This 1960s film from International Harvester and the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation gives viewers a look at the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona. The film (possibly a response to the advocacy work of the Sierra Club) highlights the engineering challenges builders had to overcome as well as the benefits to be gained of the dam on the Colorado River. The film opens with footage of mountain men and Navajo gathering for the 1959 opening of a steel bridge over the canyon. Viewers see the initial construction of the dam (00:53). Narrator Chet Huntley speaks to the camera about the Federal Reclamation Act and the construction of federal dams (01:48). A topographical map shows Glen Canyon near the Arizona-Utah border. Huntley shows a scaled model of the canyon with the dam and the bridge. The dam, to be built by the Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation, not only creates Lake Powell but also is the cause for the establishment of Page, AZ. Viewers see the desert landscape near the canyon (04:50). Navajo tend to their sheep. Contractors built the bridge to transport men and supplies across the canyon (05:50). However, other transportation methods are developed, including open-air cable cars, also known as “monkey slides,” and a highline suspension tram that carries a truck across the canyon. Chet Huntley shows a model of the canyon and river without the dam and bridge (07:16). The Colorado River flows through the canyon (08:30). Footage shows mountain snow melting, leading to spring runoff. A man repels down the cliffside of the canyon (09:27). Rock is dynamited. Inside one of the tunnels, a drilling machine continues its work. A crawler tractor pulls a compactor. A blasting crew detonates explosives, softening more rock and earth (10:59). Rugged diesel trucks—pay haulers—haul away rock (11:43). A temporary concrete plant is used for cement (12:36). A concrete bucket is moved off a truck and hauled along the suspension line to the other side of the canyon. The film shows a handful of the trucks used in the construction of the dam. Viewers see the finished diversion tunnels (14:17). Heavy equipment is moved across the canyon. A crane moves earth at a levy to prepare to divert the river (15:28). Mud from the river is loaded into the pay haulers. The river is partially diverted through a tunnel (16:47). A crawler and a pay hauler move earth to stop the original flow of the river. Trucks dump massive boulders into the river (17:47), which are followed by steel forms, and, finally, a massive circular steel form (18:50) and more earth to finally completely divert the river. Aerial footage shows Page (20:04): kids swim at a new swimming pool; others play at the school playground. Viewers also see the signs for Page’s new churches. A fully automated concrete mixing plant is built at the construction site. Two new travel cableway towers are positioned on the top of the canyon. Navajo, tourists, and construction workers gather to celebrate the first load of concrete being dumped (21:44). A concrete bucket is filled then moved over the site, where it releases the concrete. The film concludes with Chet Huntley recounting the timeframe it took to complete the dam and highlighting the positive benefits stemming from the construction of the dam.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com