Country Club Living

Undated and Unsourced. Royce & Dora Knight’s back yard?

This picture is undated and I don’t remember where I got it. I’m guessing it’s 1962-ish, based on the height of the dam and the fact it’s not visible yet. It gets pretty grainy when you zoom in, so I can’t make out any of the faces. But I think the guy in the white shirt standing in the back on the left could be Royce Knight. Just a guess. How about you? Do you recognize anyone? Check out the chaise lounge chairs. And that poor tree needs to be staked before the Page winds rip it out of the ground!

Enjoy!

1960s Aerial View of Page Arizona

Source: Terry Edwards. Date and photographer unknown. Most likely USBR.

Here’s a 1960-ish shot of Page and the surrounding area from the seat of a plane. If you click on it, it will open it up in a new tab and enable you to zoom in closer. All of my pictures work that way. You’re welcome. 🙂  Enlarge it and let’s talk about some of the detail.

Starting on the bottom left, you’ll see the original radio station (KPGE) just off the old Coppermine road. I don’t remember what the building between it and the water treatment plant was. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know. I posted pictures of the water treatment plant already in a post I called Got Water? You can check it out >HERE<. Next to the water treatment plant is the go-cart track and the Little League baseball field. If you look at that area on Google Earth, you can still see remnants of the go-cart track. That’s actually the second location of the baseball field. The first one was behind Keisling’s gas station and The Bottle Stop (now Stix Market). The outline of it is still visible in this picture. You can see that original field better >HERE<.

Moving up from the water treatment plant, you’ll notice that Chapman’s trailer park isn’t there yet. Several church buildings are dotting the landscape along church row (7th Avenue – now Lake Powell BLVD). The long buildings on the inside loop of church row were the teacher’s apartments. They may have been under

That Was Then; This is Now

That was then.
Source: Dugan Warner.
The photographer is unknown, but this is most likely a USBR photo. It’s undated.

I have to confess, I spent a lot of time pouring over this top picture and then I had this brilliant idea to grab a current day photo and compare. Yes, I have moments of brilliance. But they’re short lived.

This post has two photos. The one above was then and the bottom one is now. The top picture was taken before time began. That’s an exaggeration, but it’s not too far off. It’s a high altitude photo of the Colorado River at the Glen Canyon Dam site. There is nothing there but a muddy river. The soon-to-be city of Page is outlined in the dotted area. Wahweap creek is visible (and empty) at the bottom right. The beehive is plainly visible, but this was clearly taken before any work on Glen Canyon Dam or the city of Page had begun.

When you’re done with the top photo, look at the “now” picture below for comparison. I want to thank Dugan Warner for supplying the top photo to me so I could share it with you. Enjoy!

-Mike

This is a present day look at the same area.

1958 Glen Canyon Dam Preparation

Photo: A. E. Turner, USBR
Courtesy of the LeGate family.

This photo is dated 7/8/1958. The back reads, “Foot bridge. The diversion tunnel inlet can be seen at bottom of canyon on right.”

As I scoured this with my handy-dandy magnifying glass, I noticed about a dozen people walking across the footbridge. As was stated on the back of the photo, you can see one of the diversion tunnels at the bottom of the canyon. These were used to divert the Colorado River water around the dam site during construction.

In the distance you can see a very dry Wahweap Bay and Castle Rock. It looks like this picture was taken from on the Beehive. It would be cool to find that spot and take another picture today of this same angle. This may have been taken before they sheered off the side to make room for the railways that supported the cable cranes. And you thought the flattened side of the Beehive was there to make room for the Visitor’s Center, didn’t you. The dam sight is just to the right of this picture. Stay tuned…

-Mike