Boulder Dam

These Boulder Dam images made by Ned Scott capture the  sweeping grandeur of this magnificent reclamation project set in motion by President Roosevelt several years earlier.

Being on the lookout for all photographic opportunities, Ned Scott learned that the Department of the Interior was looking for still photographers to document projects planned and in construction for the Soil Erosion Service. He went to Boulder Dam, which in early 1935 was nearing completion, and created a 5 x 7 photographic file which he mailed to Mr. Charles W. Collier. This letter was Mr. Collier’s response, sent c/o of Ned’s good friend Henwar Rodakiewicz on Honey Drive, and citing an incorrect first name (Donald).

The day was a special one.  I am sure that Ned Scott had no idea that dam engineers were testing one of the western spillways. But he took advantage of that circumstance, and he created some of the most unusual images of the dam.  Not only was the day fortuitous, but so was the openhanded access he was granted for his photographic efforts.  The image in which he is looking south, through the cut of Black Canyon, was taken most likely from the bottom reaches of the structure–an unprecedented depiction of Boulder Dam in action.