Oral
Histories
Poem by Claude Rader, a worker on Hoover Dam, as it appeared
in the Las Vegas Evening Review Journal, November 9, 1931
Abe Lincoln freed the negroes
And old Nero he burned Rome,
But the Big Six helped depression
When they gave the stiff a home.
In a nice bunk house their sleepin’
Their workin’ every day,
The hungry look has vanished
For they got three squares a day.
You’ll find tall Lou from Kal-a-ma-zoo,
And Slim from Alabam,
Mixed in with all the rest of us
Old boys from Boulder Dam.
And the fallin’ rocks can’t scare us
Nor the scorchin’ rays of the sun,
We’ve rode the rods and brakebeams
Ragged and on the bum.
And they gave us jobs and fed us
When we needed it you bet,
And we all are truly thankful
With no feelings of regret.
So were stickin’ till the finish
There’s me and Ike and Sam,
And we’re getting’ fat and stakie
Us old boys on Boulder Dam.
There are thousands we know that knock it
And holler that they are cheap,
But to us it brings no worry
Not a moments loss of sleep.
For we’ve been here since it started,
We’re use to all the slam,
And we’re stickin’ to the finish
Us old boys on Boulder Dam. |
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National
Archives and Records Administration