While
riding herd on his Dad’s cattle about the turn of the century, Henry
C. Holderman first envisioned building dams on the Grand River to
provide the Cherokee Nation with electricity.
A
few years later, he and his brother, Bert, and two engineering students
from Spaulding University built a houseboat and floated down the river
in search of suitable sites. They were, in fact, the first to complete
an engineering survey for the dam. But it was still just a dream. For
years, Holderman looked for financing. In fact, as part of a loosely
organized lobby group called “the rainbow chaser,” he made a hard
trip from Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. to attempt to secure funding for
the dam.
Jack
Rorschach and George Schaefer of Vinita, along with Clay Babb and Owen
L. Butler of Grove, made up the remaining “rainbow chasers.” Then,
as now, funding was a function of being at the right place at the right
time.
When
President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought his whistle-stop re-election
train tour through Oklahoma, he stopped briefly in Vinita. He had to.
You see, in a never-ending attempt to get Presidential attention, George
Schaefer managed to get a city ordinance approved in Vinita requiring
all Presidential trains to stop in the community if they passed through.
The President’s train passed through – and had to stop—by law. It
worked. FDR was greeted by a large crowd and a banner strung along the
north end of the depot which read, “Let’s Build Grand River Dam.”
The
President thanked Vinita for arranging the unscheduled stop, and said he
would see what he could do about funding the dam. With the help of U.S.
Representatives Wesley E. Disney and W.R. Holway, funding was approved
in September, 1937. In October, 1937, engineers Holway and Heufer began
surveying and engineering. Massman Construction of Kansas City was the
prime contractor, and construction began in December, 1938.
Unbelievably,
especially considering the equipment of the day, the dam was completed
in 20 months. The final openings in the dam (under arches seven and
eight) were closed in March, 1940, and Grand Lake was full by the
end of that summer!
The
Pensacola Dam remains today a true wonder, and still the largest multiple
arch dam in the world, spanning 5,145 feet with 51 arches and 21
spillways. Rising 150 feet above the river bed, the dam holds the waters
that form Grand Lake’s 1,300 miles of scenic shoreline, surrounding
approximately 60,000 surface acres of water.
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