All language subtitles for BBC Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World 7 of 7. The Hoover Dam

BBC Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World

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The Canyon Lands of
the south western United States.

One of the harshest
environments on earth.

Cutting through them an open wound in
the side of the planet-the Colorado River.

The riding Colorado River has never
been tamed in 12 million years.

lt hasn`t been done... yet.

For Frank Crowe this is the challenge
he has been waiting for.

Fire in the hole.

The plan to build a dam and transform

the desert with water
and electricity for millions.

lt will take four miles of tunnels
blasted through dense volcanic rock.

The Hoover damn with stand larger than
the great pyramids of Egypt.

But its construction
will not come without sacrifice.

This is a brutal environment out here.

Nobody said it was going to be easy.

We`re losing three
men a week right now.

They can`t breath,
we`re being suffocated.

lt all rests of absolute
speed and efficiency.

There`s pushing and there`s pushing.

We are well within our safety margin.

You`re sailing dangerously close.

l can`t afford to slow.

A ruthless genius- Frank Crowe
plays by his own rules

and it will take all his powers
to tame the Colorado.

l`m wild to build that dam.

Frank Crowe is
traveling up the Colorado

to inspect the future site of
the Hoover Dam for the first time.

l`ve spent my 27-year career
at river bottoms.

l guess you might say it`s in my blood.

Working for the America government
is chief engineer Walker Brig-Young.

His brief is to design a dam

that will create cities and
farmland in the arid desert.

This is the most ambitious
government sponsored

engineering project ever
undertaken in the US.

And we er, we scoured
a hundred miles of this river

looking for exactly the right spot.

These men are two of the most
experienced dam builders in the world.

But a dam as high as a mountain

that will create a lake a hundred miles
long has never been attempted.

There is no margin for error.

that the massive body of
the dam will exert on them

and free of tell-tale fault lines which
could indicate a risk of earthquakes.

Crowe has built six dams in his career
but nothing on this scale.

l guess l must have seen it on paper
a hundred times but never up close.

And it`s going to stand right here.

The Lord put this site here and it was
only up to man to discover and use it.

What l`ve got to do is plug the gap,

harness the river`s power and
not get swept away in the process.

The threat from
the Colorado river is terrifying.

Fed by run off from the Sierra Nevada
and the Rocky Mountains,

it has swept away all previous
attempts to tame it.

lt has wiped out entire
settlements and killed thousands.

Many believe that damming

this unpredictable force of nature
is impossible and reckless.

Mr. Crowe, some have speculated
that the weight of the water mass

behind the finished dam could
actually weaken the earth`s crust,

even affect the planet`s orbit.

Well what do you say to those who
insist that it simply cannot be done?

Well it`s just a dam,
but it`s a damn big dam.

March 1931 - the work starts.

To win the bid to build the Hoover dam,

Crowe and the building
contractors have agreed

to a series of punishing
government deadlines

and this in spite of
the complexity of the design.

Now ours is a er, an arch gravity dam.

The arched shape allows
the structure to flex

as it absorbs the tremendous
force of the water

building up behind it and in flexing,

push against the canyon walls to
transfer that load into the sold rock

while the gravity of its
tremendous mass is pushing

against the bed rock of the river bed

and these forces combined
lock the dam in position.

All this is to be built right
in the middle of nowhere.

Before they can even start on the dam they
must first build a route into the canyon.

The government has laid 33 miles
of rail road out from Las Vegas

so now were forging an access route
through these side canyons,

right down to the dam side,
and a hundred feet below.

This will enable me
to move millions of tons

of materials right down
to the river`s edge.

For Crowe, speed is everything.

Over run a deadline and
he`ll incur huge financial penalties.

He will have to work the men
through the night

and for that he will
need electric light.

Lots of it.

June 25th right?
Get power down here by June 25th.

Great.

Getting power out here will be
the single determining factor

in getting construction
underway on a big scale.

Only then can we really
start highballing.

l do not intend to lose a day`s time
anywhere along the line.

This is typical of Frank.

His personal maxim is never
my belly through a desk,

and he doesn`t want to hear about
what`s going on, he wants to see it.

Anything goes wrong well he`s there
to get an eye on it and fix it.

Frank er, well Frank
likes to push hard.

The chief engineer also knows
that Crowe can push too hard.

There are big financial rewards
for getting ahead of schedule.

lt will be Brig Young`s job to ensure that
Crowe doesn`t take dangerous short cuts.

Brig calls me hurry up Crowe,
so l call him the great delayer.

Brig and l go back 20 years
we were there at rock dam.

Er we were both involved
on this project from day one,

l have a lot of respect for the man.

He thinks l`m a little reckless
sometimes but the bottom line is

l want direct access to
the river`s edge one month from now.

lt`s the depths of
the Great Depression.

One in five of the working
population is out of a job.

Men desperate for work are flocked

from all over the country
to apply for the 3000 jobs.

President Hoover is funding
construction of the dam

as part of his new deal
to stimulate the economy.

Everybody`s hungry.

These men have wives, children to feed.

You know depression or not, the
construction of this dam is the best thing

that`s happened in decades,
everybody wants a job.

l`m employed, l`m
one of the lucky ones.

We had 2400 apply for work in person.

Another 1 2,000 in Britain.

l bet guys with PhD`s signed up
for tunneling and then people

who are used to working on
Wall Street are driving trucks.

We`re going to set us over the edge of
the cliff to work 900 feet about the river.

High scaling they call it.

They said it will suit anybody who doesn`t
have the brains enough to be scared.

Well for five dollars and sixty cents
a day John here and l will try anything.

Those fellars can keep their
sixty cents a day danger money, me,

l`m taking the straight five dollars
and working on the main site.

For greater efficiency,

Crowe has workers transported down
to the site in specially built trucks,

each capable of carrying
160 men at a time.

A 24 hour working day
is split into three shifts.

The only holidays are the 4th July,
Labor Day and Christmas Day, all unpaid.

Oh sure we know it`s going to rough out
there, but hey, we`re making money now.

Before Crowe can even begin
construction on the dam

he has a major obstacle to overcome,
the Colorado River itself.

They will have to divert the river
to build on its rock bed,

but the Colorado is flanked
by high canyon walls.

The only option is to drill and
blast four diversion tunnels,

two on each side of the canyon,
as an alternative route for the river.

Tunneling on this scale has
never been undertaken before.

He has just 24 months
to complete four miles of tunnels

if he is to meet
the first government deadline.

For every day we run over schedule,

we risk incurring fines of between
two to three thousand dollars a day.

This is not an option.

Fire in the hole!

Spirits are high as the blast punctures
the first hole in the canyon wall.

Work also begins on preparing
the 900 for sheer canyon cliffs.

For just sixty cents a day extra,
high scalers risk serious injury.

Using jack hammers,
Crowbars and dynamite,

their job is to clear the cliff faces
of loose material and rocky overhangs.

The walls on both sides of the canyons
must be perfectly smooth

if the body of the finished
damn is to get a secure hold.

We`re hanging 900 feet
above the Colorado river,

building one of the greatest projects
ever built in America.

Makes you excited about coming
to work every day- you`re not sure

what`s going to happen.

To protect themselves,
scalers are pioneered

the use of crude hard hats made
from baseball caps dipped in tar.

His skull fractured by a large rock
that struck him.

Jack Sykes, jack hammer man
remained conscious

until he had been brought
from the job this morning.

He died this afternoon.

Just three months in and
Jack Sykes joins three men

who have already been killed on site.

Conditions are no better
when men finish work for the day.

As few can afford rented accommodation,

shanty towns are going up
around the dam site.

The most infamous of these is Rag Town.

They`re telling us that the population
is nearing 1,000 out here.

That`s ungodly.

There`s very little clean water
that we can find,

no sanitation and while
my husband is at the dam

we`re out here with very very
little natural shelter from the sun.

They`re recording temperatures
of 120 degrees in the shade.

They lost three women to the heat
in one day alone last week.

One was 28, three tents down from here.

Well l certainly am concerned by the
conditions folks are facing out there.

These are proposed
plans for boulder city.

Now as an agreed part
of the dam contract,

the construction company
is required to build a town

to provide satisfactory housing
for those working on the dam.

lts construction is well under way

but it`s taking a little longer
than anticipated.

An emergency in one of
the diversion tunnels.

Temperatures inside the dense
volcanic rock have hit 140 degrees.

Workers are almost cooking alive.

We`ve got this thing
called the ice brigade,

so when the heat gets to a fellar, he`ll
rush out and then they pack him in ice.

But even then it`s an hours drive
from the hospital to Vegas.

Might get there dead- the bodies are
all bloated- they`ve been hard-boiled.

ln June and July,
one worker dies every two days.

Workers and their
families are desperate.

Now they may have a voice
for their grievances.

Frank Anderson,

union activist for the industrial workers
of the world known as the wobblies.

Using a false identity to avoid
detection he has infiltrated the site,

many are keen to hear
his arguments for change.

Right gentlemen thank you all
for coming to hear this today-

my name is Frank Anderson,

l work for the l.W.W.
but most of you know me,

l work down there on the dam
with you as well.

l`m a driver.

Anderson has to keep
his activities secret.

Both government and contractors have
outlawed unions on the Hoover dam project.

Unions?

Well certainly if we do hear about union
presidency, it will be swiftly dealt with.

We`re providing the means to work here
for thousands of people-

union agitating suits no one.

lt just stirs up trouble.

The way they`re treating us-
we know it`s not fair

but we need to go to them
with reasonable demands.

What are the things that
we think is most important?

We need, er,
better light shed and ventilation.

Ventilation.

That`s paramount for everybody.

We have lost two friends
down there already.

Clean water. Clean water on the job.

Sanitation.

Er, adequate ventilation.

Clean water,
decent housing and decent sanitation.

O.k.?

Now those four points right there it
will cost the company $2000 a day to pause

and see that those
requirements are met.

O.k.?

but it`s costing you
the lives of friends and family.

And the quality of life

is going to do nothing but decline
if we let them steam roll us like this.

On site work continues around
the clock at a relentless pace.

Crowe`s prime concern is in diverting the
course of the river as fast as possible,

worrying about work
conditions is not his job.

Now the good news is the crews are
making good progress in the tunnels.

Now here`s the main
structure of the dam

that you see from above and
the four diversion tunnels,

two on either side of the dam are
complete, they`ll be 56 feet in diameter.

But that can`t be done,

they can`t be widened
until the guide tunnels are dug first.

But as the men dig these narrow guide
tunnels deeper inside the canyon wall,

conditions are growing
worse by the day.

This is hell- no ventilation down here.

And they`re not getting
enough water down to us either.

See that`s the stuff
we want Mr. Crowe to take care of.

They can`t work without
fresh air and clean water.

l need both!

We don`t know what we`re up against
here, this is an unknown quantity,

the quicker we get this over the safer
it will be for everybody.

A high scaler has fallen
700 feet to his death.

Forced to work around his body,

many workers see it
as final proof of Crowe`s indifference.

Each of us watched him get thrown
of each rocky ledge on the way down.

He`s been lying there
for at least an hour.

When l got here
l was told to just continue working.

lf Crowe had the chance he would
put his mother up on that ledge.

As discontent grows, Anderson and
the Wobblies are gaining more support.

What they`re giving us is not enough
for everybody to live off of.

There`s rumours of a paycut,

where the wobblie`s
want us to go on strike

and dictate to the bosses
but l don`t know.

We need this work.

Frank Crowe is taking
advantage of the depression

and a hungry work force
to establish wage scales

that are just entirely unreasonable.

Alright?

Now it`s a crime to ask men
to work in this ungodly heat

with barely enough to put food in their
bellies and clothes on their backs.

Now it`s up to all of you to do something
about this because no one else will.

We`ve got to get these demands in
and he`s got to meet them.

Let`s strike.

Absolutely.

On August 7th, 1931 ,

1400 men downed tools,
construction is at a standstill.

With plenty of unemployed ready to replace
them, the strikers are risking everything.

Crowe is already 6 months
ahead of schedule

and with big bonuses at stake
he`s determined to keep it that way.

Did you know about this?

l was aware of some discontent Frank

but l think the way to deal
with this is we wait to hear

what the demands are and then...

Responsible for policing the strike
is chief of police, Glenn Bud Odell.

Hey Bud.

Morning gentleman.

Sit down.

Thank you sir.

Odell has a reputation for policing
with a rod of iron.

There`s no way l`m going to compromise.

For every man on site

there`s another dozen in Rag Town
and Vegas lining up for his job.

Well of course they`re not going
to recognize this walk out,

that`s the wrong precedent.

l`m just saying

that l think a lot of the men are
motivated by some genuine concern.

Water supplies,
and ventilation could be better.

And the workers barely
begun on the family housing.

The strikers seem well mannered enough.

Well, l`ve got men in the camps.

And what they�ve telling me
there`s a definite suggestion

that the more radical of these wobblies,
they`ll sabotage equipment if needs be.

Cutting airhoses.

Just one tactic our group suggested.

l want to ensure that every single
striker gets whatever wages he`s owned

and gets the hell off the reservation.

Agreed.

l want this site clear
so l can start re-hiring.

Odell and his marshals weed out their
troublemakers and meet little resistance.

A mixture of intimidation, fear
and an empty stomach forces the men

to accept lower wages in return for water
coolers and completion of family housing.

ln just five days
the strike is crushed.

lt`s unbelievable.

l mean they just ran all the people,

everyone off the reservation,
l mean even out of Rag Town.

The company has no
regard for the people

that are working for them
and unfortunately try

as they might there`s nothing
that we can do about it now.

Well the union is labeled us

and the management dictators
and a few other things.

But as Mr Young rightly said,
if we don`t take a stand,

this dam might be ten years being built
and cost twice as much to finish.

l`m not going to let that happen.

lf you do your job, you obey the law,
you don`t have a problem with us,

we don`t have a problem with you.

l think everybody`s
going to be just fine.

With the union expelled,
Crowe presses on, unhindered.

Get them out of here. Do not come back.

lf conditions in
the tunnels were bad before,

they are about to
get a whole lot worse.

lt`s October 1931 , down at the river`s
edge Crowe throws every machine

he has into widening
the four diversion tunnels.

So far the Colorado
river has been docile.

But winter is fast approaching.

l can`t afford to slow.

lt`s the 24 month deadline to consider
but there`s also the mood of the river.

The longer we take the more

we risk getting hit by floods caused
by rain and snow melt.

One serious flood could wipe
us out for months.

To speed up the operation
Crowe commissions

a fleet of customized trucks
christened Drill Jumbos.

Each has a 50 man crew who can
excavate ten times faster than before.

Up to 45 feet per day.

At the peak of the excavations, 1500 men
are working the tunnels day and night.

Everywhere men move fast.

Throwing the power of muscle
into everything they day.

There is no gaiety about the scene.

By now the sheer nervous desire
and ruthless hiring and firing policy

of the contracting organization leaves
only the supremely efficient on the job.

With so much heavy machinery
inside the tunnels,

heat exhaustion has been replaced
by a more insidious enemy.

See there`s a hell of a lot of
exhaust fumes down here

from all the trucks being used.

And that exhaust jus hangs in the air
so you`re sucking it into your lungs.

lt gets really bad down here, it`s like
trying to breath through wet cotton.

You can`t breath, you`re suffocating.

l came to work down here one night
and there was 17 men with me,

and the next morning
there was just me and three others.

All the rest had put down sick.

Workers are threatening to sue
over carbon monoxide poisoning.

Crowe meets with
the other company directors

and lawyers to consider their position.

The symptoms are so close
together they can`t,

they don`t have any requests,
no, no absolutely.

ln five minutes,

just your basic respiratory problems
can be nothing that we did,

nothing that we have any liability for.

Absolutely right.

And we`re sure of that?

Absolutely.

As long as we stick
to it we`ll be fine.

No we won`t be honoring
any of these claims.

They are regrettable
but completely satisfied

that those inflicted show all
the classic symptoms of pneumonia

and our doctors will attest to this.

Obviously the company`s
diagnosis of pneumonia,

if they admit it`s gas

they will be obligated
to compensate all of the families.

There`s no proof

that these cases are in any way
related to carbon monoxide poisoning.

l can`t say many of us are surprised.

They`re supposed to provide us
with housing and we`re still here.

With legal action pending and broken
promises over re-housing of workers,

Brig-Young decides
he has to confront Crowe.

l`ve got to push you for
completion of boulder city Frank.

We have to get workers with families
into permanent clean accommodation.

Their welfare`s your
responsibility Frank

and the completion of Boulder
was a strike concession remember?

Crowe pushes ahead with
the completion of family housing

with typical determination.

He orders carpenters to erect
three houses every two days.

lf they fail they will be fired.

Spring, 1932.

With winter snow melts running off

the Rocky Mountains
hundreds of miles up stream,

Crowe`s worst fears are realized.

Dug so close to river level, the tunnels
were always at risk from flooding.

Gate station up river warned us
that the river levels are rising,

we need to get out of here
or we`re going to get flooded.

Come let`s move, go.

Millions of gallons of water
rip through the dam site.

Rising 17 feet in just three hours.

The Colorado overwhelms
the tunnel excavations.

We were exceptionally lucky.

This river is more than capable of
flushing out the entire canyon

which is exactly the reason
l`ve been tunneling so hard.

One more flood could not only kill men
but wipe out the entire project.

The more we get behind,
the more catching up we`ll have to do.

Laid off without pay
while the flood subsides,

the workers spend their time
in bars like Rail Road Pass.

The union may have been dispelled
but the discontent remains.

lt`s rough, real rough.

l mean you got a lot of men
working in this confined space

and they just keep pushing us see
and that`s a problem.

Heat, gas,

hurry up Crowe could do with showing
some decency and slowing down a little.

l tell you, this whole poisoning gas
in the tunnels thing it`s er,

getting a lot of people bitter.

l know some of the
boys who were laid off

because of sickness are talking to
lawyers about conditions in the tunnel.

They blame it on pneumonia, it`s
poisonous gases that we`re working with.

Word gets around that our lives
aren`t worth, aren`t worth,

l was going to say something
but l`m not going to say it.

But you know what l`m
trying to tell you?

The pass and places like it are
a welcome relief of the damsite

There will be no gambling,

prostitution or liquor in Walker
Young`s vision of the new Boulder City.

The project to dam
the Colorado River has aroused

the interest of the people of
the United States more than any other.

With that the government feels that the
entire reservation and everything on it,

including Boulder City should stand
as a suitable example.

You can`t get a drink here
but Crowe`s drive in just six months,

provided housing for 658 families.

Well it might not look like much

but compared to Rag Town
this is a little piece of heaven.

lt`s still hot s we`ve taken to hanging
these wet sheets in the doorway

so that when it billows
it cools the air.

lt`s basic
but for the first time in a long time

l really see a future for us
so we`ll make it work.

lt`s fully self-contained,

we have four churches and a school
and er, other civic amenities.

Right from the start
we envisioned Boulder City

as a model community
something to aspire to.

Workers who move into the new houses,
have rent docked from their pay cheques.

Twenty five cents of every dollar

they earn goes back
into the coffers of the company.

By the fall of 1932,

the drill jumbo crews have widened
the diversion tunnels to 56 feet.

The mammoth task of lining them with
concrete is also drawing to a close.

For Crowe the big moment has arrived.

Now he can be the first man ever
to control the course of the Colorado.

We`re dealing with
extremes in environment.

The mighty Colorado river has
never been tamed in 12 million years.

We tried it at the turn of the century
and it didn`t work

so that`s what we`re up against.

lt hasn`t been done... yet.

On November 13th

temporary barriers built to keep water
out of the two eastern tunnels are blown,

the river flows freely into them
for the first time.

Almost immediately trucks
begin to dump loose rock

in the path of the river blocking
it`s natural course through the river.

Ton after ton, hour after hour.

Less than 24 hours later,
the Colorado has lost its freedom.

The diversion is a complete success.

Crowe has exposed a river bed
where the body of the dam will stand,

almost a year ahead of schedule.

Despite being so far ahead, hurry up
Crowe has no intention of easing the pace.

Here`s the canyon.

Now either side going
through the rock walls

we have the four long
diversion tunnels.

Now we`ve poured hundreds
and thousands of tons of rocks

to build temporary copper dams
upstream here and downstream here,

to completely seal the side
from the river either end.

Now all we have to do is plug the gap

with the largest mass of
concrete ever created.

By mid June 1933,

plants erected near the dam site are
producing a constant stream of concrete.

To win the bid for the dam`s
construction Crowe has pledged

that he can produce and pour concrete more
efficiently than any of his competitors.

Key to the success is his
revolutionary delivery system.

lt all rests on absolute speed
and efficiency.

ln order to achieve
our targets it`s imperative

that we have the means to move concrete
any time at a moments notice.

Now, it takes too much time to go
around so we have to go over.

And of that, Crowe is the master.

Pioneered on earlier projects, his
aerial cable weighs have revolutionized

the movement of men and
materials on construction sites.

Criss-crossing the canyon
they will be essential,

an uninterrupted flow of concrete.

The government has given Crowe four and
a half years to complete the concreting,

but just as with the excavation
of the diversion tunnels,

he has every intention
of creating sooner.

A major obstacle to this is the speed

at which such a huge body of
concrete can be safely pours.

As it curs concrete generates heat.

Overheating would spell disaster.

No one has poured a body of
concrete this size before.

The key is to ensure than
the concrete is poured evenly

and given enough time to cool.

You try to rush the process,

why the concrete could overheat and cause
cracking and complete structural failure.

The idea of the dam
collapsing is unthinkable,

so it must be cast in box forms to a depth
not exceeded five feet every three days.

lf you were to pour the whole body of
this dam in one big monolithic mass

it would take 125 years to cool down.

l mean 125 years.

To speed the cooling process,

giant refrigeration plants
pump ice cold water

through pipes laid
in the fresh concrete,

but nothing is fast enough
for hurry up Crowe.

Super intendants here, look lively.

Oh watch your back.

Hello fellas.

Boss on site.

No carry on, carry on, carry on.

You know Riley`s boxes
are working much quicker.

Yeah?

Yeah l got to tell you.

Regularly visiting the site
to encourage competition

between crews Crowe
is in danger of exceeding

the strict engineering guidelines.

ln one 24 hour period last week the
combined crews poured a bucket a minute.

They can`t pour much faster than that.

By fostering competition Crowe
is not only pushing his luck

but risking the entire project.

A concrete place at any one column should
not exceed a depth of one five foot box

in a period of three days.

Any more and you risk
internal stresses and cracking

as he mixture cools and contracts.

No l think a bit of friendly rivalry
between the crews is a good thing.

Ups the work rate, the workers are
motivated, everyone goes home happy.

There`s pushing and
there`s pushing Frank.

lt`s just a bit of stirred up
competition Brig,

take it easy we`re well
within our safety margain.

You`re sailing dangerously close.

Not you`re over a year ahead of schedule,
pushing the tunnels was one thing,

now you can afford to back off a bit.

What`s wrong with
a bit of healthy competition?

Well you`re exceeding the specifications
for concrete placement out there.

Pushing engineering guidelines is not
the only thing Crowe is being accused of.

Claims of carbon monoxide
poisoning have come to trial.

Five men are claiming they were poisoned
by exhaust fumes in the diversion tunnels.

lf they`re successful

Crowe and the contractors
could face a flood of similar claims.

The costs would be crippling.

The first case is that of Ed Kraus.

Company doctors refute his claim.

l certainly have no reason to doubt
that Mr Kraus is a sick man.

Shortness of breath, loss of strength
and nausea, lots of nausea.

l am totally confident

that the symptoms Mr Kraus exhibits
and those exhibited by others

who`ve filed claims are consistent
with either pneumonia or influenza.

There is no proof

that carbon monoxide poisoning
caused illness in any case l`ve seen.

l`ve always been a healthy man.

l have a young family

but l`d like to state that the illness
has affected my marriage also.

Since getting sick my matrimonial
duties have suffered.

Look all l know is that

since working in the tunnels illness has
prevented me from providing for my family.

Kraus`s fellow workers feel that he has
performed well on the witness stand.

He has no shortage of support.

l don`t think we owe
this company anything.

We all saw the conditions.

lt seems to me we
have a good case here.

At last the company
has everything to lose.

Determined to discredit Kraus

they set him up with a prostitute
to test his claims of impotence.

On January 7th, 1943,
Frank Crowe and Brig Young

celebrate the pouring of
the 1 millionth cubic yard of concrete.

With an increased sense
of urgency to complete,

Crowe ups the work force
to a record 5,251 men.

ln just 6 months they poured
the 3 millionth cubic yard of concrete.

Can we get everybody to settle down?

Thank you.

Ed Kraus`s case against Crowe and the
contractors has reached a critical stage.

The company has new and devastating
evidence to bring before the court.

Your honour,
since the beginning of this hearing,

certain evidence has come to our
attention that brings the honesty

and the reliability of the key claimant
Mr Ed Kraus into question.

ln certain social situations,

l`ve heard Mr Kraus bragging about
being happy to exaggerate his condition.

We`ve also gathered testimony

that Mr Kraus`s claims of reduced
sexual performance are unfounded.

Well let`s just say that
he seems to perform admirably

whenever l`ve had
the pleasure of his company.

They pulled Kraus`s character
to pieces in there.

The jury weren`t able to agree
so the judge has declared a mis-trial.

For Crowe it`s back
to business as usual.

The workers leave with nothing.

lt was expected that construction
on this scale would cause some deaths.

The question was always how many.

Just weeks from completion a box form
has collapsed burying a worker alive

under a deluge of setting concrete.

Er, Mr Crowe was down here when the form
actually collapsed and buried the fellar.

So he took charge in getting him out.

Just cut it away nice and easy.

And that guy`s been buried for hours
and the concretes started to set so.

l mean they got down to one
of his hands but... he`s gone.

But Mr Crowe insisted that they treat
him with dignity and care and you know,

they could have ploughed right
in there with jackhammers,

but they were working around him
with little picks to get him out.

The final death toll is 107 men.

Many wonder if such a loss of life
can ever be justified to build a dam.

By February 1st, 1935,

the 700 foot high body of the dam
is all but complete.

Just two years after being diverted

the power of the Colorado
can now be harnessed.

900 ton steel doors over the mouth of
each diversion tunnel begin to close.

With the diversion tunnels sealed,

the water slowly backs up behind
the dam to create Lake Mead;

the biggest man made lake in America.

At last the time is at hand to turn
this vast water supply into energy.

Just imagine it, it`s a, it`s an
awe-inspiring feet of engineering.

lt will stand as a testimony
to the ingenuity of an entire nation.

As the funneled waters of the Colorado
spin the dam`s turbines,

its immense generators turn producing

millions of watts of hydro electricity
for the entire south west of America.

Look at that thing huh?

l built it. l surely did.

As for Frank Crowe,
his organizational genius at overseeing

the building of world`s largest damn and
delivered it a whole two years one month

and twenty eight days
ahead of schedule.

There`s something peculiarly satisfying
about building such a great dam

because you know that what you build
is going to stand for centuries.

Crowe walked away with
his reputation assured

and a bonus in today`s
money of $4 million.

l`ll be looking for
the next one real soon.

Today fifty million people across seven
states benefit from the Hoover dam.

Where once there was desert
now there is civilization.

Created by the men who built one of the
true wonders of the industrial world.

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