Date:  Mon, 31 Oct 1994 04:11:12 -0800

From:  James Beniger <beniger[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RCF.USC.EDU>

Subject: Re: Boulder Dam



Both "Boulder Dam" and "Hoover Dam" have become so common in American

culture, as iconic for "dam," that I'd bet much of the

population--possibly a majority--thinks they are two different dams.



I understand that, in the 30's, local Democrats referred to the dam as

"Dam(n) Hoover."



I'd like to hear Thomas Clark clarify/elaborate the sentence "Local media

are careful to make the distinction between Boulder and Hoover" (see below),

which is intriguing but unclear in context, at least to me.



                        -- Jim

*******



On Sun, 30 Oct 1994, THOMAS CLARK wrote:



> On Sun, 30 Oct 1994, Martha Howard wrote:

>

> > When it waas first constructed, it was known as Boulder dam and that's

> > how I knewit when I wasin grade school (in the 30's).

>

> MH brings up an interesting variant that we are tracking in the Nevada

> Language Survey. By the 40's, school children were being taught "Hoover

> Dam," and probably snickering at the current furor over Clark Gable's

> "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." During construction, the dam

> was called "Boulder Dam" in spite of the fact that it was being built in

> Black Canyon rather than in Boulder Canyon (the original site).

>

> Boulder Highway, leading southeast out of Las Vegas, takes one to Boulder

> City, where I live a few days a week (a welcome respite from Las Vegas).

> The dam was part of the huge WPA machination and thus known to every

> construction worker in the western world, who passed the information onto

> all of his (this is the 1930's) progeny.

>

> When the dam was dedicated, the mood of the country (or at least the

> Congress) had shifted, and the name of the project was changed from

> Boulder to Hoover.

>

> This created local problems. Hoover was not PC, according to local

> Democratic bosses. It appears there may have been a social split --

> Democrats refused to call the damn thing Hoover.

>

> Today, in Nevada, you can take a socio-political reading (we think,

> hypothesis on the way) by whether young people use "Boulder Dam" or

> "Hoover Dam." People from families who have been in Clark County (Las

> Vegas area) for more than 25 years use "Boulder." Newbies use Hoover,

> unless they have been "reached." Local media are careful to make the

> distinction between Boulder and Hoover. Interestingly, when local

> politicians want to make a point with SENIOR CITIZENS, a voting bloc,

> they will carefully refer to Hoover Dam projects. But that sometimes

> backfires. Recently, a refurbishment of the Visitor's Center cost about

> three times what the entire dam project cost.

>

> Factual: About half of native Clark County residents use Boulder to

> refer to the structure.

>

> Anecdotal: My children grew up here. They use Hoover. They are Mostly

> Republicans.

>

> We can control our sinuses better than we can our children.

>

> It gets more detailed and complex, but MH was right when she said

>

> >whether damn has a bad connotation confuses me.

>

>

> Cheers,

> tlc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nevada.edu

>