A. E. Turner

Bridge Under Construction

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR 8/6/1958 Courtesy of the LeGate family.
Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR
8/6/1958
Courtesy of the LeGate family.

The back caption on this photo dated 8/6/1958 reads, “Men working on bridge. View point for visitors in background.” I’ve mentioned the old visitor’s center and the lookout point in a few of my previous posts. You can see the parking lot in the background on the Page side of the canyon in this picture. Access to the parking lot and lookout was from US 89, just above this photo. The camera angle is pointing almost directly to Manson Mesa and Page.

You can see the walkway coming off the right side of the parking lot. It looped back to the covered lookout point below the parking lot. You can see some people there (just in front of the guy in white) taking advantage of the good view. Yours truly took advantage of that view countless times too. The guy at the bottom of the picture looks like he’s carrying something pretty heavy. The guy in front of him looks to be texting. 🙂

This picture looks to have been taken just past the center of the bridge on the Page side of the bridge as you can see the arch beginning its downward slope on the left toward the canyon wall. You can get  good look at the net below too.

The Crane! The Crane!

/ Mike Adams / Leave a comment
19
Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR
7/21/1958
Courtesy of the LeGate family.

This photo had some water damage, so I’m glad I was able to scan it. It’s dated 7/21/1958 and the handwritten description on the back reads, “Tower for cableway under construction.” This was one of three towers on this side of the canyon that rode on railways. This one may have been in a fixed position. I don’t remember for sure. There were three more on the Page side of the canyon. Cables spanned the canyon from these towers and were used to dump concrete, move material, and transport workers into and out of the canyon.

This one is shown on what is today, the upper parking lot of the Visitor’s Center. The Visitor Center itself would eventually be built to the left of this picture.

-Mike

Concrete Batch Plant

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37
Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR
9/15/1958
Courtesy of the Legate Family

Here’s a shot looking down on the conveyor belts that transported the gravel underground to the batch plant. It’s dated 9/15/1958. There is a hand-written caption on the back that reads, “Concrete batching plant and concrete aggregate piles. Aggregate goes to tunnel and conveyor belt below piles and took to top of plant.” If you enlarge this and look close, you’ll see a gravel truck approaching what I believe is the dump hopper.

On the right side of the photo near the top, you can see where the canyon wall has been excavated in preparation for the dam. You can also see the spillway cut out on the far side of the canyon. You can also see the anchor point for the bridge arch on the Page side. Just to the right of this picture is the present day Visitor’s Center.

You can also see the footbridge and its shadow being cast down the canyon wall near the center of the picture.

-Mike

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