About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 2: Gambling and Quickie Divorces

Continued from June 13.

At the turn of the 20th century, the oasis town became a rest area for wagons and a stop on the new railroad connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

This railroad was completed in 1905, and in 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a U.S. city.  Though gambling was prohibited at first, clandestine casinos opened for business.  Then, in 1931, everything changes when Nevada became the first state to legalize gambling, as well as the first to offer quickie divorces.

From then on, the Silver State was synonymous with American excess.

Around the same time, construction began on the Hoover Dam, which would supply water and power to the valley.  This monumental project brought in an influx of construction workers to the city of Las Vegas, and local entrepreneurs wasted no time in opening casinos to relieve these men of their spare cash.

--DaCoot

Ten World Engineering Feats-- Part 2: Interstates, Cable and a Dam

3.  THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM

President Eisenhower  spearheaded the  passage of the Federal-Aid Highway  Act of 1956 which authorized the largest public works project in history.  The construction of 41,000 miles of expressways with controlled ramp access and no at grade intersections, just overpasses.

4.  TRANSATLANTIC CABLE

In 1854, American Cyrus West Field secured a charter to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean floor.  After four failed attempts, British and American ships succeeded in laying the nearly 2,000 mile cable linking Ireland and Newfoundland in 1858.

5.  HOOVER DAM

Built by over 21,000 workers, the 60 story dam is the world's largest concrete structure at the time it was dedicated in 1935.  It caused the great growth of cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix.

--CootDam

Where "Alabam" Lives On-- Part 2: Fishing in a Latrine

"Alabam" is one of several statues that have been erected around the former federal company town of Boulder City, Nevada, to honor the Hoover Dam workers and their families.  Among them were "high-scalers" who hung suspended from flimsy guide ropes; "powder monkeys," named for the dynamite they planted; cable operators who kept the huge buckets of concrete moving around the clock; and the wives and children who set up camp in the bleak desert wilderness.

The statues are part of what is called "an amazing public arts program," according to Nevada State Museum Director Dennis McBride.  The project started a decade ago when town officials set aside $75,000  a year for five years to promote the role of the city and its residents in erecting the dam.

McBride is a historian who has done a lot of research on Boulder City and the dam.  He came across the many stories about "Alabam."

A favorite of his was the one when someone saw him fishing inside a latrine with a stick.  He explained that he had dropped his jacket into it.  When told his jacket would probably be ruined, "Alabam" replied that he didn't care about the jacket, but his lunch was in the pocket.

Now, That's a Good, But Smelly Story.  --DaCoot

Where "Alabam" Lives On-- Part 1: Dirty Job, But Somebody's Got to Do It

From the June 4, 2014, Chicago Tribune by John M. Glionna.

Nobody really knew his name.  They all just called him "Alabam" probably because he was from there or somewhere in the South.  But, they all knew him as the old guy (in his 70s) who made his contribution to the Depression-era building of the famous Hoover Dam.

He cleaned the latrines.  As far as is know, he was a one-man sanitation crew for the 7,000 workers at the site.He is long gone, but not forgotten

On the main drag through Boulder City, Nevada, stands an 8-foot tall statue honoring the man and including a garland of toilet paper rolls around his neck.

He is the first of several statues honoring the men who built the dam.

Steven Ligouri, the Las Vegas sculptor who made the statue, said: "He was a simple sanitation engineer whose job was so bad-- even when temperatures hit 120 degrees, he climbed inside those tin latrine (predecessors of port-a-potties).  Mow he's the unofficial greeter to the entire town."

Not the Type of Statue You's Expect.  --Cooter