E. O. Wattis, left, confers with Six Companies partner Harry Morrison, of Morrison Knudsen. Behind them is one of four diversion tunnels excavated to reroute the waters of the Colorado River. During his long hours of illness, W. H. Wattis fretted about the Six Companies project and the overall future of Utah Construction. Virtually all their lives he and his brother Ed were closer than most brothers, let alone most business partners. Yet Will felt he could not discuss a crucial concern with his elder brother, and so he summoned his daughters instead. At that time, Marriner Eccles was unaware he was the topic of discussion, but later his biographer explained the deathbed promise, as Eccles had come to understand it: "Under normal circumstances, [W. H.] said, it would be reasonable to expect that upon his death he would be succeeded in the presidency of the UCC by his older brother, Ed. '"Circumstances, however, were not normal. At an unsettled time in the general economy, the company was entering into an untried relationship with five other firms. The only other person equal to the task of leading Utah Construction in the period ahead was Marriner Eccles. "T want you girls to promise me,' Wattis continued, 'that after I'm gone, you will do everything you can to put Marriner into the presidency of Utah. I can't tell this to Ed, but Ed can't handle the job. He's too old. Marriner can.'" W. H. Wattis died a few days before excavation started at the Hoover Dam site. Eccles accepted the presidency of Utah Construction, but only on condition that E. 0. Wattis, age 76, be named chairman of the Board of Directors, a newly-created position. Littlefield wrote later: "It was not a slot that satisfied E. O.'s family. The E. 0. Wattis family felt it was an act of treachery to make possible the election of Marriner instead of E. 0. This caused a serious rift in the [Wattis] family that continued for many years."