Six Companies, Inc.

Six Companies, Inc. was an American construction consortium created in February 1930 to pursue the Boulder Canyon Project, later known as Hoover Dam. The venture brought together several major contractors because the scale, technical difficulty, financial requirements, and risk of the Colorado River dam project exceeded the practical capacity of any single member. Its formation marked one of the most prominent examples of coordinated heavy-construction contracting in the United States during the early twentieth century. The consortium was organized around Utah Construction Company and Morrison-Knudsen, whose representatives initially explored a joint bid. The expected size of the project led them to recruit additional firms. The resulting group combined Bechtel-Kaiser, MacDonald and Kahn, Utah Construction Company, Morrison-Knudsen, Pacific Bridge Company, and J. F. Shea Company. Ownership and participation were divided among the members, with Bechtel-Kaiser holding the largest share at 30 percent, MacDonald and Kahn and Utah Construction each holding 20 percent, and the remaining three firms holding 10 percent apiece. The Bureau of Reclamation issued bidding documents for the Boulder Canyon Project in January 1932, although the consortium had been incorporated earlier. The government supplied the principal materials, while the successful contractor was responsible for preparing the site and constructing the dam. The bid required substantial financial guarantees and imposed a seven-year completion period. Six Companies submitted the winning offer of $48,890,955 on March 4, 1931, underbidding the next proposal by approximately $5 million. The apparent chronology reflects the project’s extended development and contracting process, during which the consortium prepared and secured its bid before the later release of detailed bid documents described in historical accounts. Morrison-Knudsen engineer Frank T. Crowe played a central role in preparing the bid and was selected as general construction superintendent. Under his direction, the consortium coordinated excavation, concrete production, river diversion, power and transport infrastructure, and the placement of the dam’s enormous concrete mass. Construction began in 1931, and the dam was completed in 1935, approximately two years ahead of the contractual schedule. Hoover Dam was dedicated in September 1935, although later remedial work was required to address serious leakage. A supplemental grout curtain was installed between 1938 and 1947. The venture also constructed the Six Companies Railroad, a roughly 19-mile industrial railway that connected material sources, mixing plants, construction areas, and the government railroad serving the dam. Much of the route was later submerged beneath Lake Mead. Some surplus rolling stock was subsequently acquired for other railroad use, including by Western Pacific. Six Companies’ work extended beyond Hoover Dam. Its later projects included Parker Dam, part of Grand Coulee Dam, and the Colorado River Aqueduct, which carried water across the Mojave and Colorado deserts toward Southern California. During World War II, several member companies independently or jointly undertook military construction in the Pacific, including airfields, naval stations, dry docks, fuel-storage facilities, and other wartime infrastructure. Associated industrial interests also included Joshua Hendy Iron Works, which produced marine steam engines for Liberty ships, and Permanente Cement Company, which supplied cement for wartime naval construction. Six Companies is best understood as a project-specific joint venture rather than a conventional consumer-facing brand. Its significance lies in the organizational model it used to combine contractors, engineering capabilities, financing, equipment, and labor for infrastructure on an unprecedented scale. The available historical material does not establish a present-day operating structure, continuing corporate activity, or a formal dissolution date.

Six Companies, Inc. emerged from the need to assemble sufficient financial, engineering, and construction capacity for the Boulder Canyon Project on the Colorado River. Utah Construction Company executives E. O. Wattis and W. H. Wattis, together with vice president Andrew H. Christensen, first sought the participation of Harry W. Morrison of Morrison-Knudsen. As the anticipated bid and execution requirements grew, the organizers recruited four additional contractors and incorporated the consortium in February 1930. The final structure joined Bechtel-Kaiser, MacDonald and Kahn, Utah Construction Company, Morrison-Knudsen, Pacific Bridge Company, and J. F. Shea Company. Bechtel-Kaiser held 30 percent, MacDonald and Kahn and Utah Construction each held 20 percent, and Morrison-Knudsen, Pacific Bridge, and J. F. Shea each held 10 percent. Leadership was distributed among the participating firms, with W. H. Wattis as president and representatives of Bechtel, Shea, Kahn, and the Wattis family occupying other principal offices. The project required the contractor to prepare the site and build the dam while the federal government supplied materials. Six Companies’ successful bid, accepted in March 1931, was substantially below the next competing offer. Frank T. Crowe of Morrison-Knudsen, who helped prepare the proposal, became general construction superintendent. He directed the work at the site in Boulder City and coordinated the labor, excavation, transport, concrete production, river diversion, and installation operations needed to create Hoover Dam. Construction began in 1931 and reached completion in 1935, ahead of the seven-year contractual period. The project included not only the dam itself but also extensive temporary and permanent infrastructure, including material quarries, concrete plants, access routes, power systems, and rail connections. Six Companies built a 19.1-mile industrial railroad linking the construction zone with government rail facilities and aggregate sources. After Lake Mead filled, substantial sections of the line disappeared beneath the reservoir. Hoover Dam was dedicated in September 1935. Later investigations and remedial operations found serious leakage, leading to the installation of a supplemental grout curtain between 1938 and 1947. The additional work did not erase the consortium’s achievement in completing one of the largest construction projects of its era, but it demonstrated the long-term technical demands associated with massive concrete dams. The consortium and its member firms subsequently participated in other major public works. These included Parker Dam, a portion of Grand Coulee Dam, and the Colorado River Aqueduct, a large water-supply system crossing the deserts toward Southern California. The Six Companies Railroad also became part of the project’s industrial legacy; some surplus dump cars later entered service with Western Pacific. World War II broadened the historical record associated with the member companies. Utah Construction worked on facilities in Samoa; Bechtel-related operations were involved in naval construction in the Philippines; Morrison-Knudsen built facilities at Wake and Midway and worked on the Red Hill underground fuel-storage facility at Pearl Harbor; and Pacific Bridge undertook dry-dock, underwater, and salvage-related work at Pearl Harbor. Permanente Cement supplied more than seven million barrels of cement during 1939 and 1940 for naval requirements. Six Companies also held a majority interest in Joshua Hendy Iron Works, whose production included Liberty Ship engines. Six Companies is therefore significant less as a continuing standalone brand than as a historical construction alliance. The available reference material does not provide a confirmed dissolution date, current officers, present headquarters, or evidence of ongoing operations under the Six Companies name.

• 1947

  Hoover Dam grout-curtain work concludes

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  The supplemental grout-curtain program is completed after several years of remedial work.

• 1938

  Leakage remediation begins

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  A long-term program of remedial grouting begins to address serious leakage at Hoover Dam.

• 1935

  Hoover Dam completed

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  The consortium completes the dam approximately two years before the contractual deadline.

• 1935

  Hoover Dam dedicated

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  The completed dam is formally dedicated in September.

• 1931

  Winning bid for Boulder Canyon Project

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  The federal government accepts Six Companies’ bid to construct what becomes Hoover Dam.

• 1931

  Hoover Dam construction begins

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  Work starts on the dam, associated transport systems, material facilities, and river-control works.

• 1930

  Six Companies is incorporated

  [1]Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org

  The six-member construction joint venture is incorporated to pursue the Boulder Canyon Project.

A large-scale civil-engineering consortium specializing in technically complex public infrastructure and wartime construction.

• Dam and hydroelectric infrastructure · 1931

  Hoover Dam

  Six Companies’ defining project was the construction of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona. The undertaking required river diversion, deep excavation, aggregate extraction, high-volume concrete production, industrial rail transport, and tightly coordinated construction management. Completed in 1935, the dam became one of the best-known American public-works projects of the twentieth century. Later remedial grouting addressed leakage issues identified after completion.

• Industrial railway · 1931

  Six Companies Railroad

  This approximately 19.1-mile construction railway connected the Hoover Dam worksite with government rail facilities, gravel sources, concrete-mixing plants, and material-handling areas. Its branches served both Nevada and Arizona sides of the project. Much of the route was later submerged by Lake Mead, making it a distinctive surviving element of the dam’s construction history.

• Dam infrastructure

  Parker Dam

  Parker Dam was among the major water-infrastructure projects associated with Six Companies after Hoover Dam. The available reference material identifies the project but does not provide sufficient detail about the consortium’s precise scope, construction dates, or contractual structure.

• Water conveyance infrastructure

  Colorado River Aqueduct

  Six Companies later participated in construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct, a major water conveyance system crossing the Mojave and Colorado deserts to serve urban Southern California. The project extended the consortium’s role from dam building into regional water-supply infrastructure.

• Dam infrastructure

  Grand Coulee Dam construction

  The consortium is also associated with construction of a portion of Grand Coulee Dam. The available source identifies this participation but does not specify the exact work package or dates.

• 1931

  Submit the winning Hoover Dam bidOther

  Background

  The federal project required a substantial bid bond, performance bond, and completion within a defined contractual period.

  Action taken

  Six Companies submitted the successful proposal for the Boulder Canyon Project, which the Secretary of the Interior accepted on March 4, 1931.

  Aftermath

  The consortium received responsibility for constructing Hoover Dam and its associated works.

  Accepted contract bid. US$48,890,955 (1931)

  Source

• 1931

  Appoint Frank T. Crowe as construction superintendentStrategy

  Background

  Crowe had helped prepare the consortium’s bid and had engineering experience with Morrison-Knudsen.

  Action taken

  The Six Companies board selected Crowe to lead field execution of the Boulder Dam construction program.

  Aftermath

  Crowe coordinated the work through completion, with the dam finished well ahead of schedule.

  Source

• 1930

  Form a multi-company construction consortiumStrategy

  Background

  The Boulder Canyon Project was unusually large and technically demanding, and the organizers concluded that no single contractor could credibly undertake it alone.

  Action taken

  Utah Construction Company and Morrison-Knudsen recruited four additional contractors and incorporated Six Companies as a joint venture.

  Aftermath

  The alliance enabled a qualified bid and became the contracting vehicle for Hoover Dam and later infrastructure work.

  Source

1. 1Six Companiesen.wikipedia.org