Editing Hoover Dam (section)

=== Construction deaths ===
[[File:HansenHooverMemorial.jpg|thumb|[[Oskar J. W. Hansen]]'s memorial at the dam which reads in part "They died to make the desert bloom."<ref name="USBR, Hover Artwork" />]]

There were 112 deaths reported as associated with the construction of the dam.<ref name="blf1" /> The first was Bureau of Reclamation employee Harold Connelly who died on May 15, 1921, after falling from a barge while surveying the [[Colorado River]] for an ideal spot for the dam.<ref name="blf1" /> Surveyor John Gregory ("J.G.") Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922, in a flash flood while looking for an ideal spot for the dam was the second person.<ref name="blf1" /> The official list's final death occurred on December 20, 1935, when Patrick Tierney, electrician's helper and the son of J.G. Tierney, fell from one of the two Arizona-side intake towers. Included in the fatality list are three workers who took their own lives on site, one in 1932 and two in 1933.<ref>{{cite book| last = DuTemple| first = Lesley| year = 2003| title = The Hoover Dam| publisher = Twenty-First Century Books| page = [https://archive.org/details/hooverdam00dute/page/82 82]| isbn = 0822546914| url = https://archive.org/details/hooverdam00dute/page/82}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title = Fatalities at Hoover Dam| work = Desert Gazette| url = http://digital-desert.com/hoover-dam/fatalities.html| access-date = December 7, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161220112832/http://digital-desert.com/hoover-dam/fatalities.html| archive-date = December 20, 2016| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| date = March 12, 2015| title = Hoover Dam: 1935 Fatalities| work = United States Bureau of Reclamation| url = http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fat1935.html| access-date = December 7, 2016| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161230171345/https://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fat1935.html| archive-date = December 30, 2016}}</ref> Of the 112 fatalities, 91 were Six Companies employees, three were Bureau of Reclamation employees, and one was a visitor to the site; the remainder were employees of various contractors not part of Six Companies.{{sfn|Stevens|1988|p=320}}

Ninety-six of the deaths occurred during construction at the site.<ref name="blf1" /> Not included in the official number of fatalities were deaths that were recorded as [[pneumonia]]. Workers alleged that this diagnosis was a cover for death from [[carbon monoxide]] poisoning (brought on by the use of gasoline-fueled vehicles in the diversion tunnels), and a classification used by Six Companies to avoid paying compensation claims.{{sfn|Hiltzik|2010|pp=284–286}} The site's diversion tunnels frequently reached {{convert|abbr=on|140|F|C}}, enveloped in thick plumes of vehicle exhaust gases.<ref name="I&amp;T-2010.V25.2" /> A total of 42 workers were recorded as having died from pneumonia and were not included in the above total; none were listed as having died from carbon monoxide poisoning. No deaths of non-workers from pneumonia were recorded in Boulder City during the construction period.{{sfn|Hiltzik|2010|pp=284–286}}