Unsung Heroes Raise Arizona Dams

Raising Arizona's Dams, Daily Life, Danger, and Discrimination in the Dam Construction Camps of Central Arizona by A.E. Rogge, D. Lorne McWatters, Melissa Keane and Richard P. Emanuel; University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park Ave., Tucson, Arizona; 520-621-1441; $21.95 paperback, $45 clothbound.

Dams attract interest, even inspire wonder, with their display of engineering virtuosity and their delivery of varied benefits, from hydroelectric power and irrigation waters to recreational opportunities. Credit for planning and constructing such marvels usually is shared by such "major players" as architects, engineers, contractors, politicians and financiers, to name just a few.

Raising Arizona's Dams credits the often unrecognized contribution of the many construction workers who wielded pick and shovel and moved dirt, stone and debris to actually build the dams of central Arizona. These men gathered in labor camps, tolerated, often along with wives and children, harsh living arrangements, while working under hazardous conditions.

The authors set out to reconstruct the workers' living and working conditions while building the dams. Since traditional historical works often neglect these topics, the authors relied on nontraditional historical sources for needed information, both historical and archaeological.

They considered dam construction areas as archaeological sites, to be searched for artifacts to provide clues about the people who had lived and worked there. For example, researchers studied the Camp Pleasant site, established for the 1926-27 construction of Lake Pleasant Dam, later renamed Waddell Dam, on the Agua Fria River. They found 9,338 artifacts including nails, shoe parts, pocket watches, buttons, belt buckles, shaving mugs, files and folding wooden rulers.

Along with interpreting collected artifacts, the authors consulted nontraditional historical sources such as manuscript census records, court documents, agency files, project archives, contemporary newspapers, periodicals, and trade journals, as well oral histories.

One of the first and the largest, the Roosevelt Dam settlement receives more attention than other construction sites. Begun in 1903, the camp is described as fitting the western tradition of boom towns, settlements that appeared during work projects, then disappeared when work was done. Many workers lived in tents, tent houses, and adobe structures on the outskirts of town. Apache workers lived in wickiups in separate camps. Hiring of workers was a relatively simple process, with neither physical examinations nor references required. The criteria each foreman used to hire was simply "size him up and see if you think he can do the work." The daily wage for a common laborer was $2.50 per day, powdermen $4 and $5 per day, while a blacksmith received $4 and seven masons got $5 per day.

Often a neglected theme in western histories, the specter of ethic segregation was evident in the Roosevelt settlement. Italians, Spaniards, Afro-Americans and other groups gathered into distinct ethnic neighborhoods. Only the Chinese-owned restaurant in Roosevelt would serve Apaches. In the Granite Reef Diversion Dam camp whites and Mexicans were segregated.

This book fits within the "New Western History"movement. The new western histories are critical of the Old West/New West paradigm and instead seek commonalities between the two eras to better understand current western events.

The many fine historical photographs are a special feature of the book. They appear throughout the text and add a quicken sense of the period and provide a record of scenes or places before or during dam construction. The photos also show people working and living in the camps and serve to remind us of our common humanity with these people of the past who built the dams.

The authors generally achieve what they set out to do. They convincingly describe life and work at Arizona dam construction sites in the early part of this century.