One of the first jobs to begin building the Hoover Dam was to get the men and machinery down to the dam site. To do that, they had to bore through some of the toughest rock on earth in order to get the train tracks to the job site. Blasting the tunnels was one of the most dangerous jobs on the project and most of the men who died building the dam died inside these tunnels.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubc_S1-N90o” title=”Walking the Histrionic Railroad Tunnels Hoover Dam” description=”To walk the tunnels that brought men and machinery t build the mighty Hoover Dam in Boulder City Nevada” /] Today, these five monstrous tunnels are a popular hiking and biking trail that leads down to the dam. Walking thru them, you get the real sense of just how big of a project this was. The middle of nowhere. Back before computers and safety regulations. The middle of the Great Depression. In the heat, the wind and the cold. they worked seven days a week to get the project done.Las Vegas was a two-hour car ride away. Boulder city was a “company town” it was only for the white workers who were building the Dam. The minority workers lived in what was called Ragtown, just outside the tunnel entrance.
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