I'm just gonna say the worst part about it, 69 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 3: and it's that, uh my Microsoft and needs get out 70 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 3: of their own damn way and let it be on 71 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 3: PS five. Question, it's not that's so that's so ridiculous 72 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 3: because it was always said the entire these are long 73 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 3: development cycles, that it's always going to be on PS five. 74 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 3: Now you got me scare that Elder Scroll six is 75 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 3: not going to be in there because I'm not going 76 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 3: to get an Xbox. 77 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 2: I was thinking about it, but then after hearing what 78 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 2: I was hearing, I decided to pull back and just 79 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 2: play more. No Man's Sky, which is also another game 80 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 2: that is finally at like its peak, coming after being 81 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 2: out there for several years without some of the things 82 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,920 Speaker 2: that were promised. But see, speaking of what was promised, now, 83 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 2: we promised you an episode about the Hubert, so not 84 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 2: a commentary on Bethesda. Right. 85 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: So, Boulder City, if you want to go, we recommend 86 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: visiting a restaurant called the Dillinger, which was definitely an 87 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: aesthetic choice, good burgers, cool little antique store next door 88 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 1: that it was awesome and had all kinds of crazy stuff. 89 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: But it's the kind of place that if you look 90 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: closely enough, you'll see some problematic little black face figurines 91 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: and things like that. Like Nevada in California are very 92 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,840 Speaker 1: interesting places because you've got your liberal hubs and then 93 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: you got your like, for lack of a better term, 94 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,840 Speaker 1: more like I guess, redneck y kind of rural communities, 95 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: and there's all kinds of weird shit going on in 96 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: those pockets. 97 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 3: You know, if you guys don't mind if I jump, 98 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 3: and I promise this is my last side. But when 99 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 3: I was in Montana, you know, I was stopping to 100 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 3: get gas. It's like you're driving through Montana. You get 101 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 3: gas when gas is available. Right one to its placed 102 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,600 Speaker 3: in this town called Big Timber, no joke, Big Timber, Montana, 103 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 3: and it was a gas station, Uh you know, a 104 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 3: gift shop, a package store. The package store is mixed 105 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 3: with gas stations and guns. Actually it was fifty percent 106 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 3: guns and it's just like salt rifles sitting right everything. 107 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 3: You guys, You guys know me. How I my relationship 108 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 3: with guns. So I was very uncomfortable walking through that side, 109 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 3: but thankfully I found out the restroom was in the 110 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 3: gift shop park. 111 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 2: Of course, exit through the gift shop exit. Evacuate your bounce. 112 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: That we we've got to stay there too. On a 113 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: side because just just to illustrate the way, uh, these 114 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: cultural differences can hit and we're not judging here. 115 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 2: Uh. 116 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: I think it was surprising for those of us in Vegas. 117 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: It was surprising for all of us. We went to 118 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,599 Speaker 1: this big festival and there were a lot of big 119 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: names there TLC Sheryl Crow, et cetera, et cetera, and 120 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: I think it was Ryan Seacrest the radio host, was 121 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: one of the big MC's and he mentioned the Maderna vaccine, 122 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: which was the manufacturer. Maderna is a partial sponsor that festival. 123 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: And this crowd irupted in booze. They turned and we 124 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: we definitely I think all had a wake up moment there. 125 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 3: Oh one last side. Did you guys know Ryan Seacrest 126 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 3: is the most famous alum of my high school? 127 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 2: Wow? 128 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: We did, yeah about that. He's probably bragging about you 129 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 1: right now. 130 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 3: His football jersey was up in the waylifting is that. 131 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 2: When they like retire it because you're such a big deal. Well, 132 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 2: he's a good looking man and I'm sure it was 133 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 2: a fine football player and his ex talk, but what 134 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 2: does he know about the Hoover Dam? Not as much 135 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 2: as you. When we finally do this episode, it does 136 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 2: appear that way. But much like a lot of like 137 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 2: Los Alamos, you know, for example, sure they tested the 138 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 2: atomic bomb. Some of these long term projects, they these 139 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 2: cities like little you know, build these communities are built 140 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 2: around it to house and feed the workers, and it 141 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 2: does become almost like a barracks type situation. But Boulder 142 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 2: City was very much that thing, you know, and all 143 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 2: of these folks that were hired and took up residence 144 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 2: in Boulder City set to work building this dam. After 145 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 2: the government found this contractor for the what was described 146 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 2: as a sixty story arch style dam. Yes, and the 147 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 2: contract is a ordered in nineteen thirty one March of 148 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty one to six different companies. And then they 149 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 2: actually have a believe a five million dollar performance bond, 150 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 2: which is what like that's like when you say you're 151 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 2: bonded for you know, doing home repairs or whatever. That's 152 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 2: what this is. But this is a bit heavier burden 153 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 2: to the point where that's why all of these firms 154 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 2: had to kind of pool their resources in order to 155 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 2: meet that benchmark for this project. 156 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, they had to. They had to put up 157 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: the money to show that they were serious. Is really 158 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: what this means, and that is a steep amount. You know, 159 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,719 Speaker 1: the first step of construction, after you get through all 160 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: the wheeling and dealing and talk in Turkey, the first 161 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: real step is blasting out those canyon walls. They have 162 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: to make four diversion tunnels for the water. We've been 163 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: describing dams as walls. I'm thinking now perhaps it's more 164 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: accurate to describe a dam something that turns a river 165 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: into a gated community. There are different redundancies you have 166 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: to build in in case the water rises above the 167 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: level of the dam, in case you need to bleed 168 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: off the supply in different ways. So they have to 169 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: build out these diversion tunnels. And the entire time they're 170 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: building this thing, this enormous, audacious, ridiculous structure, they are 171 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: facing very strict, very unsafe deadlines. We're talking stuff OSHA 172 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,319 Speaker 1: would not approve of today. One hundred and forty degree 173 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: tunnels that's how hot they are, carbon monoxide poisoning, which 174 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: definitely got covered up by the way. Eventually this all 175 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: leads the employees to go on strike for more than 176 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: a week in what was it, August nineteen thirty one. 177 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: So it was so bad that these people who had 178 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 1: traveled with no other hope of employment, even they were saying, Okay, 179 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: we're not working until we know we're not going to die, 180 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:04,959 Speaker 1: or at least not. 181 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 4: All of us. 182 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,720 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, And like we said at the top of 183 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 2: the show, in order to to do to mount an 184 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 2: audacious project of this scale, you know, there's gonna be 185 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,679 Speaker 2: some literal human capital involved. And that was one of 186 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 2: the questions that we asked our tour guide whose name 187 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 2: you keep, you give him a great nickname, whover Matt. 188 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 2: We asked, you know, roughly how many how many lives 189 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 2: were lost in the execution of this project, And I 190 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 2: think it was something like only a couple of hundred 191 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 2: on paper, but like probably more like five or six hundred, 192 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 2: because some of them were very suspiciously attributed to natural causes. 193 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 2: But it may have been natural causes brought on by 194 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 2: perhaps the inhalation of some of these this debris and 195 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 2: you know, the gases and whatever. And I know we 196 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 2: heard one story about someone who may have been like, 197 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 2: you know, Edgar Allen Poe style in case alive, you know, 198 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 2: in concrete. 199 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:09,319 Speaker 1: Well yeah, yeah, that's a good tease because we'll get 200 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: to that cask of a Mantilado story. Yeah, but you're right. 201 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: And also, you know, the government is being a bit 202 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: cold here. They're saying, just as we said at the top, 203 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: they're saying, well, you got to break a few eggs, 204 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: and if those eggs are human lives, we better make 205 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 1: sure this is a hell of an omelet. At the end, 206 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: like in their rationale, they could say natural causes, because 207 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: asphyxiation is the natural result of being exposed to too 208 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: much carbon monoxide. Kind of evil stuff. And they so 209 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: they complete two of the tunnels, and they use the 210 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: rock that they have taken out of the canyon to 211 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:55,160 Speaker 1: form a temporary dam, like a placeholder dam, to rechannel 212 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: the path of the river in November nineteen thirty two, 213 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,719 Speaker 1: and then they start clearing out the walls that are 214 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: going to be the containers of the dam, like where 215 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: the dam is anchored. So these guys are one hundred 216 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 1: feet above the canyon floor just suspended for anybody with 217 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: fear of heights cough cough, max picture that feel one 218 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 1: hundred eight. 219 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 2: Hundred, you said at you said, one hundred. 220 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 4: Oh, let's keep it in eight even worse. 221 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean it reminds me of those images 222 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 2: of folks building the skyscrapers in New York, like eating 223 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 2: their lunch pails, like sitting on these crazy beams. You know, 224 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 2: I mean like these are jobs that require bravery, you know, 225 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 2: absolute ability, you know, courage under fire, under under pressure, 226 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,199 Speaker 2: and also you know, that's the kind of stuff that 227 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 2: can often be taken advantage of. And I believe there 228 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 2: were a few strikes that took place, you know, when 229 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 2: the when the powers that be that were in charge 230 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 2: of this project weren't listening to the demands of workers 231 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 2: and were forcing them into very very unsafe circumstances in 232 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 2: order to get this thing done at budget or under 233 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 2: budget and on time. 234 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 3: I will say, the only thing crazier than those photos 235 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 3: of people eating on those beams is the fact that 236 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 3: there were allowed to bring lunch pails up there. 237 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:11,319 Speaker 4: Yes, if that thing falls from that high. 238 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 2: These are heavy, like ten lunch pails. 239 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you guys, it's going to kill us one. 240 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: You guys, you guys are catastrophizing. No, it did happen. 241 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: You're right, You're absolutely right. Lunchbox deaths were a thing 242 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 1: that might be an episode, that might be something we 243 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:29,960 Speaker 1: mentioned skyscraper construction in the past. So in addition to 244 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: be one hundred day hundred feet above the canyon floor, 245 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: these guys were carrying jackhammers that weighed forty four pounds. 246 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 1: They were carrying metal poles to knock stuff loose, and 247 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,719 Speaker 1: there were a lot of falling workers who died. There 248 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: was a lot of equipment that fell on people who 249 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: later tally lunch pails potentially lunch pails, excuse me, and 250 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: also a lot of rocks that fell and killed people. 251 00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,720 Speaker 4: And meanwhile, as they. 252 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: Built Coffer Dam and they're building up the actual facts dam, 253 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: shout out to our power lare and vocal bomb. The 254 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: riverbed is dried on one side and this allows them 255 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: to start building the power plant and the four intake 256 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 1: towers and the rest of the permanent dam. They mix 257 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: cement on site. They hoisted across the canyon on these 258 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: twenty ton cable ways, and they give I think when 259 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: they're all rolling and they're firing on all pistons, so 260 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: to speak. A fresh bucket of concrete reaches the crews 261 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: every seventy eight seconds and they have to they have 262 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: to fight the heat now because concrete is putting off 263 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: heat as it cools, and it will take decades and 264 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: decades for this concrete to completely cure. 265 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 2: That part was super interesting to me in our Hoover 266 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 2: Dam tour. What they had to do to exactly to 267 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,600 Speaker 2: mitigate like you know, the just raw heat of the sun, 268 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 2: you know, beating down on this concrete as it dried, 269 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 2: because it's putting out all this energy and they had 270 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 2: to I think, yeah, like you said, like pump water 271 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:08,400 Speaker 2: through it. 272 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,400 Speaker 4: That was just specifically to keep it cool. 273 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, And that was that was a whole other Yeah, 274 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 2: that was a whole other thing to solve a problem 275 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 2: that had nothing to do with like you know, ultimately 276 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 2: the endgame of the project. 277 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 4: You know, luck, it's genius who came up with that, 278 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 4: who figured that out? 279 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 2: Like I mean, you know, I know that a lot 280 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 2: of this stuff is just based on mathematics and and 281 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 2: you know, calculations that have been around for a long time, 282 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 2: and we know vast structures were you know, built much 283 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 2: further back in history than this. 284 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 4: But I still feel like this is very, very impressive. 285 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 2: Again, not making excuses for how the human capital element 286 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,479 Speaker 2: in this, you know, panned out. Not great, but ultimately 287 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 2: not awful considering what the project was, the scope of it, 288 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 2: and you know, ultimately the fact that it has stood 289 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 2: the test of time, you know, to this day. 290 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, and they were and also to the point about 291 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: genius and invention, sure, yes, they were using established techniques 292 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: from other projects, other engineering marvels. However, I would argue 293 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: that the scale becomes a kind of genius all its own. 294 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:23,000 Speaker 1: That's that pipe system that we're talking about, fellow ridiculous historians. 295 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: That's six hundred miles of pipe just to circulate water 296 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: through the concrete blocks. 297 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 2: And this is a temporary thing. And this isn't like 298 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 2: even necessary once the thing has cured. 299 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 4: Right, They built a circulatory system, is what they did 300 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 4: for the day on. 301 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: It's crazy. It becomes like a living thing. And yeah, 302 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: and there's so there's an architect named Gordon Kaufman who 303 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,080 Speaker 1: has made a lot of the visual renderings. Of course, 304 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: Gordon is not going to be laying concrete himself, but 305 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: he says, yeah, let's emphasize how ridiculously big this thing is. 306 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: So all his renderings kind of showcase the mass of 307 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: the structure. And that's why you can see that whole 308 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: curved face of the dam and there's not a decoration 309 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: on it. It's just block after a cyclopean block of concrete. 310 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: And the power plant has horizontal aluminum thins for windows, 311 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: which is very you know, futuristic at the time, very 312 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: space age, though they wouldn't have used the word. And 313 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:30,199 Speaker 1: there there is one thing we have to note. Then 314 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: you'll see it anytime you take a tour. 315 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:32,440 Speaker 2: Uh. 316 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:36,679 Speaker 1: The interior has some esthetic touches that are meant to 317 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: pay homage to Native American cultures. I say homage, is 318 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: that like oh. 319 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:45,320 Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, I would home. 320 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 4: No one would ever say anything other than homage. 321 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 2: In my opinion, I've never heard anybody if someone said homage, 322 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 2: I would I would look at them Sideways'd be like 323 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:58,160 Speaker 2: saying vague instead of exactly, or like a salve instead 324 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 2: of salv Oh. Yeah, I think I think I can 325 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 2: go either way too. But I have been been mocked 326 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 2: for saying south. But I believe again Hoover Matt when 327 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,000 Speaker 2: he was giving us a tour of the power plant. 328 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 2: There were two specifically mentioned, a Native American kind of 329 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:18,359 Speaker 2: like tile pieces on the floor that that were, you know, 330 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 2: very much a nod to to the you know, the 331 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,920 Speaker 2: indigenous people of this part of the country, and also 332 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 2: I believe we're kind of a nod to the grandiosity of. 333 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 4: The project as well. 334 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 2: I can't quite remember what was depicted, but there were 335 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,440 Speaker 2: two big mosaic floor tile pieces right around those. 336 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 4: They're not reactors, those turbines. 337 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:39,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, power. 338 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, you're absolutely right, And there's a little bit of 339 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: a I mean not a little bit. I think there's 340 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: quite a bit of irony or paradox to those homages 341 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: because the you know, these designs are put in place 342 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: almost like lip service, while at the same time the 343 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:05,479 Speaker 1: federal government is taking traditional sources of water from indigenous communities. 344 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: It's like, I don't know, it's sticky, it's a sticky wicket. 345 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,399 Speaker 1: But yeah, to your point, Noel, they were adaptations of 346 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: pima ocamma and members patterns, motifs from pottery baskets and 347 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: sand paintings from people traditionally living in the Colorado Watershed 348 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: and Now what we see is the formation of another lake. 349 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:38,400 Speaker 1: It is like the younger, less evil brother of the 350 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:44,399 Speaker 1: Salt and Sea, Lake Mead. Lake Mead is starting to form. 351 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: And by the time and the vital block of concrete 352 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: is laid in nineteen thirty five. Now the dam is 353 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: seven hundred and twenty six feet above the canyon. September thirtieth, 354 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: twenty thousand people get together. There's another guy who's president. 355 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 1: His name Franklin Roosevelt. They're commemorating the completion of the dam. 356 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: We're talking five million barrels of cement, forty five million 357 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: pounds of steel, rebar reinforcement steel. Excuse me. And at 358 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: this point this thing has six point six million tons 359 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: of concrete. It is the tallest dam in the world. 360 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: If you took yeah, if you took the same amount 361 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,640 Speaker 1: of concrete, you could pave a road from San Francisco 362 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:29,360 Speaker 1: all the way to the Big app. 363 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 2: It's incredible. And I guess, I mean, you know, just 364 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:41,159 Speaker 2: this is the the reveal of it. Driving up, not 365 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,639 Speaker 2: to mention, once you get up on that observation deck. 366 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 2: I mean, it's like the world's largest, most insane skateboard. 367 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,919 Speaker 2: You know, you know, but just like the arch of 368 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 2: it all, and just like the way it's drilled into 369 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 2: the rocks, the surrounding rocks. It almost it's it's like, 370 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 2: I think, what I really like about David lynch movies, 371 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 2: you know, where it's this pairing of sort of the 372 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 2: natural world with this industrial stuff. And I think Lynch 373 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 2: isn't always even doing that as like a negative commentary 374 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 2: on industrialization. I think he genuinely finds that hybrid kind 375 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 2: of form to be beautiful. And I think it can be, 376 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 2: you know, not only because of what it represents in 377 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 2: terms of, like, you know, the ability to harness this 378 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 2: stuff and the whole very grand notion of playing god, 379 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 2: but it looks cool and it does have these brutalists 380 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 2: kind of touches, you know, with the curves of it 381 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 2: all and the way it was designed. Yeah, it's crazy. 382 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 2: The Hoover Dam will leave you wordless when you see 383 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 2: it for the first time. 384 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 4: I think that's fair to say. 385 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: Even just that massive love crafty andesque bridge spanning the 386 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: canyon directly after the damn, even that just boggles the 387 00:21:55,920 --> 00:22:00,639 Speaker 1: mind and leaves us in articulate. Right now, the Hoover 388 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,959 Speaker 1: Dam saved the Southwest The Hoover Dam is the reason 389 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: cities like La Las Vegas and Phoenix are as big 390 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: as they are. It irrigates two million acres. Those turbines 391 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: you mentioned, no, there's seventeen of them. They generate just 392 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: those seventeen enough electricity to power one point three million 393 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: individual homes. It is one of America's seven modern civil 394 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: engineering wonders. As of nineteen ninety four, seven million people 395 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: visit it annually. Lake Mead is the world's largest wait 396 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: for it, reservoir, and ten million people visit there just 397 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: to hang out every year. 398 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's say, you know, water sports and really right, right, family, 399 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,159 Speaker 2: as the video shows you, it sure does. Yeah that 400 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 2: was part of the pitch too, right, like really the 401 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 2: whole like, yeah, it's all this stuff living and harmony, 402 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,399 Speaker 2: you know, with nature. I think it's super cool. I 403 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 2: think my first awareness of the Hoover Dam outside of 404 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 2: like maybe a very early civics class, like an elementary school, 405 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 2: was in the movie Beavis and butt Head Do America, 406 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 2: where they go and visit the Hoover Dam. And of 407 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 2: course I think Beavis goes, is it a goddamn right, 408 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 2: you know? And I couldn't not think about that, But 409 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 2: it makes sense that they featured it because if you're 410 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 2: in that part of the world, Vegas, Los Angeles, this 411 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 2: is part of kind of southern California and that you know, 412 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 2: that stretch, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. 413 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,879 Speaker 2: This thing exists and allows all of these other things 414 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 2: to exist. And it's all because someone kind of did 415 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 2: the low tech version of this, screwed the pooch, and 416 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 2: then we've had to figure out how to do it 417 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,879 Speaker 2: right and make it last long term. And yes, labor 418 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,639 Speaker 2: laws were a real issue back in these days, and 419 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 2: it was certainly was capitalizing on people's desperation, you know 420 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,679 Speaker 2: who needed work. But then it did lead to I 421 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 2: think what you could argue were some more equitable situations 422 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 2: under you know, the New Deal type programs, which also 423 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,719 Speaker 2: created like our highway systems and you know a lot 424 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 2: of the things that we still you know, depend on 425 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 2: and rely upon today. And they created a lot of jobs. Yeah, 426 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,200 Speaker 2: and some people today would call socialist, which I think 427 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 2: is hilarious and absurd. 428 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,399 Speaker 1: Well, it did save the country, regardless of people's flavor 429 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,120 Speaker 1: of ideology. That fact is inescapable without the New Deal, 430 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 1: without those huge public works the United States would not exist. 431 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: And you know, some people don't like that, but some 432 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: people might not like gravity. It does not make gravity untrue. 433 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,680 Speaker 1: We know we've been going long. Thanks for the smirk there, Max. 434 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 2: We know we've been going long. 435 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: This may or may not end up being a two 436 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,400 Speaker 1: parter once we get to the edit. There is one tangent. 437 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: We wanted to end on the myths about the Hoover Dam, 438 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:02,959 Speaker 1: which Noli so beautifully set up earlier in our exploration. 439 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: All right, Yes, just like Lake Linear here in the 440 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 1: Atlanta metro area, there was a town on the site 441 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: of what is now Lake Mead, The city of Saint Thomas, 442 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: Nevada was Nevada was flooded when Lake Mead was filled 443 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,920 Speaker 1: and because of severe drought. You can see the ruins 444 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: of the town again. It was a Mormon or LDS 445 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: settlement on the Arrowhead Trail between Salt Lake City and 446 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:31,680 Speaker 1: la The residents were forced out by the government during 447 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: an imminent domain pool in nineteen thirty five. But the 448 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 1: big question you're probably wondering, the big myth that we're 449 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: gonna bust with the help from our pals, superhero Hoover. 450 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: Matt the historian Hoover. Hoover, Matt's fine. All sorts of people, 451 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: as you mentioned, have claimed Hoover Dam is secretly a graveyard. 452 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: The idea is that construction was so phrenetic and hurried 453 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: the safety concerns were thrown out the window. That part 454 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 1: is true, but they'll say that people fell from the heights, 455 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: they got crushed beneath concrete or rocks, and they got ignored. 456 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 1: Authorities gave their family flimsy cover stories about workplace accidents, 457 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: and they said the river took the bodies. So we, 458 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:18,120 Speaker 1: like you said, we quartered this incredibly knowledgeable, incredibly nice 459 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: tour guide that we're calling Hoover Matt. We asked them 460 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,639 Speaker 1: all about this. Matt, if you're listening, thank you, because 461 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,240 Speaker 1: we know that the four of us basically gathered in 462 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,679 Speaker 1: a semi circle around you and sort it kind of 463 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 1: tricked you into doing an unrecorded podcast with us. 464 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,640 Speaker 4: What did Matt tell us about the Hoover Dam. 465 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 2: Well, I believe I alluded to it earlier, and I 466 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 2: hope I didn't spoil it too much, but there, you know, 467 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 2: the whole disparity about the reports of deaths and what 468 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 2: they were attributed to. I think that's something that we 469 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 2: could go into a little deeper here that you know, 470 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:55,959 Speaker 2: I believe you know, what was it, something like one 471 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 2: hundred and fifty two hundred. You know, it seems like 472 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 2: really really great people were killed, you know, in reported 473 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 2: work site accidents out Again, I'm not again not trying 474 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 2: to every life is important, but that's pretty damn good God. 475 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 2: But off the record, I guess or other deaths that 476 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:20,119 Speaker 2: were attributed to things like natural causes, perhaps you know, 477 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,360 Speaker 2: heart attacks, whatever, those things could very well have been 478 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 2: brought on by some of these less than optimal working conditions. 479 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 2: And then I believe you asked directly if there was 480 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 2: any if any like urban myths or urban legends kind 481 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:40,480 Speaker 2: of and he mentioned this kind of cask of a 482 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 2: Mantiado story that we mentioned alluded to earlier. You want 483 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 2: to give us a little bit more of the skinny 484 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 2: on that one. 485 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, So there it turns out that, yes, there are 486 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:56,479 Speaker 1: inevitable fatalities during the construction. Those are almost certainly chalked 487 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 1: up to this, chalked up to the speed of the build. 488 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: But the as far as we can tell, we're pretty 489 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,639 Speaker 1: much retrieved in every case, and experts can point to 490 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,399 Speaker 1: most real causes of death. The biggest sticky one is 491 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:16,000 Speaker 1: again carbon monoxide poisoning, which the government covered up. However, 492 00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: the legend about Hoover Dam is a mass grave, has 493 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: an origin point. And here's how Hoover Matt puts it. 494 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: He says, all right, look, these workers were in dirty, slippery, 495 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 1: dangerous conditions, often at the mercy of the weather, and 496 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 1: sometimes they would take off their boots during certain activities, 497 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,840 Speaker 1: air their feed out. Maybe just try to knock some 498 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: of the debris off those construction boots. One day, the 499 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: story goes and there's a photograph to prove this. Apparently 500 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: a worker's boots dropped from a platform from a great height, 501 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: just like that EMO song to land upside down in 502 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: newly laid concrete. So if you just look at it, 503 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: it looks like a dude was buried face down in 504 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: the concrete. The workers at the time knew no one 505 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,479 Speaker 1: was dead. They thought it was a cool joke, and 506 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: so they left it there a little bit longer. It's 507 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: like cool for morale. But over time this joke without 508 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 1: a context, became treated as fact. And that's why you 509 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 1: hear people say Hoover Dam is like this mass grave, 510 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: a ghoulish testament to the necessity of workers' rights. 511 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:21,960 Speaker 4: That is not true. 512 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: However, there is a mass grave right next to Hoover Dam, 513 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: that one we talked about and Hoover Matt confirmed it. Right, Noel, 514 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: you know I'm thinking about I. 515 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 2: Don't think so. No Lake Mead rights that that it's 516 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 2: it's more of a that is sketchier than the damn itself, 517 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 2: like in terms of bodies. Yeah, that's sorry where the 518 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 2: bodies are buried. 519 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 4: That's right. 520 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, we're and you pointed out, I think in an 521 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: off air conversation a while back, you were like, it's 522 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: you told me. 523 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 4: I think it was doing. 524 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: When I was still doing car stuff, we did something 525 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: on Lake Mead or underwater burials, and I think it 526 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: as you who said, oh, yeah, totally the mob. The 527 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: mob is killing people and putting them in Lake Mead. 528 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: It turns out you you were very correct on that 529 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: one hundred percent. 530 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. And also, you know, if we've seen the movie Casino, 531 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 2: you know they describe the desert surrounding Las Vegas as 532 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 2: being full of holes. 533 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 4: So yeah, that's another part of it. 534 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 2: But yeah, man, this is I don't know who knew 535 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 2: that this would be as interesting a topic as I mean, 536 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 2: maybe I hope, I hope. I'm not speaking for our 537 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 2: listeners and saying that I hope you found it interesting, 538 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 2: but I know the three of us did, and it was, 539 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 2: you know, an excellent thing to visit and also really 540 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 2: really pretty pretty epic to talk about. 541 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: And Max, you've got to go with us next time, 542 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: you know, it is a great ambition of ours to 543 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,600 Speaker 1: have the three of us get back on the road. 544 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: So who knows, folks, maybe maybe in twenty twenty four 545 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 1: we will be seeing you in person. Hope springs like 546 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:02,160 Speaker 1: the Colorado River eternal. So thank you, as always for 547 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: tuning in. Big big thanks to our super producer, mister 548 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: Max big Sky Williams. Big big thanks of course to 549 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, ak the Quist, who else who else? 550 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 2: Who will oh geez, Alex Williams who composed our theme, 551 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 2: Christoph Frasciotis and Eves Chef Coats here in spirit. Yeah, 552 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,680 Speaker 2: all the hits I think I think they've had about 553 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 2: covers us Edgar Jay, Edgar Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Edgar Allan Poe, 554 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 2: Woodrow Wilson kissed our collective grits. Yeah, yeah, EAP. That's 555 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 2: how we're for Edgar Allan Poe FDR shout out follow 556 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 2: the House of Usher, by the way, I know we're 557 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 2: past spooky season, but I. 558 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:44,720 Speaker 4: Just enjoyed the hell out of that. 559 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 2: I think it's the best thing that Mike flan again 560 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 2: has done, and it's a really cool reimagining of a 561 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 2: lot of that Poe lore. And highly recommend it if 562 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 2: anyone is looking for a little bit of a spook fest. 563 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 2: You know I always have your back on that. 564 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: No, I believe it is always Halloween in America and 565 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: in our hearts. 566 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:04,760 Speaker 4: We'll see you next time, folks. 567 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,640 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 568 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.