Our world is full of the unexplainable history is an open book. All of these, his amazing tales are right there on display just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the cabinet of curiosities the it rises over the colorado river, a concrete protector for the areas below it irrigate more than one point: five million acres of land in the united states in mexico, where much of our fruit in cotton are grown at supplies, water and hydroelectric power to nevada, arizona and california without fail. The hoover dam is truly a wonder,

of the modern world built in nineteen. Thirty three, it took twenty one thousand men, five years and four point four million cubic yards of concrete to finish it and like all great structures, it started out as little more than dear as families began moving out west in the late eighteen hundreds they found themselves at the mercy of all sorts of things, including the local wildlife, harsh weather conditions and them dangerous natural phenomenon of all the colorado river. living in the lower river valley, often lost their homes and sometimes even their lives. During the times when the colorado flooded, so a nineteen twenty two, a group of surveyors, decided to do something about it. They saw what could be possible if a dam was built in just the right spot on the river and what it can do for the neighbouring territories. No more devastating floods instead

could provide electric power for thousands and a feather in america's cap. As an agricultural innovator, they considered blasting walls of nearby bolder canyon collapsing it into a sort of natural damn. But the method was untested and there were no guarantees. It would save money in the long run. Instead, on December twentieth of nineteen twenty two five days before christmas, the surveyors set out to find the perfect spot to build their damn from scratch. It was during this hunt when colorado river experienced a flash flood. No one saw coming especially not john gregory tierney, who was caught in the rush and washed away in the river though his remains were never found. John was presumed to be dead. He became the first of almost one hundred casualties of the hoover. Damn both before and during its construction. Jain left behind

none, Patrick, william tyranny who learned to get by without his father there to guide him before the name completion. However, Patrick experienced the second one thing to happen to his family sense. His father is untimely death, the great depression. Everyone was out of work and without his father there to help make ends meet. It was up to patrick to support the rest of the family. He sought work wherever he could, but fortunately, Patrick had no notable skills and jobs were hard to By then one day he came across in open position as an electricians helper on a major construction project out west. You can probably guess what that project was too that's right. The hoovered, the wild endeavour. His father never got to see get off. The ground was now his patrick worked on the enormous intake

hours responsible for moving water throughout the dam for irrigation and hydro electric power. It was a good job and he earned a lot of money doing it, but then the unthinkable happen in nineteen thirty, five, three months after president franklin, roosevelt dedicated a dam in front of the american public. A freak accidents, ST patrick, falling off one of the intake towers on the arizona side of the dam he plummeted. Three hundred and twenty feet to his death below Patrick was officially listed as the final casualty of the hoover dam construction. The date of his death December twentieth, nineteen, thirty five, exactly fourteen years to the day, his father, the very first casualty was swept away by the colorado river. It was a tragedy for sure

But you know what they say like father, like son long before we were shaking polaroids and our phones became our primary camera. We looked at photography through a different lens. It required large specialized equipment to shoot photos. The process was slow, expensive and the results were hit or miss. In short, it needed time to develop in eighteen, twenty four, a process known as helios graphy allowed Joseph nyssa for the apps to take the first photograph. He would expose a plate of glass coated with a type of naturally occurring asphalt to the light. In order for the asphalt to harden after washing the plate with oil of lavender, the hardened areas stayed behind while

rest fell away, leaving naps with what we know today. As a photograph of the process was long and cumbersome exposure times took days and the only subjects that would sit still long enough to have their pictures taken retreats as the years went on, scientists work to refine those early techniques. New materials such as silver I had died and mercury vapours were introduced, an exposure time shrunk from days two hours and then two minutes in eighteen, forty one, almost twenty years after Heliographs stay butte. One physicist realise that if he smoked silver, I died for silver bromide. He could shrink exposure times even more. What once took minutes now took seconds and made portraits of real life human beings possible ad in the introduction of pay.

In eighteen, forty seven and we start to get the picture of what would come to be recognized as modern photography. But before we started whining roles of cellular lloyd into the backs of our kodaks amateur photos were still being taken on photographic plates, rectangular sheets of glass coded in light, sensitive silver salts. Once used, these plates were taken to specialty shops where they were device. onto paper. This is what happened to a mother in germany in nineteen fourteen, like any camera toting parent of a young child. She wanted to preserve a moment in time of her little boy. She prompt him up in his adorable white outfit and snapped off burning the image into the glass plates ready to be developed, but fortunately

the only thing developing in germany in nineteen fourteen was war world war, one to be precise. The woman took the plate to a store in strasbourg. Hoping she'd have the image back in time, but it was too late. War had broken out and the town grew too dangerous for her and her family to live in the mother, fled to frankfurt just after dropping off the plate to be developed, a photo of her bouncing baby boy stay behind lost forever. Two years later, the woman say from the tanks and guns and grenades gave birth to another child. This time a daughter she wanted to commemorate the newest addition to her family. With you guessed it a photograph. This time would be different. They were not at risk of the war finding them again. So after a quick stroll to buy a new photographic plate, she did the same thing. She done two years earlier with her son. She popped her daughter up in front of

camera and click there. She was a little girl immortalized on glass, the woman drop the plate at the nearest shop and this time She was able to stick around long enough to pick up her prince, but when she saw the photo something was wrong. There was some one else in the picture. The new play she bought hadn't been knew it all. It had been miss labelled when it was transferred from a shop in strasbourg The way to frankfurt during the war. Behind the image of her beautiful baby girl was another person, a little boy dressed in white, her little boy, the photograph sheet. behind at the beginning of world war, one found its way home and the mother had somehow pulled off the impossible to manage to get her to young children to sit still long enough or a picture together.

I hope you enjoy. Today's guided tour of the cabinet of curiosities subscribe for free on apple pie, Or learn more about the show by visiting curiosities, podcast dot com, the show was created by me, Erin monkey in partnership with how stuff works. I may another award, winning show called lore witches upon cast book series and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the world of lore dont, come and until next time stay curious.