Power from Boulder

from Boulder

Mighty towers pinned to the mountainside carry the power from Boulder Dam to where man wills. Center distance (below) is a lightning tower.

Below, generators on the Nevada side of the Boulder Dam powerhouse, now in operation.

Transformers on the Arizona ramp of Boulder Dam boost the voltage from 16,000 volts from the generators to 230,000 volts for the switchyards.

Between the impressive Figures of the Republic at Boulder Dam (see coverpiece this month) rises a massive flagpole from which Old Glory proudly waves in the free winds of America. In the black marble base of the flagpole, which will endure as long as the hills of Boulder, is a simple inscription . . .

“. . . Of Lonely Lands”. . .

Anson Smith, that pioneer publisher of Mohave County, saw the vision, too, when he raised his voice in what was hardly more than a desert wilderness and advocated the construction of a dam to harness the Colorado. He foresaw Boulder Dam long before there was a Boulder Dam. He was scoffed at and laughed at but his voice rang strong and clear and today he is fittingly remembered as “the father of Boulder Dam.” Other Arizona pioneers also saw “a vision of lonely lands made fruitful.” Surely those hardy souls must have been inspired who less than three decades ago foresaw the Valley of the Sun as it is today. They first dreamed of dams on the Salt and Verde rivers, for men must first dream before they can build. The vision precedes the actuality.

Other men and women had visions, too. Casa Grande Valley, the Gila Valley, the great development and undertaking along the Colorado in Yuma county-someone had visions in the lonely lands.

Yet today in Arizona, the West and all through America there still remain “lonely lands to be made fruitful.” The vast resources of Arizona alone can be developed to care for a people ten times ten the number here today. Elsewhere in the other countries of the world men have visions-visions of conquest and war. The man of vision in Arizona and our America today sees desert lands to be broken by the plow, he sees cities where there are villages, he sees great highways where there are trails, he sees lands reclaimed and saved, forests brought back, a happier people living the more complete life.

The wise men of other economies contend American civilization has reached its peak, that with the end of our frontiers we cease to expand and with an end of expansion we must surely retrograde. But the man of vision will contradict that.

Our frontiers haven't been touched. Arizona is a part of that frontier today. The frontier is with us and all about us and today the man of vision is just as much a pioneer as the bearded frontiersman rumbling along in the covered wagon, depending on God and his own white courage and his trusty squirrel rifle to see him safely through.

The man of vision stands on a frontier whose possibilities and promises of reward are without end. In every field of human endeavor we are still groping along the frontiers of accomplishment. Only yesterday Boulder Dam was a vision to be laughed at; today it is a reality and men are already drawing plans for Bullshead Dam to be built further down the river, that the river may be put to further use.

We must believe in the vision of America of tomorrow, or else America of today is not worth believing in. We must believe in our own land and the promise of that land and in our own way of life or else we cannot believe in ourselves. If we live just for today, we live in vain. If we think just of today, our thoughts are empty thoughts. We will know tomorrow whether we are weak or strong today.

The inscription on the black marble base of the flagpole at Boulder Dam, between the Figures of the Republic, will always apply to the people of America who believe in themselves and in their land and who dream and believe brave things . . . “the vision of lonely lands made fruitful . .”.

FOLLOWING THE HIGHROADS OF THE WEST

July is a great travel month. All of America, it seems, is rolling along on wheels and this month the highroads of the West will carry a heavier load than ever before.

One of the important places in Travel West is Boulder Dam on the Colorado up in the northwest corner of Mohave county. As a fitting notation of the importance of Boulder in our scheme of things, we devote this month's coverpiece to a pictorial study by Cliff Segerblom of the Figures of the Republic standing at the base of the flagpole from which flies the American flag high over a lasting achievement of Americans and a symbol of the greatness of the American people.To further mark the importance of Boulder Dam and Lake Mead in anyone's journey through the West, we also offer a short pictorial feature on "Power from Boulder," and an account of the lake, which the author, Weldon F. Heald, describes as "Arizona's Magic Water Highway." The trip from Boulder Dam to that place 25 miles up the Grand Canyon where Lake Mead swallows the Colorado River is described by seasoned travelers as one of the most exciting adventures in any travel itinerary. So you see, you not only will find our highways exciting but our waterways as well.

As you travel the highways of our state you'll eventually come to the border either to Sonora, Mexico, on the south, Nevada and California on the west, Utah on the north, or New Mexico on the east. If you travel U. S. 89 northward or take U. S. 93 from Kingman to Las Vegas, Nevada, and then U. S. 91 through the Arizona Strip you'll come to southern Utah, a country rich in scenery, rich in history, and rich in friendly people.

Jonreed Lauritzen of Short Creek, Arizona, takes us this month on a brief but interesting journey to three of southern Utah's most famed scenic shrines Bryce, Zion and Cedar Breaks. If you've ever been to those places or if you read Jonreed's fine travelogue-you'll know how appropriate is the title he chose for his piece. He calls Bryce, Zion and Cedar Breaks, "Hymnals in Stone," an apt description.

Jim and Sallie Brewer (Jim's the custodian of the Navajo National Monument and Sallie is Mrs. Jim) have gotten together an article on the monument for us, which is both timely and interesting. The Navajo National Monument is in the heart of the Navajo country, remote, not easy to get to, yet possessing all those qualities that make distant places so fascinating to see and to remember. You'll not get caught in any traffic jam when you go to the monument but you'll find yourself in a strange, lonely land not so very far away. You'll rough it a bit, and that will make you enjoy the trip all the more.

Continuing our parade of Arizona counties through these pages, we come this month to Mohave. Mohave is a big county, full of mines, mountains and desert majesty and a county that is destined to become one of the great playgrounds of the west. When they tacked Boulder Dam to one shoulder of the county and backed Lake Mead over a portion of it, they made Mohave a great fishing and boating center, the possibilities of which are just beginning to be appreciated. So we'll leave you to your travels for the month of July and we'll meet you again in August with another chapter in the ever-continued, ever-interesting story of Arizona, her neighbors and her people. So long!. R. C.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Arizona highways, the friendly journal of life and travel in the old west, for july, nineteen hundred and forty one, invites you to a few glances at travel arizona, a brief visit to southern utah, and a page or two devoted to people and places in this fascinating land: with which we leave you until another month wishing you sunny skies and a pleasant journey always .