胡佛大壩的“除塵潛水員”
在1930年代初期酷熱難耐的胡佛大壩建設期間,20歲的納瓦荷族高空作業員卡洛斯承擔了一項無人願意承擔的任務。當其他人冒著生命危險攀爬到高處清理岩壁時,卡洛斯和他的團隊——主要由美洲原住民和墨西哥工人組成——則專注於深層作業。他們是“除塵潛水員”,負責潛入剛剛澆築、正在凝固的巨型大壩混凝土內部。他們的工作是利用靈敏的聽音棒和對泥土和岩石的了解,「聆聽」正在凝固的混凝土塊中出現的氣泡或薄弱點,然後用特殊的灌漿混合物將其填充。在緩慢凝固的結構內部進行這項工作令人感到幽閉恐懼。他們運用卡洛斯祖父教給他們的專注力和呼吸技巧,並用這項至關重要的隱密技能為團隊換取額外的飲用水和更安全的地面工作。卡洛斯說:「他們建造大壩的形狀,讓所有人都能看到。我們賦予它堅實的心臟,那部分無人知曉。」他們默默無聞的工作,確保了美國現代奇蹟之一的結構完整性。
The Dust-Divers of the Hoover Dam
During the construction of the Hoover Dam in the brutal heat of the early 1930s, Carlos, a 20-year-old Navajo high-scaler, performed a duty no one else would. While others braved the heights to clear rock faces, Carlos and his crew—mostly Native American and Mexican workers—specialized in the depths. They were the "Dust-Divers," tasked with descending into the freshly poured, setting concrete of the massive dam itself. Their job was to use sensitive listening rods and their knowledge of earth and stone to "hear" pockets of air or weaknesses forming within the curing monolith, which they would then fill with a special grout mixture. It was claustrophobic, terrifying work inside the slowly solidifying structure. They used rituals of focus and calming breath taught by Carlos's grandfather and traded their crucial, hidden skill for extra water rations and safer above-ground assignments for their crew. Carlos said: "They build the shape of the dam for all to see. We give it its strong heart, where no one will ever look." Their unseen work ensured the structural integrity of one of America's modern wonders.