Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-25
TOWN PINS
GREAT HOPE ON DAM
Las Vegas Dreams of Rosy
Future When Boulder Can.
yon Project Is Completed.
~ Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
LAS VEGAS. New. July 25.-Colorful
and tense as q frontier city In the grip
Of a gold rush. Las Vegas is awaiting
feryently actual commencement Of work
on the gigantic Boulder Canyon dam.
Scores of buildings and homes are
being rushed to completion. Arplanes
have been added to the railroad and
numerous motor stage lines connecting
the city with Los Angeles. Reno and
other points, and the magic transfor-
nation of desert town into a substan-
tial city progresses steadily.
Solid Growth Is Starting.
The first wild excitement over con-
struction of the mighty barrier has
passed, and more solid. enduring
growth is following in the footsteps OF
the hectic dreams of the initial rush OF
adventures and fortune seekers. But
the citys sun baked streets still swarm
with eager-eyed crowds who did not
know that great engineering project
moves slowly in its preparatory stages.
Hundreds find shelter in hastily built
shacks pitched in the blistering desert.
waiting for the time when the Govern
ment will provide employment for
thousands Of workers in Harvesting the
mighty Colorado. AS in the numerous
mining booms that have swept over
Nevada in the past so years. many new
corners are without funds to carry them
through long months of idleness.
It probably will be another year be-
fore work will start on the great dam.
which will extend approximately 800
feet from cliff to cliff and tower more
than TOO feet. There Is huge amount
of preliminary work to be done. Vast
quantities Of materials and equipment
must be assembled. Contracts must be
considered and approved before even
construction of shelters for workmen
starts.
Citizens Dream Of Future.
Little will be done this year in the
way of providing employment, and Las
Vegas is no place at present for the
man or woman seeking work. There
are too many here now and there are
no towns IN the vast desert territory
centering around the site Of Boulder
Canyon with means of employment to
care for an army of impoverished.
Las Vegas looks to the future in an
ticipation of greatness. Citizens tell OF
what will happen when the great tur-
bines to be installed below the dam de-
velop $4,000 horsepower of electrical
energy. They dream Of great chemical
ana IIlQuSLIldl pidllJS, tdlA "a y plO-
jected pelectrolytic smelter to treat ores
from q 100-mine tributary to the town.
They remind you that the Nevada
Colorado River Commission has filed
application with the Interior Depart
ment for a fourth of all the power to
be developed at the dam, and insist
Las Vegas is destined to become Sec
ond Niagara Falls.
Dealers in real estate whisper of the
immense profits to be made by the early
investors. They talk vaguely-but at
times not without effect on impression
able fortune seekers-of the wealth that
must flow into Las Vegas when con-
struction Of the mighty barrier starts.
The fact that Las Vegas is roughly 80
miles from the dam does not dampen
their ardor in the least.
Realty "Wildcatting" Is Checked.
Much Of the early real estate wild
eating" has been checked by Federal
and State officials, but dealers In
Lizard Pasture" are still inclined to be
decidedly enthusiastic.
Optimism pervades the blistering
desert air. That Las Vegas will benefit
greatly from the development of the
Colorado's titanic waterpower is certain.
Whether she will realize her fondest
hopes, however, or see most Of the
power transmitted to Los Angeles and
other California cities, would be dim
cult to predict.
Copyright. 1897