Boating Made Possible by Aerial Acrobats

By Jack Innis

Tuesday, 21 June 2005

The next time you splash your boat in Lake Mead (or other lakes created by the Hoover Dam), tip your hat to the aerial acrobats who helped make the dam possible.

The next time you splash your boat in Lake Mead (or other lakes created by the Hoover Dam), tip your hat to the aerial acrobats who helped make the dam possible.

Yes, among little-known tales in the creation of Hoover Dam are those of high-scalers, men who rappelled down sheer cliff walls adjacent to the dam during construction between 1931 and 1935.

When the site for the dam was originally surveyed, geologists noted that the canyon walls suffered from millions of years of erosion. Over the millennia, water had frozen in the cracks and crevices, splitting the rock. This caused a great concern because being hit by falling objects was the number one cause of death on such projects.

So, high-scalers were called upon to rappel down the cliff faces and chisel, blast, jackhammer, and pry the rock loose so that construction could begin below.

The men who volunteered for this work included former sailors, circus acrobats, and American Indians. All of them were young, agile men, not afraid to swing out over empty space on a rope.

The work was as hard as it was dangerous. With hand tools slung over their shoulders, the men would descend the canyon walls.

Jackhammers were lowered to them, and the men would drill holes for dynamite. Once the men had tamped the dynamite in place, they d evacuate for the blast.

After the shot, they d climb back down and use crowbars to free up any loose or broken rocks. Life on the cliff face was difficult and dangerous.

High-scalers had to contend with pressurized air hoses and charged electrical lines that criss-crossed the canyon wall. They lived in constant danger of being hit by falling rocks or dropped tools.

In fact, the men improvised hard hats by coating cloth hats with coal tar. Believe it or not, these homemade hard hats were very effective.

Several men hit by falling rocks actually had their jaws broken but did not receive skull fractures. Eventually, the dam supervisors contracted for commercially made hard hats and issued them to every man on the site.

High-scalers were risk takers, and that attitude became evident whenever the foremen weren t around. For fun, the men would swing out from the cliffs and perform stunts.

Contests judged by the workers below were held to see who could swing out the farthest or who could perform the best stunts. So, next time you re out having fun on the lake, take a good look up at some of the tall cliffs and thank the high-scalers who helped make your day possible.