"Damn Big Dam"
Because construction of Hoover (Boulder) Dam across the Colorado River at Black Canyon is the largest single engineering feat ever attempted in the U. S., individual contracting companies were hesitant about undertaking the job for the Government. Therefore a group of potent Western contractors got together, organized Six Companies, Inc. Pooling their resources they submitted a bid to the Interior Department. Last week in Washington, Secretary of the Interior Wilbur awarded the Hoover Dam contract to Six Companies as low bidder. Their price: $48,890,995.50. The U. S. is to supply concrete—20.000 freight cars of it—steel, other materials and machinery which will run the final bill for the dam and power plants up to $165,000,000. Under $5,000,000 bond, Six Companies must finish the job in 1938 or pay a penalty of $3,000 for every day they exceed the 2,565-day limit.
Six Companies which won this biggest single peacetime Government contract is composed of: Utah Construction Co.; Henry J. Kaiser and W. A. Bechtel & Co.; McDonald & Kahn Ltd.; Morrison-Knud-sen & Co.; J. F. Shea Co. and Pacific Bridge Co. Principal organizer of Six Companies and its president is William H. Wattis, 72, head of Utah Construction Co. With his older brother, Edmund Orson Wattis (Six Companies' vice president) he began work as a grader when the Union Pacific first pushed into Utah. Together the Wattis brothers built the Western Pacific from Salt Lake City to Oroville, Calif, (a $20,000,000 job), the Southern Pacific into Mexico, the American Falls Dam in Idaho, the Gibson Dam in Montana, the Guernsey Dam in Wyoming, the Hetch-Ketchy Dam in California.
Last week small, spry, white-haired William Wattis was in San Francisco's St. Francis Hospital taking the Coffey-Humber cancer treatment when word reached him that his company had won the contract to build Hoover Dam. His jolly blue eyes snapped with delight. Wrapped in his bathrobe, and puffing a big, black cigar he talked eagerly:
"Now this dam is just a dam but it's a damn big dam. Otherwise it's no different than others we've thrown up in a dozen places. It involves a lot of money—more money than any one contractor has a right to have. ... I don't know when I'll get out of here. I think I am improving but don't worry, I'll be on this job."