Despite the austere times of the Great Depression, public art works were still funded. Across the road from the Hoover Dam Visitor Center one finds the twin Winged Figures of the Republic by sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen. Each figure is 30 feet tall. This photo is of the feet of one of the statues. While the upper part of the statues have taken on a green patina, the feet are within reach and the constant touching has resulted in the toes becoming highly polished.
Nearby is a plaque commemorating those who died building the dam. 96 appears to be the official total through the construction period though 112 are noted the as associated with the dam. Most of these 96 were workers who fell from the cliffs. 42 other workers are noted to have died from ‘pneumonia' – now thought to be primarily due to carbon monoxide poisoning of workers in the tunnels since none of the townsfolk of Boulder City were recorded as dying from pneumonia in the same period. Obviously this was all pre-OSHA and it shows just how far we've come in terms of occupational health and safety in the intervening years. According to the wikipedia article, the first fatality associated with the construction was that of J.G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned in 1922. The last was his son, Patrick W. Tierney, 13 years later to the day.
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Production Data
Camera: Canon eos 5D
Lens: Canon EF17-35mmf/2.8L
Processing: Lightroom 3.6
Processing: photomatix 4.02
Processing: photoshop cs5
Processing: Topaz Adjust 5
