1960s

1960s Aerial View of Page Arizona

/ Mike Adams / 10 Comments

Source: Terry Edwards. Date and photographer unknown. Most likely USBR.

Here’s a 1960-ish shot of Page and the surrounding area from the seat of a plane. If you click on it, it will open it up in a new tab and enable you to zoom in closer. All of my pictures work that way. You’re welcome. 🙂  Enlarge it and let’s talk about some of the detail.

Starting on the bottom left, you’ll see the original radio station (KPGE) just off the old Coppermine road. I don’t remember what the building between it and the water treatment plant was. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know. I posted pictures of the water treatment plant already in a post I called Got Water? You can check it out >HERE<. Next to the water treatment plant is the go-cart track and the Little League baseball field. If you look at that area on Google Earth, you can still see remnants of the go-cart track. That’s actually the second location of the baseball field. The first one was behind Keisling’s gas station and The Bottle Stop (now Stix Market). The outline of it is still visible in this picture. You can see that original field better >HERE<.

Moving up from the water treatment plant, you’ll notice that Chapman’s trailer park isn’t there yet. Several church buildings are dotting the landscape along church row (7th Avenue – now Lake Powell BLVD). The long buildings on the inside loop of church row were the teacher’s apartments. They may have been under Continue reading →

A Bridge Under Construction

/ Mike Adams / 2 Comments

Source: The LeGate Family, 1961

This is a great shot of the bridge. I was looking closely at the detail in it (the resolution on some of these early black & white photos is amazing) and noticed quite a few things. Click on the picture to open it up and then zoom in. Here’s what I noticed:

First, it looks like it was taken from the old visitor lookout on the Page side of the canyon. Do you remember that spot? It’s still there but blocked off. It provided a great view of the dam and bridge from just downstream of it. There was a parking lot and a short trail down to the lookout. You can still see it on Google Earth. Back to the picture. This is looking upstream. Notice that on top of the bridge, construction is going on while visitors are allowed to be there. I don’t think anyone would get away with that today. You can see the footbridge in the background. This also provides a good shot of the dirt coffer dam that was built to divert water (via the diversion tunnels) around the dam site during that early construction. Notice too, the first few levels of the dam that have been poured. The penstocks are visible, angling out of the top of each level. Look how small the people are standing on the dam. Notice too, the wooden walkways and stairs between each section. Those were constantly being moved as the dam went up. I remember standing on the bridge so many times, watching these same things going on below.

Did you notice the ladders at the top of the bridge? Do you see the cables tied to the handrails by the ladders? Follow them down to the horizontal cross brace and you’ll see two workers (one on each end of the brace) working to secure the cross brace to the main structure. You can see the cable from the crane on top between the two workers at the top. It looks like the crane is holding that cross brace in place while it’s being attached. You’ll notice the cross braces on the other side of the bridge are already in place, but the one to the left of the one they’re installing is yet to be added.

Enjoy!

-Mike

More School Stuff

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment

This post is a hodgepodge of some Page school pics that have floated my way. This are in no particular order. I have fond memories of this first one because I spent many cold nights up there watching football games. Do you remember this scoreboard? It was at the end of the football field near the teacher’s apartments. The important thing is, we were winning. I give you….(drum roll)…. the football scoreboard!

This pic is from 1968. I think I got this from one of my yearbooks. A special prize goes to the person who can identify the scorekeepers.

This next one is from the 1971-72 school year and it shows the old high school gym (C-Building) in the background and the excavation underway for the new High School.

Source: Unknown. New High School construction, 1971-72 school year.

These next two are more pics of the new High School construction. This is looking toward Chapman’s Trailer Park with LeChee in the Continue reading →

Operation Glen Canyon

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment

This is a pretty cool  28 minute video documentary on the first four years of construction of Glen Canyon Bridge and Dam. Thank you Donna for posting this link on our Facebook page!

Enjoy!

Easy Does It!

/ Mike Adams / 2 Comments

Photo Courtesy of the LeGate Family. Undated.

Hey all, we’re on a road trip for the month of July but I wanted to stop long enough to get this amazing picture posted. This is my first post via email, so I hope it looks ok when posted. If not, I’ll tweak it later. Gene LeGate sent this pic to me a few days ago (thanks Gene!). I don’t know who took it, what building it was (it looks like one of the Butler Buildings used for the first school), where it was being moved to, or why. But here’s what I do know: it’s being moved away from town and it was a rainy day.

If you have some info about this picture and what was going on, please leave a comment. It seems like something like this would have drawn some attention.

Early Page Businesses

/ Mike Adams / 14 Comments

In this post I want to share with you my remaining pictures of the first Page business district. I am indebted to Petey Lloyd Dietz, Ernie Severino Jr., and Terry Edwards for these pics. As a reminder, these businesses were located close to each other with the small shack businesses in a row along North Navajo Drive, and the building with the bank and Babbitt’s located just behind The Bottle Stop (now Stix Market). You can see exactly where they were in [this post]. Check these out…

Photo Courtesy of Terry Edwards. Undated

The Men’s Store was going out of business when the above picture was taken. I’m not sure of the date.  The strike of 1959 may have contributed to the decision to close. The picture below shows Grant Jones with a customer. I don’t know who the customer is or if it was taken inside the Men’s Store.

Photo Courtesy of Terry Edwards. Undated.

The photos below show the early businesses from different perspectives.

Photo Courtesy of Ernie Severino Jr. Undated.

Warner’s Firestone building under construction. Photo Courtesy of Ernie Severino Jr. Undated.

Before we go any further, check out this picture of the bank, located in the same are:

Photo Courtesy of Terry Edwards. Undated.

That looks pretty safe! As long as nobody drives off with it. I can’t make out who that is standing there. The street sign says B Street. The sign in the window just says The Bank of Arizona Page Office.

As you face these buildings, looking south from North Navajo, Babbitt’s and newer location of the Bank, were just off to the right, behind Continue reading →

Page Jewelers

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment

Photo Courtesy of Terry Edwards. Page Jewelers Original Store. Undated. Is the customer USBR photographer A. E. Turner?

Hey Peeps, I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I guess I have a life after all. In my last post, way back in March, I promised my next few posts would be of the businesses in those small white buildings along North Navajo Drive. If you need a refresher, go back and read that post and then come back here.

In this post, we’re going to talk about Page Jewelers, one of those businesses. It was owned and run by Ernie Severino. The photo above shows him inside the original store located among other business trailers along North Navajo Drive. Does anyone recognize the customer? Is it USBR photographer A. E. Turner? Ernie Jr wrote me after I sent this picture to him and said,

“That chair is outside my shop, I use it all the time. I also see the machine that he used to clean watch parts, it’s in my shop too. Just can’t give it up!”

He gave me permission to share that with you. Thanks Ernie! He also gave me some good info on the layout of these businesses and the trailers there. He told me,

“At least that’s what we called them [The Shacks]. Starting at the left was our trailer, then Page Jewelers, and Kerry and Sonia Jones’ trailer, and then the shoe store, and then Bob Jorgenson’s (I’m pretty sure that was his name) trailer, and then his shop. The Men’s Store, and then the Firestone Store.

 “There was a store next to our trailer, I think you mentioned it and said something about a Key Shop, I remember it as a place that sold carpet and floor covering it was owned by Bud Lippert. He had a son close to my age named Dennis.

 “Then the next shack was Bill Lee’s restaurant I don’t know if it was called The Steak House at that point. I think it was a triple wide shack. It caught on fire during the middle of the night. A night I’ll never forget, luckily there was Continue reading →

Video: Glen Canyon Dam Construction

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment

This video has some excellent shots of the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. It’s part 2 of a 5-part series by Gary Ladd in what looks like a lecture at NAU. I put all 5 parts on a new video page. Click the Videos tab above to get there, or just click HERE.

Enjoy… Mike

School Daze

/ Mike Adams / 19 Comments

Photo: USBR. Courtesy of Terry Edwards. Undated

This first picture is a great look inside an elementary class in the old X and Y buildings. These were the temporary buildings that were built across from the Catholic Church, but I think they pre-dated that church. Maybe you were in this picture. If so, leave a comment and let me know. This teacher looks familiar, but I don’t have a name to go with the face. I remember those light fixtures and the heaters in the corner, hanging from the ceiling. The boy and girl closest to the photographer look pretty chummy. 😉 These pictures are undated, but have to be early 60s.

Photo: USBR. Courtesy of Terry Edwards. Undated

The photo above is an outdoor shot taken from the east-ish end of the buildings, looking west. 7th Avenue (Lake Powell BLVD) and the Catholic Church are to the left of this picture. Are you in this, or do you recognize Continue reading →