Hoover Dam Construction Fatalities

1922

12/20/1922

J. G. Tierney, U.S.B.R**

Drowned (Surveying party, pre-construction)

1931

5/17/1931	Harry Large, Six Company	Rock Slide
5/17/1931	Andrew Lane, Six Company	Rock Slide
5/18/1931	Fred Olsen, Lewis Const. Co.	Premature Explosion
6/20/1931	William Bryant, Six Company	Explosion
6/20/1931	J. P. Sweezy, Six Company	Explosion
6/27/1931	Pat Shannon, Six Company	Heat Prostration
6/28/1931	Mike Madzia, Six Company	Heat Prostration
6/25/1931	Ray Hapland, Six Company	Heat Prostration
7/5/1931	Joe Rolland, Six Company	Drowned
7/5/1931	Martin Puluski, (visitor)	Drowned
7/8/1931	Robert Core, Newberry Elec. Corp.	Heat Prostration
7/10/1931	A. E. Meredith, Lewis Const. Co.	Heat Prostration
7/10/1931	Thomas Murray, Anderson Bros.	Heat Prostration
7/11/1931	Joe Lyons, Anderson Bros.	Heat Prostration
7/13/1931	Earl Parker, Six Company	Heat Prostration
7/15/1931	John Swenson, Six Company	Heat Prostration
7/20/1931	Chase Allen, Six Company	Heat Prostration
7/22/1931	A. A. McClurg, Intrnl. Truck Co.	Heat Prostration
7/23/1931	Tom Noonal, Six Company	Heat Prostration
7/24/1931	Joe Ganz, Anderson Bros.	Heat Prostration
7/26/1931	Lew Starnes, Anderson Bros.	Heat Prostration
9/11/1931	H. H. Kidd, Six Company	Falling Rock
9/21/1931	Jack Russell, Six Company	Fell 400 feet
9/29/1931	Jack Seitz, Six Company	Falling Rock
10/2/1931	Lauri Lehto, Six Company	Falling Rock
10/17/1931	Joe Doyle, Six Company	Falling Rock
10/17/1931	Ralph Henderson, Six Company	Falling Rock
10/17/1931	M. C. Stuckey, Six Company	Falling Rock
11/7/1931	D. R. Elston, Six Company	Struck by Truck
12/15/1931	M. J. Sidmore, Six Company	Premature Explosion
12/15/1931	Frank Manning, Six Company	Premature Explosion

1932

1/7/1932	S. A. McDaniel, Six Company	Fell
2/11/1932	Joe Talbert, Six Company	Power Shovel
2/25/1932	Ben Johnson, Six Company	Drowned in Tank
3/11/1932	O. A. George, Six Company	Crushed – Trucks
3/30/1932	Frank Brady, Six Company	Falling Rock
4/14/1932	Carl Bennett, Six Company	Explosion
4/21/1932	H. H. Nightingale, Six Company	Shovel – Crushed
4/26/1932	L. N. McBride, Six Company	Struck by Skip Line
4/27/1932	Bert Lynch, Six Company	Falling Rock
4/28/1932	V. R. Moore, Six Company	Struck by Concrete Skip
5/11/1932	John Abercrombie, Six Company	Transport Collision
5/20/1932	B. S. Joyce, Six Company	Falling Rock
5/30/1932	H. A. Willis, Six Company	Electrocuted
6/17/1932	H. L. Scothern, Six Company	Struck by Cable
7/25/1932	Walter Hardesty, Six Company	Struck by Cable
7/27/1932	E. A. Bishop, Six Company	Truck Went Overboard
7/29/1932	Alexander Girardi, Six Company	Fell from Wall
8/24/1932	A. E. Wooden, Six Company	Crushed by Form
8/31/1932	E. H. Gammill, Six Company	Premature Explosion
9/24/1932	V. I. Kemnitz, Six Company	Rock Fall
9/25/1932	P. B. Hicks, Six Company	Fell from Wall
9/28/1932	James C. Roberts, Six Company	Falling Rock
11/9/1932	Louie Goss, Six Company	Fell from Wall
11/16/1932	Carl Soderstrom, Six Company	Drowned
12/1/1932	R. R. Petticrew, Six Company	Electrocuted
12/12/1932	Dan Shovlin, Six Company	Struck by Truck
12/23/1932	Walter Hamer, Six Company	Fell from Valve House

1933

1/1/1933	F. C. Palmer, Six Company	Fell from Valve House
1/10/1933	Gus Enberg, Six Company	Explosion
1/11/1933	Howard Cornelius, Six Company	Explosion
2/1/1933	V. H. Blair, Six Company	Fell from Truck
2/7/1933	J. H. Powers, Six Company	Truck fell on him
2/7/1933	M. H. Kaighn, Six Company	Rock Slide
3/12/1933	Tome Markey, Six Company	Fell
3/16/1933	William Koontz, Six Company	Run over by Truck
4/8/1933	Dan Kalal, Six Company	Gravel Slide
5/20/1933	H. D. Bluhm, Six Company	Struck by Shovel
5/22/1933	Pete Savoff, Six Company	Fell
6/23/1933	Mike Landers, Six Company	Falling Rock
6/26/1933	L. W. Steele, Six Company	Runover by Truck
7/1/1933	F. B. Kassell, Six Company	Premature Explosion
7/13/1933	George Falkener, Six Company	Falling Timber
7/19/1933	J. M. Nelson, Six Company	Fell from Form
9/15/1933	V. O. Lee, Six Company	Electrocuted
10/1/1933	James Jackman, Six Company	Falling Concrete Bucket
11/8/1933	W. A. Jameson, Six Company	Concrete Slide
11/8/1933	James Tocci, Six Company	Run over by Truck
12/6/1933	L. E. Roach, Six Company	Fell from Jumbo
12/29/1933	P. A. Malan, Six Company	Fell from Form

1934

1/22/1934	George Good, Six Company	Falling Material
2/1/1934	Rosyn Grant, Six Company	Fell
2/6/1934	Kenneth Walden, Six Company	Crushed by Concrete Bucket
2/26/1934	Eugene Buckner, Six Company	Falling Timber
3/10/1934	George R. Richardson, Six Company	Elevator Accident
3/23/1934	Harry Morgan, Six Company	Fell
4/14/1934	Allen Jackson, Six Company	Fell
5/16/1934	G. D. McIsaac, Six Company	Electrocuted
5/20/1934	Howard Bently, Six Company	Falling Rock
5/25/1934	Fred Deckmann, B&W	Fell
5/26/1934	Samuel L. Carter, Six Company	Run over by Conc. Dinkey
6/11/1934	Grant Miles, Six Company	Fell 60′ walking thru drain
6/24/1934	Victor K. Auchard, Six Company	Crushed under Jumbo
8/27/1934	Harris Lange, B&W	Sling Broke, Falling objects
9/16/1934	Frank A. Fritz, Six Company	Electrocuted
9/26/1934	John W. Rawls, Six Company	Fell from Form
11/1/1934	Paul L. Jordan, B&W	Fell from 30′ Pipe
11/1/1934	Richard M. Whelan, B&W	Penstock Car Broke Loose
11/1/1934	Martin L. Hempel, B&W	Penstock Car Broke Loose
11/4/1934	Alfred E. Foreman, B&W	Penstock Car Broke Loose
11/14/1934	K. H. Rankin, U.S.B.R.	Struck by Concrete Bucket

1935

1/3/1935	J. W. Pitts, Six Company	Struck by Concrete Bucket
2/19/1935	Kenneth L. Wilson, Six Company	Line Broke – Fell 200′
2/21/1935	B. R. Reaves, Six Company	Fell into Tunnel & Drowned
5/15/1935	David C. Nixon, Six Company	Crushed by Concrete Bucket
5/17/1935	Verne Mason, Six Company	Falling Pipe
6/21/1935	J. W. Matson, B&W	Falling Casting
6/21/1935	Harold Koile, B&W	Falling Casting
8/14/1935	William R. Skaloud, B&W	Fell
11/17/1935	Albert G. Loper, Six Company	Fell
11/24/1935	Roy Stevens, Six Company	Struck by Flying Object
12/20/1935	Patrict W. Tierney, U.S.B.R.**	Fell from Intake Tower

Summary of Fatalities

Cause	Industrial Prec. 1935	Industrial During 1935	Non-Industrial Prec. 1935	Non-Industrial During 1935	Total
Heat Prostration	13*	0	3	0	16
Drowning	5	0	2	0	7
Blasting	12	0	0	0	12
Falling Material	20	0	0	0	20
Accidental Falls	19	4	2	1	26
Struck by Equipment or Machinery	24	6	0	0	30
Automobile Accidents	0	0	9	1	10
Misc. Accidents	7	1	0	1	9
Murders & Suicides	0	0	5	0	5
Pneumonia	0	0	38	4	42
Other Natural Causes	0	0	32	4	36
Totals	100	11	91	11	213

**A horrible but terribly curious bit of Hoover Dam trivia: On December 20, 1922, J.G. Tierney, a USBR employee fell from a barge and drowned in the Colorado River fell while performing inititial geological surveys for the dam. Exactly 13 years later, on December 20, 1935, Patrick W. Tierney, a Bureau or Reclamation employee and son of J.G. Tierney, fell several hundred feet from one of the intake towers and drowned.