Near Boulder City in Mohave County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Anson Smith
1860 1935
Photographed by Bill Kirchner, August 30, 2011
1. Anson Smith Marker
to
Anson Smith
1860 - 1935
Erected 1976 by Mohave County Bicentennial Commission.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Communications • Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels. In addition, it is included in the Former U.S. Presidents: #31 Herbert Hoover series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1860.
Location. 36° 0.919′ N, 114° 44.067′ W. Marker is near Boulder City, Arizona, in Mohave County. It is on Kingman Wash Access Road, on the left when traveling east. Marker is 0.43 miles from the center of Hoover Dam on the Arizona side. Look for the first "free" parking lot on the left side of the road. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Boulder City NV 89005, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Arizona’s Colorado River Valley. It is also in the American Southwest. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexicos Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Then and Now (approx. 0.2 miles away); Hoover Dam (approx. 0.2 miles away in Nevada); High on a Lonely Hill (approx. 0.2 miles away); The First People
this page online
Regarding Anson Smith. Text from: Kingman Arizona Relocation Information / Famous People of Kingman
Anson Smith - For some of his friends, Anson H. Smith was the editor with the longest continuous tenure in the whole nation. For still others he was an ideal family man with 10 fine children, all of whom survived him. For all who knew him, he was a man of high ideals, strong convictions, an unfailing locality to his country and state, and a friend to everyone.
He was the founder and editor of the Mohave County Miner, a weekly newspaper launched on November 5, 1882 in one of the pioneer mining districts of Arizona. It began in Mineral Park and moved shortly after the arrival of the railroad to the new community of Kingman, where it became a bulwark of support for all worthwhile endeavors.
Photographed by Bill Kirchner, August 30, 2011
2. Anson Smith Marker
When he presented his ideas to Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior under President Woodrow Wilson, Lane wrote a reply in which he called Smiths ideas “a wonderful dream of a wonderful undertaking” but warned that it was “just 50 years ahead of time.”
Smith later described as one of the biggest moments of his life the occasion on which, in June 1933, with the dam about one-third completed, he stood in the dry bed of the Colorado, its water flowing through diversion tunnels on either side. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, while presiding at the Santa Fe conference on the Colorado River Compact in 1922, called Anson Smith the “Father of the Boulder Dam.”
He was active in promotion of good roads, and at the time of his death he was endeavoring to obtain prompt completion of the highway from Kingman to Boulder (Hoover) Dam. Today there is a road in Kingman named after him.
Photographed by Bill Kirchner, August 30, 2011
3. Anson Smith Marker
Arizona spillway in background.
Photographed by Bill Kirchner, August 30, 2011
4. Anson Smith Marker
Photographed by Bill Kirchner, August 30, 2011
5. Hoover Dam
Credits. This page was last revised on November 2, 2019. It was originally submitted on September 3, 2011, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona. This page has been viewed 2,770 times since then and 78 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on September 3, 2011, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.
