Mt. Wilson, California / The Roosevelt Dam, Salt River, Arizona

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Mt. Wilson, California / The Roosevelt Dam, Salt River, Arizona Produced: 1917

Description The original catalog description provided by the Ford Motor Company reads as follows: a. Tourists on mule back on mountain trail. “Winding our way up the slopes and across the canyons, the view became more inspiring at every turn.” Panorama of valley below - riders on trail. “Where there’s a mule there’s a way - surefooted and confident that haste is of the devil.” Mule back riders on steep mountain trail. “At an altitude of 3,000 feet we reached the snow line, deep and crisp, covering the mountains like frosting on a huge cake.” Riders, snow-covered mountains. “Here is ‘Old Sandy.’ 40 years young, he has climbed the mountains a thousand times but unlike the prophets he refuses to ‘ascend on high’ rather has he one speed -- low, decidedly low.” Old man driving pack donkey. “At the top we found the snow three feet deep, in fact we were caught in a blizzard that rendered the trails impassable and held us prisoners on the mountain for several days.” Tourists, mules, snow-covered forest. “Mount Wilson has been selected by astronomers as an ideal location for their work, a colony of star gazers living on the mountain the year round.” View of mountain, snow, trees. “The Snow Horizontal Telescope, known as a sun glass. The telescope has a focal length of 154 feet, the largest in the world.” Observatory set on top of tower. “Carnegie Observatory on the summit of the mountain. 12,000 tons of material were used in its construction. When completed it will contain a great 100 inch reflector, the mirror weighing 4½ tons.” Observatory. “Up before the sun, the next morning we watched ‘old Sol’ creep up from behind a neighboring mountain.” Sunrise. “Echo Rock, where your shout is returned threefold from the neighboring canyons - no chance girls, for the last word here.” Tourists in deep snow looking across canyon at mountain - wooded mountains. “‘When the clouds are on the hills, they’ll come down by the mills’”. Views of mountains, some cloud shrouded - trees, snow. “Natives of the mountain. Tall and stately sentinels whose guardianship has extended through a century.” Tourist walking through snow-covered pine forest. [1917] b. “We motored up from Phoenix over the old Apache Trail, now an ideal motor highway, coursing majestically among walls of granite.” Cars on mountain road - tourists climbing on rocks at base of cliff - views of barren mountain country. “At noon time we camped for luncheon beside a quiet little stream where years ago the Apache Chiefs gathered to quench the thirst of man and beast.” Tourists picnicking on rocks - view of mountains, canyon. “The great Roosevelt Dam. The largest project of its kind ever undertaken. Cost $11,000,000. A gravity dam made of immense blocks of stone quarried from the granite hills hard by.” The dam from below. “An arch of rubble masonry with a radius of 400 feet built for all time and designed to hold 1,284,200 acre feet of water. Height of the dam is 284 feet. 168 feet thick at the base and at the top twenty.” Views of dam from lake side. “The length of the wall at the river bed is 235 feet; at the top is a roadway for the passage of vehicles 1,080 feet long.” View of top of dam, vehicle crossing, several views of dam from downstream side. “A big electrical plant run by immense turbines furnishes power and light for the surrounding country. Electric cars in Phoenix, 75 miles away, obtain their power from the dam.” Power lines leading from dam to transformers. [1917]

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7419107

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