Item #5475 [Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title]. Carl Martin, compiler?
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].
[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].

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Martin, Carl (compiler?).

[Boulder [Hoover] Dam Photo Album: Surveying and construction.] Photographs [Cover-title].

Southeastern California, Nevada and Arizona, 1928–1938. Oblong 8vo (7.5” x 11.5”) photo album, brown leather over boards. 36 small format photographs (2.5” x 4.25” to 5.5” x 3.25”) and 25 real photo postcards (2.5” x 4.25” to 5.5” x 3.25”) captioned and numbered in the negative, and one half-tone postcard, all mounted on black leaves, 9 additional photos laid in. [with] 1 brochure (18” x 16” folded to 9” x 4”) printed on both sides, with numerous b&w illus. including one 7” x 8” diagram, one 9” x 8” map.

This entertaining photo album documents a team of Los Angeles County surveyors in the deserts and mountains of California, Nevada and Arizona in 1928 and 1929, at least partly in connection with the construction of the historic Boulder (later, Hoover) Dam; also included are real-photo postcards documenting the construction of the dam and the scene thereabouts.

The images included in this album capture the harsh conditions the surveyors endured in the desert and other barren terrain, although they seem to have had a damn good time in spite of it all. Several shots show these sinewy men stripped down to loincloths. Other photos show them driving or posing with jalopy survey vehicles, traversing the terrain, and—in one image dated 14 May ‘29—perching with instruments on the edge of a canyon wall looking down the Colorado River at the dam site. Surveyors are also seen posing at the Survey Datum; holding a dead bobcat in front of a tent, and so on. One vehicle photo is captioned: “L.A. Co. Survey automobile, 1928. CAL, NEV, ARIZ.” Other labels read, “Looking downriver (Colorado)—from P-5 at Dam Site May-14-1929” and “Rough going—Survey Party. So[uth]. end of Death Valley.” An envelope with misc. photos included here bears the name “Mr. Carl Martin”—perhaps the original owner of the album or at least the photos in the envelope. While the compiler’s identity is uncertain, individual surveyors are here identified by captions, including Jack Taylor, Bill Saunders, Neal Scott, Pothoff, Dex, and “me.”

The album’s second half features twenty-five real photo postcards that marvelously document site selection; construction of the Dam, and the completion of the monumental project. Some of the images are credited to “Oakes” and others to Frasher of Pomona, while some are unsigned. The Hoover Dam brochure was produced by the Bureau of Reclamation and printed ca. 1947, after the name change from Boulder to Hoover Dam. The map illustrates the irrigated areas and transmission lines around the Hoover Dam, Davis Dam, Parker Dam, Imperial Dam, Yuma Project, Imperial Valley, and so on—from Los Angles to Las Vegas. A diagram entitled, “How Hoover Dam Works…” illustrates the tunnels, towers, canyon walls, etc. The text consists of the history of construction, etc.

Built during the Depression, the Hoover Dam stands as a testament to the country’s ability to undertake enormous construction projects amid dire conditions both local and national. Thousands of men and their families ventured to Black Canyon to tame the Colorado River, where they dwelled in harsh and barren environs. As David J. Rogers details, Homer Hamlin (1864–1920)—former Los Angeles City Engineer who worked for the Reclamation Service as a consulting engineer—supervised the first surveys of dam sites in Boulder Canyon and Black Canyon between March and April, 1920. Trained as both a civil engineer and geologist, “Hamlin was the first to designate the site in Black Canyon that was eventually chosen for Hoover Dam in 1928.”

REFERENCES: Rogers, J. David. Hoover Dam: Evolution of the Dam’s Design at web.mst.edu; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The Story of Hoover Dam at usbr.gov

CONDITION: Very good, album covers rubbed at extremities.

Item #5475

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