Glen Canyon Dam

1958 Glen Canyon Dam Preparation

/ Mike Adams / 4 Comments
Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR Courtesy of the LeGate family.
Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR
Courtesy of the LeGate family.

This photo is dated 7/8/1958. The back reads, “Foot bridge. The diversion tunnel inlet can be seen at bottom of canyon on right.”

As I scoured this with my handy-dandy magnifying glass, I noticed about a dozen people walking across the footbridge. As was stated on the back of the photo, you can see one of the diversion tunnels at the bottom of the canyon. These were used to divert the Colorado River water around the dam site during construction.

In the distance you can see a very dry Wahweap Bay and Castle Rock. It looks like this picture was taken from on the Beehive. It would be cool to find that spot and take another picture today of this same angle. This may have been taken before they sheered off the side to make room for the railways that supported the cable cranes. And you thought the flattened side of the Beehive was there to make room for the Visitor’s Center, didn’t you. The dam sight is just to the right of this picture. Stay tuned…

-Mike

This is a Dam Site

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
GCD 1961
Glen Canyon Dam 1961.

This shot was taken from an old Page High School yearbook and is a downstream look at Glen Canyon Dam in 1961. My apologies for the page crease down the middle. Pretend it’s not there.

It looks like the footbridge is still there. If you enlarge this picture and look close, you can see the posts on either side of the canyon and each end of the bridge. You can also see the shadow it’s casting on the canyon floor just upstream of the dirt dam that’s diverting the river water.

The original visitor’s center is to the left of the bridge on US 89. That building was later moved into town and became the LARC Center, located next to the football field at the corner of South Navajo Drive and 7th Avenue (now Lake Powell Blvd).

The town of Page is clearly visible in the upper left of the picture. The golf course and Country Club can be seen near the top right of the picture, on the far end of the canyon. The small body of water on top of the canyon next to the golf course was the old waste water treatment pond. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

I don’t remember what the large building on the left was, next to the highway. I remember it being there, but I don’t remember what it was. If you can add more info about it, please comment below. The “Add a Page to your Trip” road sign that I mentioned in my first post was located on the highway turnoff to Page at the upper left of this picture.

I remember this stage of the dam construction well. It seems like we ended up out there almost every day, watching the construction progress. At night, there was a flashing “Cocktails” sign on the rim of the town that belonged to a bar on Vista Avenue. I was too young to go bar hopping, but I remember that sign well.

-Mike

More Dam Construction

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
damleft 1962
1962 Dam Construction

My last post showed a look at the right side of Glen Canyon Dam during construction in 1962. In the name of leaving nothing undone, here the other half of the picture showing the left side.

This is a spectacular shot looking upstream at what is mostly under water now. The cement plant is visible on the left behind the bridge just below where the visitor’s center now stands.

Do you see the black line across the bottom of the canyon and up the canyon wall on the right? I don’t know if that’s just something on the picture or if it’s a shadow from the original footbridge. I’m not sure when the footbridge came down. Was it still there in 1962? Anybody? If you know, feel free to chime in.

You can see the water that’s being diverted around the dam at the bottom left of the picture. I think it was being diverted on the other side too.

Dam Construction

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
Early 60s Dam Construction
1962 Dam Construction

This is a great shot of Glen Canyon Dam under construction from 1962. I don’t remember where I got this picture but it’s one of my favorites because this is how I remember the dam. I spent a lot of time on or near the bridge during this time, watching the dam go up. I must have rode my bike out there a lot with friends just to hang out and watch the construction. It never got old.

From the bridge, the trucks and workers below looked like toys. I remember that elevator on the wall of the canyon. I would watch it carry workers up and down for what seemed like hours. It probably was hours. That was one positive about growing up there. My feet would hit the floor in the morning and I was gone all day.

To the right of this picture, just downstream of the bridge, was the original visitor’s center and lookout. The road down to the old lookout is still there, as is the lookout and parking lot, if anyone’s feeling adventurous.

-Mike

Glen Canyon Dam Construction Site

/ Mike Adams / 5 Comments
Glen Canyon Dam Construction Site. Undated. Source is most likely the USBR.
Glen Canyon Dam Construction Site. Undated. Source is most likely the USBR.

Here’s an incredible shot of the Glen Canyon Dam construction site. The picture is undated, but it has to be pre-1960 or 1960 at the latest. This was probably taken just about the time we moved there, or a little before. This is looking downstream. The ropes (for those who are familiar with those) are just around the curve in the canyon. Page is to the left side of the canyon on Manson Mesa and the present day visitor’s center is on the right. The original visitor’s center was eventually built (“built” isn’t the right word – the original visitor’s center was a pre-fab building that was later moved into town and placed near the football field as the LARC center. I don’t remember now what that acronym stood for) on the left side of the bridge in this picture and there was a short road down to a lookout point. That road and the lookout point are still there, but chained off so no one can enter.

This is a sweet picture that captures a moment long since past, not to mention under water.

-Mike

November, 1957

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
November, 1957 Photo: USBR
November, 1957
Photo: USBR

Check this out! Early construction shot of the dam site. The beehive is clearly visible near the center of the picture. The dark mesa on the left side of the picture near the top is the Page town site. There’s nothing there yet to speak of, but that’s either smoke or dust in the top left corner. It looks like there’s some building going on, but I’m not sure what it was. If you have any info you can add to this pic, please leave me a comment below.

Here’s something really cool. If you look close at the canyon in this picture, just this side of where the dam is to be built, you can see a tiny line across the canyon. I’m pretty sure that’s the footbridge I mentioned in a previous post HERE.

I received an email this week from someone who’s husband had started working there in February 1957, almost a year before this photo was taken in November, 1957. In December 1957, their whole family moved here. When we moved there in 59-60, their son and I quickly became best friends. I’m thankful we’re back in touch after all these years.

-Mike

The Foot Bridge

/ Mike Adams / 2 Comments
foot-bridge2
Upper foot bridge. Still frame from home videos.

Here’s a pic of the upper foot bridge that spanned the canyon prior to the completion of the real bridge. I apologize that it’s so blurry. This is a still that I pulled from a video that I have of my parents and a couple of their friends walking across this bad boy. It was originally shot in 8mm, transferred to VHS and then to a DVD. This foot bridge was pre-1960 and in place until some time after Glen Canyon Bridge was completed.

There was (and is) a story floating around that someone drove a VW Beetle over this bridge. If you’re reading this and you can confirm or deny that story, please do. Does anyone remember this foot bridge? I wish I could find more pictures of it. I you have any that you would like to see here,

-Mike

More Extreme Rock Climbing

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
55-highscalers3
Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge Site

This picture shows the approximate location of the two climbers in the previous photo (the spot marked XX). The spot marked with the B is the beehive rock formation located by the present day visitor’s center. This is the present site of Glen Canyon Dam and bridge. Both of these photos were imbedded in a Word document that someone (Brian Keisling?) sent to me a number of years ago and the document was ascribed to Greg Woodard. I don’t know who took the actual photo. This is dated 1955.

The picture below provides a good look at the river at the future site of Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge. The spot marked XX is the approximate location of the two climbers in my previous post. This shot also provides a good look at the beehive mountain (I hesitate calling it a mountain, but I can’t think of a better word). You can see the beehive cave plainly visible on the left of the picture. I probably climbed up to that cave dozens of times growing up there.

Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge Construction Site

-Mike

Extreme Rock Climbing

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
Picture Gallery
Highscalers, 1955.

These guys were gutsy! They’re getting ready to scale the canyon wall at the site of Glen Canyon Dam before there was a dam. They’re standing near the location of the present day Visitor’s Center. The “MM” in the background is a reference to Manson Mesa, the site of the future town of Page.  This photo was dated 1955.

-Mike