"We was in a depression, flat on its back, belly up. The press made an announcement that the government was going to build the largest dam in the world. So I went over to a car lot and bought a '26 Essex car for $75 dollars, got into it, and took off for Las Vegas."1 -W. A. Davis "At St. Francis Hospital, the press corps found William Wattis sitting up, wrapped in a silk bathrobe, puffing on a long, black stogie. His bushy white hair had been carefully brushed into place by his wife, and he was eager to talk. News of the winning bid had lifted his spirits. He grinned broadly for the photographers, then lectured the writers: 'Now this dam is just a dam but it s a damn big dam,' he said, his eyes twinkling. 'Otherwise it's no different than others we've thrown up in a dozen places. "'s Joseph E. Stevens Word of the dam project flew through the grim landscape of the Great Depression, bringing workers and their families to Las Vegas long before work at the dam site commenced. Hopeful squatters threw together rough shanties and, when they were lucky, found meals in soup kitchens. Ruben and Margaret Gard are pictured outside their Ragtown home. (Used with permission.4) The project's specifications struck many builders as impossible, yet they intrigued William H. Wattis, president of the Utah Construction Company, who often teamed with Henry Morrison of Morrison Knudsen. As the estimated costs soared, the builders invited in the J. F. Shea company of Los Angeles and McDonald & Kahn of San Francisco, as well as prominent and frequent partners in building, W. A. Bechtel and Henry Kaiser.