of maverick individuals, each driven by a desire to transform the emerging West. Each of them knew that success of this project would allow them to step out of from the shadow of Eastern financiers and industrialists. The idea to form one company out of a union of various construction and engineering firms came from Harry Morrison of the Morrison-Knudsen construction firm of Boise, Idaho. Morrison had forged a profitable working relationship with Utah Construction and decided they, too, should be in on the Black Canyon, as it was called at the time, project. Once the players were in place and the requisite performance bond funds were available, all attention turned to the submission of a winning bid. The scoop from inside Washington was that the Reclamation Service was not going to waste time with bids designed to pad the pockets of any private firms. Their engineers had estimated the cost of the project down to the last dime. The men of Six Companies, at the urging of Harry Morrison, turned to Frank Crowe to come up with a number that would get them the job. Considered the finest construction man in the country, Crowe adhered to meticulous standards in his work and personal life. With a calculating eye and a keen mind, Crowe present a bid of $48,890,995. The number fell just $24,000 short of the Reclamation Service's own accounting, low enough to win the contract for Six Companies. Now that Six Companies had the job of building the Dam, there was one thing missing was housing for the workers. Bolder City was essentially a government reservation, constructed under the jurisdiction of the Reclamation Service. It had large dormitories for single men, and one-, two, and three-room cottages for families. An enormous mess hall served 6000 meals a day. Every week 12 tons of fruit and vegetable were shipped in, along with five tons of meat and two-and-a-half tons of eggs. For $1.50 a day, a man received three square, all-you-can-eat, meals. As the construction project wore on, Boulder City expanded. Its landscape was said to have changed so rapidly that it was common for a man to come home after his shift and walk into the wrong house. Gambling, drinking, or prostitution that flourished down the highway in Las Vegas was banned.

Also, the U.S. government's contract with Six Companies stipulated that American citizen be hired for the job. No race, except for "Mongolians" were specifically excluded. The term American citizen, however, came to be defined as white American citizen. In May, 1931 the Colored Citizens Labor and Protective Association of Las Vegas complained that none of the first 1000 workers placed on Six Companies payroll for the dam project were African American. Officials contented that Six Companies had not hired African American workers for fear of causing racial strif

Some topics in this essay:
Six Companies, Hoover Dam, African American, Reclamation Service, Boulder City, Las Vegas, Black Canyon, Six American, Frank Crowe, Lyman Wilbur, six companies, hoover dam, african american, african american workers, boulder dam, black canyon, boulder city, dam project, american workers, las vegas, boulder canyon, boulder dam hoover, dam black canyon, boulder canyon project, called boulder dam,