Building Glen Canyon Dam across a 700-foot desert chasm

They built the world's highest steel arch bridge over empty air

Facing an impassable canyon gap, workers suspended over thin air assemble the world's highest steel arch bridge to connect both rims.

Bridging a 700-Foot Canyon Chasm

The most dangerous job in engineering history

High scalers scale sheer sandstone cliffs of Glen Canyon to pry loose boulders and drill dynamite holes, risking their lives to secure the canyon walls.

The High Scalers Who Risked Everything on Canyon Walls

Taming the raging Colorado River with bulldozers

Crews dump massive rockloads to dam the Colorado River, forcing the raging water into giant diversion tunnels cut through the canyon walls.

Bulldozers Battle the Colorado River to Divert It

They dug 137 feet beneath the river before building

Massive power shovels excavate prehistoric silt and gravel to reveal solid bedrock 137 feet down, which crews power-wash before laying concrete.

Digging 137 Feet Below the Riverbed to Bedrock

A cement truck every 40 minutes, day and night

Supplying Glen Canyon Dam required a dedicated cement plant nearly 200 miles away that ran an endless fleet of desert trucks non-stop.

A Cement Truck Every 40 Minutes Day and Night

The world's largest ice plant was built to pour concrete

Curing concrete generates intense chemical heat that can crack a dam, forcing engineers to build an enormous ice plant to freeze the mix from the inside out.

Why They Built a Giant Ice Factory in the Desert

A 20-story concrete factory hanging over a canyon

The master mixing plant for Glen Canyon Dam was perched like a fortress along the gorge wall, dispensing heavy concrete straight into giant aerial cableway buckets.

The 20-Story Factory Hanging on a Cliff

On June 17, 1960, the first 12-cubic-yard bucket of concrete dropped onto the bedrock of Glen Canyon, kicking off a pour of more than 400,000 buckets.

The First Concrete Pour of Glen Canyon Dam

Building Glen Canyon Dam in Concrete Blocks

Concrete blocks are joined with cement grout to form the dam.

Hauling 100-ton steel pipes across the desert

Gigantic steel penstock sections were fabricated near Flagstaff and hauled individually to Glen Canyon on specialized trucks crawling at just 15 miles per hour.

Moving 100-Ton Steel Pipes at 15 Miles Per Hour

[04:59] Bridging a 700-Foot Canyon Chasm
[07:47] The High Scalers Who Risked Everything on Canyon Walls
[09:11] Bulldozers Battle the Colorado River to Divert It
[10:51] Digging 137 Feet Below the Riverbed to Bedrock
[15:11] A Cement Truck Every 40 Minutes Day and Night
[16:09] Why They Built a Giant Ice Factory in the Desert
[16:47] The 20-Story Factory Hanging on a Cliff
[21:45] The First Concrete Pour of Glen Canyon Dam
[24:10] Building Glen Canyon Dam in Concrete Blocks
[25:36] Moving 100-Ton Steel Pipes at 15 Miles Per Hour

Building Glen Canyon Dam across a 700-foot desert chasm

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