Who is buried in the Hoover Dam?

IO9 ^ | March 16, 2012 | Keith Veronese

[DogByte6RER]

Memorial for dead workers at Hoover Dam

[unkus]

No one is buried in the concrete. Some of the concrete is still curing.

[samtheman]

That’s a huge mass of concrete. I wonder how many buried bodies there would have to be to make that structure 1% weaker than if it were 100% concrete.

I used to live in Las Vegas and have driven over that dam many times and taken the tour once or twice.

It is a truly impressive piece of engineering and construction.

[ClearCase_guy]

While it seems like no one is buried in the Hoover Dam, a 1938 structural failure caused thirty-four workers to be buried in the debris of Montana's Fort Peck Dam.

But that would make a lousy headline, so we went with "Who is buried in the Hoover Dam?" instead.

[Deaf Smith]

Highwayman
I was a dam builder. Across the river deep and wide.
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around..I’ll always be around..and around and around and
around and around

[FairWitness]

"I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around..I'll always be around..and around
and around and around and around"

Versethree from The Highwayman Johnny Cash, et. al.

[Grams A]

First time I saw it years ago wondered why it wasn’t designated as one of the wonders of the world. Everytime I have seen it since I thank God for the people that existed during that time. If this were a project that needed to be built under today’s standards, it would never happen.

[Hot Tabasco]

Who is buried in the Hoover Dam?

Some guy named Hoover but I can't remember his first name....

[bigheadfred]

A human body is less structurally sound than the same volume of concrete.

What? I want a refund.

[FairWitness]

You beat me by 2 seconds.

[Peter W. Kessler]

A human body is less structurally sound than the same volume of concrete. And if the body experienced any sort of decay, an air pocket could form around the body, further decreasing the stability of the weak point. Both situations would lead to a considerable six foot long, two foot wide weak spot in the dam, and a major problem when trying to hold back millions of gallons of water.

Based on this, Obama will condemn the dam and have it blown up, like he's done twice already.

[sauropod]

I remember seeing footage of those giant buckets pouring concrete into the forms at Hoover Dam on the History Channel.

IIRC, there was some discussion about ice being put into the concrete to hold down the temperature.

[taterjay]

Notice the crack in the cement.

[smokingfrog]

Great song. I imagine quite a few just fell to their deaths and some may have been swept away in the river before anyone could get to them.

classic

[mikrofon]

behemoth holds back so much water that it deformed the earth's crust and caused 600 small earthquakes in the decade after its construction

Good thing they built it in the 30's -- it never would've gotten past EPA regs today.

Not to mention the exothermal curing still taking place, contributing to Global Warming...

[KeyLargo]

“The “official” number of fatalities involved in building Hoover Dam is 96. These were men who died at the dam site (classified as “industrial fatalities”) from such causes as drowning, blasting, falling rocks or slides, falls from the canyon walls, being struck by heavy equipment, truck accidents, etc. Industrial fatalities do not include deaths from heat, pneumonia, heart trouble, etc. “

[al baby]

What did the fish say when it hit concrete?

Dam !!!

[wolfcreek]

My Wife’s grandfather worked on the Lake Travis Mansfield dam in just outside Austin, TX.

He was very sick one day and his Wife demanded he stay home.

As it turns out, the guy who replaced him that day fell into the wet concrete as they poured it and that became his grave.

[al baby]

No but i did notice the crack in the concrete. You should know there is a difference. Pet peeve of mine. Sorry

[OregonRancher]

IIRC, there was some discussion about ice being put into the concrete to hold down the temperature.

Nope. Each cell of poured concrete had hundreds of feet of
cooling pipe that pumped chilled water to cool the exothermic
heat given off from the curing concrete. Each cell was interconnected until the concrete was exothermically stable.
I forget the actual number, but I think around several hundred
miles of cooling pipe are still embedded in the dam.