Monday, February 18, 2008

President's Day, 2008. Today we take time to honor President Herbert Hoover

Seventy-five years ago last month, President Herbert Hoover, recognizing the uniqueness of the 275 square miles of pure gypsum comprising White Sands, New Mexico, declared the site a National Monument.

Note the road in darker area, lower right, which ventures into and among the gypsum dunes.

Today, Editor Sam, Mrs. Dada and I will take a drive up to the monument to commemorate President Hoover's decision to set aside this area for all to enjoy. Maybe we'll help sweep some of the shifting sands off the monument's roadways forever facing the threat of being covered over by sand dunes.

With temperatures predicted to be in the 60's, we look forward to a nice drive and maybe a few pictures. Happy holiday to all!

3 comments:

D.K. Raed said...

Thanks for reminding me of Hoover! The Hoover Dam outside Las Vegas is famously named for him. He never even visited it. He wasn't interested in it because ignoring The Great Depression took all his time.

The little tent city of dam workers that sprung up next to the dam was named Boulder City. The original name of the dam was Boulder Dam, but it was changed to Hoover to honor a man who wasn't even interested enough to visit.

No gambling was allowed in Boulder City in an effort to keep workers who had little else to do from losing all their money. This forced them to drive into Vegas where they could drink, gamble & whore to their heart's content. Boulder City remains the only city in Nevada where gambling is not allowed.

The dam formed Lake Mead, where the beach is named Boulder Beach. The hwy leading from Vegas to the dam is called Boulder Hwy. The high school in Boulder City is called Boulder High. The biggest cut you could give someone from Boulder City is to call their city Hoover City. The biggest insult to their high school football team (which we employed regularly when playing them) was to call them Hoover High.

One of my grandfathers was a dam worker. He drove trucks of concrete for the Six Companies. One of the Six Companies is Shea. When I started my own business in San Diego, Shea became my biggest customer. The wheel goes 'round.

Have a great day in White Sands, Mr/Mrs Dada! I'm picturing Sam running free over those dunes of white sands.

Fran said...

Wow! Looks like an amazing place. Looks like snow. I wonder if you can wet the sand & build a sand-snow person?

azgoddess said...

beautiful place to visit!! thanks for the pictures